16 dances with a beam of light,
20 Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Yea Swaha
22 Gun dro nga tang yul nge nga
23 Gewa ju jik dza nyon druk
24 Nye nyon nyi shu shen gyur shi
25 Sem chung nga jik di dak o.
27 religious letter games...
48 om a ra ba tsa na di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di
50 Om Mani Padme Hum (Hail to the Lotus Jewel)
52 The paths are many, the truth is one
54 Mickey Mouse has no wife, no horse, no mustache
56 where you are is where you were when you are where you will be.
59 don't let them immanentize your personal eschaton
61 nga tsho gyis rang gi gyo bar sems can song ba'i dgos.
62 (we should be self-motivating sentient beings.)
66 Acts without impediment
69 Yet he does not know himself
70 To be "kind," to be "gentle"
72 When an archer is shooting for nothing
74 If he shoots for a brass buckle
75 He is already nervous.
76 If he shoots for a prize of gold
79 He is out of his mind!
81 His skill has not changed. But the prize
82 Divides him. He cares.
83 He thinks more of winning
88 By giving, resources; by ethics, bliss
90 One may lead a horse to water, but cannot make him think.
94 neither i nor you nor anything exists truly
95 i, you and everything each have our own existence
96 the view between the two extremes is the middle way
99 Mickey Mouse and Mickey Rooney have something in common.
101 Natural language is hard.
102 -- (a prominent natural language scholar; do you know who? i don't.)
104 not this not this not this, what is it?
110 sangs rgyas kyi tshad mas ma nges ba'i phyir.
111 (the subject "horns of a rabbit" does not exist because it is not an object
112 validly cognized by a buddha.)
115 what you don't see is what you get when you don't look. -- fred t. hamster
117 this bell's knelling is never quelled,
118 while service is rendered,
119 tin staccato splattered over cupric strands,
120 spraying crazed meaning to distant lands.
124 To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
127 It is hard to think of what one is doing when one is doing it.
130 No program is so finished that a few bug fixes won't destroy it.
133 Words obscure meaning. -- fred t. hamster
135 There's a Ribong in my Attic, There's a Ribong in my Chair.
136 There's a Ribong in my Dipstick, There's a Ribong in my Hair.
137 In fact, there's a Ribong everywhere.
140 In the context of a spreadsheet system, the user must ensure that the
141 sheet is thoroughly spread onto the bed.
144 nechung: unable to open fortunes.dat file. (just kidding)
146 are you only using half your brain?
147 if you can only think in terms of logical conclusions, rational assumptions,
148 and common sense -or-
149 if you can only think in terms of intuitive jumps, esthetic motivations,
150 and the fluid nature of reality,
151 then you probably are stuck on one side of your head. try moving into
155 time has eight eyes and three elbows...
156 and millions of clocks.
159 i refuse to ignore what i cannot perceive. -- fred t. hamster
161 if you can't change your mind,
162 are you sure you've still got one?
164 The only people who deserve to be called "Americans" are called "Indians".
167 you are contemplative and analytical by nature
172 -- Merlin in Excalibur
174 Charlottesville, Virginia: gravity well for the soul.
176 if one is always ambiguous enough, he is never wrong.
177 but he never says anything either.
180 Protect Children, Feed Bunnies, Heal Sickness, Understand Reality
183 Improve the environment and the government;
184 feed politicians toxic waste.
186 alright, so it was a slow night.
187 alright, so it was a slow knight.
188 all night, what a slow knight.
189 there's slightly white snow tonight.
190 tight flights light from the height of night.
194 sasquatch in my breakfast cereal. -- fred t. hamster
196 "what i say is unimportant." -- david w andrews
197 "i'll keep that in mind." -- chris koeritz
199 "are Israelis Catholic?" -- christine kelly
203 -- seen in April 1991 High Times
207 -- co-authored by dave and chris
209 we grow old as soon as we cease to love and trust.
210 -- Madame De Choiseul
212 marijuana is a natural mollifier.
214 I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the
215 monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
220 -- Christian N. Bovee
222 Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,
223 but the ability to start over.
224 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
226 One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
229 The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra.
232 The first casualty when war comes is truth. -- Hiram Johnson, 1917
234 Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the
235 love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity
237 -- Samuel Johnson, from The Idler, 1758
239 Luck sometimes visits a fool, but never sits down with him.
242 How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? -- Satchel Page
244 Yeah, you got a point there man. Just let
245 your hair grow and nobody'll ever find out.
248 Eloquence is vehement simplicity. -- Richard Cecil
250 Two of my correspondents labeled me 'self-righteous', by which
251 they seem to have meant that they think they are righter
255 Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.
258 the other is a measure of the self. -- fred hamster
260 it is not who we are that defines us, but what we do.
261 the actions we take are the real indication of where our minds
262 and bodies are at, an expression of our being.
263 when one does not act, one cannot harm,
264 but by not acting when action could help another,
267 if what you are doing right now isn't broadening your mind
268 or elevating your spirit through total awareness of the essence,
269 then find that broadness! that elevation!
270 if an activity doesn't wake you up and tickle you,
271 then tickle yourself. that load which cannot be unburdened
274 the only people i don't like are those who don't want me to like them...
275 and i try to like them when they're not paying attention.
278 to george h. w. bush (on the occasion of our last meeting):
279 "you're a suit where a person should be."
281 The numbah uh bits in a compyooter word should NOT bee ayut, nor
282 sixuhteeen, nor thirty tooo, mah frayends. For vayrilee, it should
283 bee fifty! Theeuss would gayruntee that the sanctitty of our
284 great nayshun would be forevah preeserved! Theyuh would be just
285 one bit for each an every good stayett in this heyuh fahnnn nasyshun,
286 the YOOnited Stayetts of AhhMayReekah!
288 Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
289 -- Lord Acton, Letter, 5 April 1887
291 No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean,
292 for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
293 -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
295 One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.
296 -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
298 It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
299 -- Alfred Adler, 1939
301 Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
302 -- Roy Adzak, quoted in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
304 A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. -- Aesop
306 Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. -- Aesop
308 We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. -- Aesop
310 The paper burns, but the words fly away. -- Ben Joseph Akiba
312 Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc.
313 And never lie down with a woman who's got more trouble than you.
314 -- Nelson Algren, "What Every Young Man Should Know"
316 Most of us spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats,
317 then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.
320 Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night.
323 I don't want to achieve immortality through my work.
324 I want to achieve it through not dying.
327 The lion and the calf shall lie down together
328 but the calf won't get much sleep.
331 If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a
332 large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
333 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
335 The difference between sex and death is that with death
336 you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
337 -- Woody Allen, quoted in "New York Tribune", 1975
339 It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people.
340 The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed
341 to enjoy the waking hours much more.
342 -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 1981
344 Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
345 -- Muhammad Ali, in "Time", 1978
347 Doing easily what others find difficult is talent;
348 doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
349 -- Henri-Frederic Amiel, "Journal", 1883
351 In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the
352 sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.
353 -- Idi Amin Dada, 1976
355 God has been replaced, as he has all over the West,
356 with respectability and air conditioning.
357 -- Imamu Amiri Baraka, "Home", 1966
359 Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity
360 of opportunity to be otherwise.
361 -- Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", 1969
363 Death is life's answer to the question 'Why?' -- Anonymous
365 God is not dead. He is alive and working on a less ambitious project.
368 In March July, October, May,
369 The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
370 The Nones the seventh: all other months besides
371 Have two days less for Nones and Ides.
374 Never argue with a fool--people might not know the difference. -- Anonymous
376 Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three. -- Anonymous
378 The fewer clear facts you have in support of an opinion,
379 the stronger your emotional attachment to that opinion.
382 Vote early and vote often. -- Anonymous, on US election banners, 1850's
384 You're never alone with schizophrenia. -- Anonymous
386 Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause
387 for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.
390 Women like silent men. They think they're listening. -- Marcel Archard
392 We make war that we may live in peace. -- Aristotle
394 What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. -- Aristotle
396 Wit is cultured insolence. -- Aristotle
398 That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -- Neil Armstrong
400 What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.
401 -- Raymond Aron, "The Opium of the Intellectuals", 1957
403 We are still speaking the same language,
404 but neither of us is hearing the other.
405 -- Hafez Assad, on Syrian relations with Egypt, in "Time", 3 April 1989
407 If Gary Hart had seen Fatal Attraction two years ago,
408 he'd probably be President.
409 -- Bruce Babbitt, 1988 Presidential Campaign
411 Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. -- Francis Bacon, 1624
413 Rebellions of the belly are the worst. -- Francis Bacon
415 It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
416 -- Walter Bagehot, "Biographical Studies", 1863
418 Be careful what you set your heart upon--for it will surely be yours.
419 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
421 Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart;
422 for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
423 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
425 The future is like heaven--everyone exalts it,
426 but no one wants to go there now.
427 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name", 1961
429 It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason
430 that it is more difficult to be witty every day
431 than to say pretty things from time to time.
432 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
434 Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster
435 that devours everything: familiarity.
436 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
438 The duration of passion is proportionate
439 with the original resistance of the woman.
440 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
442 It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.
445 Television is the first truly democratic culture--the first culture
446 available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want.
447 The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
448 -- Clive Barnes, in "New York Times", 1969
450 What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
451 -- Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme rompue", 1967
453 Now comes the mystery.
454 -- Henry Ward Beecher, last words, 8 March 1887
456 Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it's done,
457 they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
460 The most important things to do in this world are to get something
461 to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.
462 -- Brendan Behan, in "Weekend", 1968
464 Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
465 -- Hector Berlioz, "Almanach des lettres francaises"
467 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
470 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. -- Psalms 111:10
472 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
475 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
476 fools despise wisdom and instruction.
479 The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
482 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other,
483 or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches.
486 And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
489 Greater love hath no man than this,
490 that a man lay down his life for his friends.
493 Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
494 the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
495 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
497 Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.
498 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
500 Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison.
501 A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
502 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
504 Bore, n: a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
505 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
507 Conservative, n: a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as
508 distinguished from a Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
509 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
511 Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are,
512 not as they ought to be.
513 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
515 Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community
516 consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves,
518 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
520 Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
521 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
523 Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.
524 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
526 Yankee, n: In Europe, an American.
527 In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander.
528 In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)
529 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
531 The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
532 -- Josh Billings, "The Kicker"
534 People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
537 Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.
540 The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start
541 thinking your work is terribly important.
544 An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes
545 which can be made, in a narrow field.
548 The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
549 opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
552 If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. -- Derek Bok, 1978
554 The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
555 -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
557 Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
558 If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
559 They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'
562 Censorship, like charity, should begin at home,
563 but unlike charity, it should end there.
566 No good deed goes unpunished. -- Clare Boothe Luce
568 When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.
571 Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge
573 Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand,
574 but we must build as if the sand were stone.
575 -- Jorge Luis Borges, 1972
577 We never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.
578 -- Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges On Writing", 1974
580 It is possible to store the mind with a million facts
581 and still be entirely uneducated.
582 -- Alec Bourne, "A Doctor's Creed"
584 Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue
585 to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant
586 may prove to be our executioner.
587 -- General Omar Bradley
589 Grub first, then ethics. -- Bertolt Brecht
591 I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
592 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
594 Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is.
595 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
597 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first,
598 and call whatever you hit the target.
599 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
601 No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.
602 -- Jacob Bronowski, in "Encounter", 1971
604 Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
605 -- Sam Brown, in "Washington Post", 1977
607 Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.
608 -- Matthew Browne, "Lilliput Levee"
610 As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically
611 reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
612 -- Anita Bryant, 1977
614 Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
615 -- William F. Buckley
617 Before you kill something make sure you have something better
618 to replace it with; something better than political opportunist
619 slamming hate horsesh*t in the public park.
620 -- Charles Bukowski, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", 1969
622 We love your adherence to democratic principles.
623 -- George HW Bush speaking to Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981
625 The final lesson of Viet Nam is that no great nation
626 can long afford to be sundered by a memory.
627 -- George HW Bush, 1989 Inaugural Address
629 The caribou love [the Alaska oil pipeline].
630 They run up against it, and they have babies.
631 -- George HW Bush, 1988 and again "New York Times", 3 April 1989
633 It would be inappropriate for the President of the United States
634 to try to fine-tune for the people of Hungary how they ought to eat -
635 how the cow ought to eat the cabbage, as we say in the United States.
636 -- George HW Bush, quoted in "Philadelphia Inquirer", 13 July 1989
638 An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
639 -- Nicholas Murray Butler
641 Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. -- Samuel Butler
643 The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
644 -- Samuel Butler, "The Fair Haven", 1873
646 Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense
647 to know how to lie well.
648 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
650 Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven.
651 Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?
652 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
654 One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague.
655 -- Robert Burton, 1651
657 For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.
658 -- Lord Byron, "Don Juan", 1818
660 The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds;
661 and the pessimist fears this is true.
662 -- James B. Cabell, "The Silver Stallion" 1926
664 Men willingly believe what they wish. -- Julius Caesar
666 What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story.
667 And the greatest good is little enough:
668 for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.
669 -- Pedro Calderon de la Barca, "Life is a Dream"
671 It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.
672 -- Arthur Calwell, 1968
674 An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought.
677 Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.
678 -- Albert Camus, "The Rebel", 1951
680 When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve
681 it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality.
684 You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun
685 than you can with a kind word alone.
688 Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.
689 -- Al Capp, in "Esquire", 1970
691 It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely
692 proportional to the amount of clothing people wore.
695 "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be,
696 and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
697 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
699 Because of the greatness of the Shah, Iran is an island of stability
701 -- Jimmy Carter, 31 December 1977
703 Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" till you can find a rock.
706 As long as people will accept crap,
707 it will be financially profitable to dispense it.
708 -- Dick Cavett, in "Playboy", 1971
710 Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away.
711 -- Luis Cernuda, "Las Ruinas"
713 A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
714 -- Miguel de Cervantes
716 I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women,
717 French to men, and German to my horse.
718 -- Charles V, King of France
720 In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.
723 He who asks is a fool for five minutes,
724 but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
727 The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
730 I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
731 or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
734 I like a man who grins when he fights. -- Winston Churchill
736 I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us.
737 Pigs treat us as equals.
740 It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
743 Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,
744 but most times he will pick himself up and carry on.
747 Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
750 The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
751 the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
754 Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
755 -- Winston Churchill, Speech, January 1952
757 Preparation, knowledge, and discipline can deal with any form of danger.
758 -- Tom Clancy, "The Hunt for Red October", 1984
760 Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?
763 It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God,
767 Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
770 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
771 -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of the Future", 1962
773 You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.
774 -- Eldridge Cleaver, 1968
776 The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
777 -- Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul on Ice", 1968
779 America is the only nation in history which miraculously
780 has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without
781 the usual interval of civilization.
782 -- Georges Clemenceau, 1 December 1945
784 War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
785 -- Georges Clemenceau
787 When you have nothing to say, say nothing. -- Charles Caleb Colton
789 I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
792 If we don't know life, how can we know death? -- Confucius
794 Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
797 Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. -- Confucius
799 What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. -- Confucius
801 When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them;
802 when we see persons of a contrary character,
803 we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
806 Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
807 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
809 Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime,
810 but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.
811 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
813 Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite.
814 Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime
815 as to which is the main river.
816 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
818 Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones
819 who will be writing about you.
820 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
822 Youth is a period of missed opportunities.
823 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
825 The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
826 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
828 You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
829 -- Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim", 1900
831 The horror! The horror!
832 -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness", 1902
834 I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and
835 invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.
836 -- Calvin Coolidge, Speech, 21 September 1928
838 Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. -- Laurence Coughlin
840 A man feared that he might find an assassin;
841 Another that he might find a victim.
842 One was more wise than the other.
843 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
845 I stood upon a high place, and saw, below, many devils,
846 running, leaping, and carousing in sin.
847 One looked up, grinning, and said, "Comrade! Brother!"
848 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
850 I walked in a desert.
852 "Ah, God, take me from this place!"
853 A voice said, "It is no desert."
854 I cried, "Well, but---
855 "The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
856 A voice said, "It is no desert."
857 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
859 I was in the darkness;
860 I could not see my words
861 Nor the wishes of my heart.
862 Then suddenly there was a great light---
863 "Let me into the darkness again."
864 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
866 A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist." "However," replied the universe,
867 "the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
868 -- Stephan Crane, "War is Kind", 1899
870 There is growing evidence that smoking has pharamacological ...
871 effects that are of real value to smokers.
872 -- Joseph F. Cullman III (Pres. of Phillip Morris)
873 Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962
875 There are no atheists in the foxholes.
876 -- William Thomas Cummings, 1942
878 Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days.
879 An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to
880 make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day.
881 -- the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in "TIME", 11 April 1988
883 The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time
884 of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.
887 The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
888 and the second half by our children.
891 There is no such thing as justice--in or out of court.
892 -- Clarence Darrow, Interview, April 1936
894 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
895 I'm beginning to believe it.
898 The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is,
899 in fact, a return to the idealised past.
900 -- Robertson Davies, "A Voice from the Attic", 1960
902 There is no such thing as a nonracial society
903 in a multiracial country.
904 -- F. W. de Klerk, President of South Africa,
905 quoted in _Time_, 11 September 1989
907 There are a million ways to lose a work day,
908 but not even a single way to get one back.
909 -- Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, _Peopleware_, 1987
911 People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have
912 a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that
913 there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.
914 -- Hugo Demartini, in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
916 Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly
917 and safely insane every night of our lives.
918 -- William Dement, in "Newsweek", 1959
920 We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them
921 to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
924 I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
927 There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
930 Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.
931 -- Benjamin Disraeli, "Coningsby" 1844
933 The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones
934 from one graveyard to another.
935 -- J. Frank Dobie, "A Texan in England", 1945
937 Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies.
938 -- John Donne, "Elegy II, The Anagram"
940 Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself,
941 but talent instantly recognizes genius.
942 -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Valley of Fear", 1914
944 One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do
945 and always a clever thing to say.
946 -- Will Durant, in "Reader's Digest", 1972
948 Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
949 -- Will Durant, in "National Enquirer", 1980
951 A man's got to know his limitations.
952 -- Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force", 1973
954 History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
955 once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
958 Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
959 -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
961 There is no substitute for hard work.
962 -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
964 To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.
965 -- Paul Ehrlich, in "The Farmers Almanac, 1978"
967 Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
970 Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present,
971 but an equation is something for eternity.
974 Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it
975 is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us
976 any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He
980 God may be subtle. But He is not malicious.
983 I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war
984 fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people
985 of the earth will be killed.
988 I never think of the future--it comes soon enough.
991 The important thing is not to stop questioning.
994 The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has
995 merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
998 The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
1001 You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his
1002 tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand
1003 this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signls here, they
1004 receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
1007 Before God we are all equally wise--and equally foolish.
1008 -- Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion"
1010 The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
1011 -- Albert Einstein, "Life", 1950
1013 Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and
1014 the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
1015 -- Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions", 1954
1017 A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
1018 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1020 I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
1021 government had better get out of their way and let them have it.
1022 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1024 In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains.
1025 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1027 We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.
1028 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1030 What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -
1031 it's the size of the fight in the dog.
1032 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
1034 This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
1035 -- T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", 1925
1037 The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines
1038 what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men.
1039 -- Havelock Ellis, "Little Essays of Love and Virtue", 1922
1041 The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.
1042 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1044 The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago...
1045 had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
1046 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1048 What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command.
1049 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1051 Always do what you are afraid to do. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1053 Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
1054 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1056 What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
1057 compared to what lies within us.
1058 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1060 When it is dark enough you can see the stars.
1061 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1063 To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.
1064 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", 20 December 1822
1066 A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
1067 Before him, I may think aloud.
1068 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1070 I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
1071 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1073 To be great is to be misunderstood.
1074 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1076 I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
1077 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", May 1849
1079 Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.
1080 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
1082 Hitch your wagon to a star.
1083 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
1085 A wise man first determines what is within his control;
1086 all else is then irrelevant.
1089 We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
1092 War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.
1093 -- Desiderius Erasmus
1095 A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
1098 A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way
1099 that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.
1100 -- Ludwig Erhard, in "The Observer", 1958
1102 There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman
1103 is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.
1106 Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do
1107 with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
1110 Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
1113 The best of seers is he who guesses well.
1116 The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth.
1117 -- Harold Evans, "Pictures on a Page", 1978
1119 Passions are fashions.
1122 When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before.
1123 You see more in you than there was before.
1124 -- Clifton Fadiman, "Any Number Can Play", 1957
1126 The only accident [at Three Mile Island] is that this thing leaked out.
1127 You could have avoided this whole thing by not saying anything.
1128 -- Craig Faust (control-room operator at TMI), 1979,
1129 quoted from "Loose Talk"
1131 If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks
1132 and transporting goods on our backs.
1135 A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
1136 -- James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973
1138 The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
1139 -- Fanny Fern, "Willis Parton"
1141 Computer: a million morons working at the speed of light.
1144 The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -
1145 and you are the easiest person to fool.
1146 -- Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
1148 Anybody who hates children and dogs can't be all bad. -- W. C. Fields
1150 I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally. -- W. C. Fields
1152 It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. -- Errol Flynn
1154 Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
1157 The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor,
1158 to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
1161 I am responsible only to God and history.
1164 I still believe that people are really good at heart.
1165 I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation
1166 consisting of confusion, misery and death.
1169 Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
1170 -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
1172 In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
1173 -- Benjamin Franklin, 1789
1175 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
1178 Clothe an idea in words and it loses its freedom of movement.
1181 The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride.
1182 Everything else they do is crap--and they know it.
1183 -- Fred Friendly, 1980
1185 The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
1188 A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather
1189 and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
1192 A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday
1193 but never remembers her age.
1196 A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
1199 A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
1202 The world is full of willing people;
1203 some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
1206 The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
1207 But I have promises to keep,
1208 And miles to go before I sleep,
1209 And miles to go before I sleep.
1210 -- Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 1923
1212 We compound our suffering by victimising each other.
1213 -- Athol Fugard, in "The Observer", 1971
1215 The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
1216 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
1218 The most important thing about Spaceship Earth -
1219 an instruction book didn't come with it.
1220 -- R. Buckminster Fuller, quoted in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
1222 It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree.
1223 It's what you do with your life that counts.
1224 -- Millard Fuller, in "Time", 16 January 1989
1226 Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is
1227 almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
1230 If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
1231 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1233 Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
1234 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1236 Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing
1237 between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
1238 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1240 The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises
1241 in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral
1242 justification for selfishness.
1243 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1245 In economics, the majority is always wrong.
1246 -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Saturday Evening Post", 1968
1248 One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.
1249 -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Time", 1961
1251 I could prove God statistically. -- George Gallup
1253 He who awaits much can expect little.
1254 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
1255 "El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba"
1257 Si Dios no hubiera descansado el domingo
1258 habria tenido tiempo de terminar el mundo.
1259 (If God hadn't rested on Sunday,
1260 He would have had time to finish the world.)
1261 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
1262 "Los Funerales de Mam Grande", 1974
1264 No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo.
1265 (I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.)
1266 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "El Amor en los Tiempos de Calera", 1985
1268 The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.
1269 -- Charles de Gaulle, 1967
1271 A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. -- German Proverb
1273 If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
1276 I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant,
1277 and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
1280 Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
1283 In hell there is no other punishment than to begin over
1284 and over again the tasks left unfinished in your lifetime.
1287 The secret of success is sincerity.
1288 Once you can fake that you've got it made.
1291 Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.
1294 All things are only transitory. -- Goethe
1296 We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions,
1297 nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
1298 -- Mikhail Gorbachev, UN address, 7 December 1988
1300 The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.
1301 -- Baltasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" 1647
1303 Thirty days hath November,
1304 April, June, and September,
1305 February hath twenty-eight alone,
1306 And all the rest have thirty-one.
1307 -- Richard Grafton, 1562
1309 I think when a person has been found guilty of rape
1310 he should be castrated. That would stop him pretty quick.
1311 -- Billy Graham, 1974
1313 The illusion that times that were are better than those that are,
1314 has probably pervaded all ages.
1315 -- Horace Greeley, "The American Conflict", 1864-1866
1317 If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
1318 -- Motto of the Green Berets
1320 Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
1321 -- Graham Greene, 1981
1323 Figures won't lie, but liars will figure.
1324 -- Charles H. Grosvenor
1326 It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed;
1327 but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home.
1328 -- Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd"
1330 Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
1331 -- Alex Hamilton, "The Listener", 1978
1333 The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
1334 -- R. W. Hamming, "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers", 1973
1336 War will cease when men refuse to fight.
1339 Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gets loose fum de jug.
1340 -- Joel C. Harris, "Uncle Remus: Plantation Proverbs"
1342 Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has
1343 just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
1346 In times like these, it is helpful to remember
1347 that there have always been times like these.
1350 The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.
1351 -- John W. Hazard, "Changing Times" 1957
1353 Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. -- William Hazlitt
1355 Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained
1356 with the greatest violence.
1359 Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity,
1360 and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
1361 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
1363 Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
1364 But beautiful women don't need to know about men.
1365 It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.
1366 -- Katherine Hepburn
1368 Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived
1369 and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
1370 -- Ernest Hemingway, quoted in "Sunday Times", 1966
1372 Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased
1373 at the price of chains and slavery?
1376 All is flux, nothing stays still. -- Heraclitus
1378 Nothing endures but change. -- Heraclitus
1380 Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end.
1381 It all depends upon where the observer is standing.
1384 I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that
1385 brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass
1386 over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner
1387 eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
1389 -- Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965
1391 Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. -- Herodotus
1393 If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of
1394 fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
1397 There's nothing in the middle of the road
1398 but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
1399 -- Jim Hightower, in "Time", 3 April 1989
1401 To do nothing is also a good remedy. -- Hippocrates
1403 Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.
1404 -- Alfred Hitchcock, in "The Observer", 1960
1406 In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is
1407 and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
1408 -- Alfred Hitchcock, 1966
1410 The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
1413 What luck for the rulers that men do not think.
1416 Never tolerate the establishment of two continental powers in Europe.
1417 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1419 Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
1420 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1422 Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
1423 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1425 The great masses of the people... will more easily
1426 fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
1427 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1429 You can discover what your enemy fears most
1430 by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
1431 -- Eric Hoffer, in "The Faber Book of Aphorisms", 1964
1433 The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman
1435 Justice is incidental to law and order. -- J. Edgar Hoover
1437 Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero!
1438 (Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!)
1441 Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
1442 (It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.)
1445 He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. -- Horace
1447 Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. -- Horace
1449 Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
1452 Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. -- Kin Hubbard
1454 When a fellow says it ain't the money but
1455 the principle of the thing, it's the money.
1458 Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.
1459 -- Kin Hubbard, "Abe Martin's Broadcast", 1930
1461 Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo
1463 We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
1464 -- Hubert H. Humphrey
1466 The right to be heard does not automatically
1467 include the right to be taken seriously.
1468 -- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965
1470 A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far. -- Fannie Hurst
1472 The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
1473 ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference,
1474 and undernourishment.
1475 -- Robert Hutchins, "Great Books" 1954
1477 Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. -- Aldous Huxley
1479 The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet
1480 is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is
1482 -- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World Revisited", 1956
1484 Experience is not what happens to you.
1485 It is what you do with what happens to you.
1486 -- Aldous Huxley, in "Reader's Digest", 1956
1488 Technological progress has merely provided us with more
1489 efficient means for going backwards.
1490 -- Aldous Huxley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", 1956
1492 A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
1493 -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
1495 The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
1496 -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
1498 There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.
1501 Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them.
1502 -- Robert G. Ingersoll
1504 To think contrary to one's era is heroism.
1505 But to speak against it is madness.
1508 The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it. -- Reggie Jackson
1510 It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
1511 -- Clive James, in "The Observer", 1976
1513 A great many people think they are thinking
1514 when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
1517 The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
1520 El amor es un camino que de repente aparece y de tanto caminarlo se te pierde.
1521 -- Victor Jara, "El Amor es un Camino"
1523 In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.
1526 I think [a black]... could scarcely be found capable of
1527 tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid.
1528 -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia", 1787
1530 It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless,
1531 of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.
1534 To seek permission is to seek denial. -- Steve Jobs
1536 Men are like wine--some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
1537 -- Pope John XXIII, 1978
1539 I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
1540 -- Lyndon B. Johnson
1542 If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River,
1543 the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM.
1544 -- Lyndon B. Johnson
1546 No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist
1547 or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.
1548 -- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960
1550 Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
1551 -- Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
1553 The heart has its prisons that intelligence cannot unlock.
1554 -- Marcel Jouhandeau, "De la grandeur"
1556 Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?
1559 An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. -- John Junor
1561 In the fight between you and the world, back the world. -- Franz Kafka
1563 There are two cardinal sins from which all the others spring:
1564 impatience and laziness.
1567 The more things change, the more they remain the same.
1568 -- Alphonse Karr, "Les Guepes", January 1849
1570 You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one.
1573 Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.
1574 -- John Keats, Correspondence, 1819
1576 College isn't the place to go for ideas. -- Hellen Keller
1578 We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Walt Kelly in "POGO"
1580 If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
1581 -- Florynce Kennedy, 1976
1583 Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
1586 Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
1589 We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind
1590 in the history of the world--or to make it the last.
1593 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
1594 ask what you can do for your country.
1595 -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
1597 If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,
1598 it cannot save the few who are rich.
1599 -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
1601 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
1602 will make violent revolution inevitable.
1603 -- John F. Kennedy, 12 March 1962
1605 Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
1606 -- Robert F. Kennedy
1608 Some men see things as they are and say why?
1609 I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'
1610 -- Robert F. Kennedy, quoted in "Esquire", 1969
1612 Without feeling there's no reason to live.
1613 -- Andre Kertesz, photographer, 1894-1985
1615 In the long run we are all dead.
1616 -- John Maynard Keynes, "The General Theory", 1936
1618 In a fight you don't stop to choose your cudgels. -- Nikita Khruschev
1620 Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build
1621 bridge even when there are no rivers.
1624 Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
1625 -- Soren Kierkegaard, "Life"
1627 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
1628 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
1630 It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me,
1631 but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
1632 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
1634 Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the
1635 the philanthropist to over-look the circumstances of
1636 economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
1637 -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
1639 The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
1640 but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
1641 -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
1643 He travels the fastest who travels alone.
1646 Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
1649 The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
1652 Television--a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done.
1655 Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
1658 Credulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength.
1661 People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather
1662 have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.
1663 -- Robert Keith Leavitt
1665 It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
1666 -- Robert E. Lee, December 1862
1668 To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
1669 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, "A Wizard of Earthsea", 1975
1671 When smashing monuments, save the pedestals--they always come in handy.
1674 It is true that liberty is precious--so precious that it must be rationed.
1677 The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him.
1678 -- Claude Levi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques", 1955
1680 Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive,
1681 but what they conceal is vital.
1684 Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you.
1685 Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
1686 -- Bernard Levin, in "Daily Mail", 1964
1688 A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat
1689 without having his neighbor notice it.
1692 He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. -- Abraham Lincoln
1694 Nearly all men can stand adversity,
1695 but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
1698 Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
1701 The ballot is stronger than the bullet. -- Abraham Lincoln
1703 Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong
1704 impulse to see it tried on him personally.
1707 You can fool all the people some of the time,
1708 and some of the people all the time,
1709 but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
1712 Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee,
1713 and just as hard to sleep after.
1714 -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
1716 Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
1719 I have always thought the actions of men the best
1720 interpreters of their thoughts.
1723 Winning is not everything. It's the only thing.
1724 -- Vince Lombardi, 1965
1726 The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand.
1727 -- Cesare Lombroso, "The Man of Genius"
1729 Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
1732 In war there is no substitute for victory.
1733 -- General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, 19 April 1951
1735 There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
1736 -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1955
1738 Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada m s;
1739 caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
1740 -- Antonio Machado, "Proverbios y cantares, VI"
1742 It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
1743 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
1745 All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death
1746 than the animals that know nothing.
1747 -- Maurice Maeterlinck
1749 The atom bomb is a paper tiger...
1750 Terrible to look at but not so strong as it seems.
1753 Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
1754 -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
1756 Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
1757 -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
1759 An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
1760 -- Donald R. Perry Marquis, "archy and mehitabel", 1927
1762 Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
1765 From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
1768 Religion... is the opium of the masses.
1769 -- Karl Marx, "Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right", 1844
1771 Unrecognized faults lead to wasted efforts
1772 -- Joanot Martorell, "Tirant lo Blanc", 1490
1774 Impropriety is the soul of wit.
1777 Love is only the dirty trick played on us
1778 to achieve continuation of the species.
1779 -- W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949
1781 I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.
1782 -- William H. Mauldin, "Up Front" 1944
1784 Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate.
1787 The people here [in Nicaragua] are amazingly friendly, when you
1788 figure we're here to overthrow their government.
1789 -- Richard Melton, US Ambassador to Nicaragua
1791 A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence
1792 and yet keep both ears to the ground.
1795 Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
1798 No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
1801 Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
1804 The American public knows what it wants,
1805 and deserves to get it good and hard.
1808 There's always an easy solution to every human problem -
1809 neat, plausible, and wrong.
1812 Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
1813 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces", 1917
1815 Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life,
1816 there is actually no truth to be discovered;
1817 there is only error to be exposed.
1818 -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
1820 The older I grow the more I distrust
1821 the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
1822 -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
1824 Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
1825 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy", 1949
1827 Conservatives are not necessarily stupid,
1828 but most stupid people are conservatives.
1831 He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
1834 A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
1835 but after a while he gets to know something.
1838 Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.
1841 I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
1844 Some of the greatest love affairs I've known
1845 have involved one actor, unassisted.
1848 When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism;
1849 but when you take it from many writers, it's research.
1852 I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.
1855 Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in,
1856 and those inside equally desperate to get out.
1857 -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
1859 The value of life lies not in the length of days,
1860 but in the use we make of them...
1861 Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not
1862 on your tale of years, but on your will.
1863 -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1580
1865 Obstacles are those frightful things you see
1866 when you take your eyes off the goal.
1869 Only the sinner has the right to preach.
1870 -- Christopher Morley
1872 There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way.
1873 -- Christopher Morley
1875 You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
1876 -- John Morley, "Rousseau", 1876
1878 Any party which takes credit for the rain
1879 must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the draught.
1882 If the nation's economists were laid end to end,
1883 they would point in all directions.
1886 As a student I learned from wonderful teachers
1887 and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher.
1888 -- Bill Moyers, interviews on "Fresh Air", 1991
1890 Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
1893 Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.
1896 The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off,
1897 have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the
1898 greatest misery without almost noticing them.
1901 Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death
1902 should not be an even greater one.
1903 -- Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in "Time", 1981
1905 The speed of exit of a civil servant is directly proportional
1906 to the quality of his service.
1907 -- Ralph Nader, "The Spoiled System"
1909 Everybody is interesting for an hour, but few people can last more than two.
1910 -- V. S. Naipul, interview in "Time", 10 July 1989
1912 If you wish to be a success in the world,
1913 promise everything, deliver nothing.
1916 In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
1919 Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
1922 A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
1923 -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
1925 History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
1926 -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
1928 Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
1929 -- Napolean, quoted in "The Book of Insults", 1978
1931 Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.
1934 Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
1935 -- George Jean Nathan
1937 Nobody believes the official spokesman ...
1938 but everybody trusts an unidentified source.
1941 Lack of will power has caused more failure than
1942 lack of intelligence or ability.
1943 -- Flower A. Newhouse
1945 Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
1948 If I have seen far, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
1951 O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
1952 courage to change what should be changed,
1953 and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
1954 -- Reinhold Niebuhr, sermon, 1934
1956 Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems.
1959 They [Nazis] came first for the Communists,
1960 and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
1961 Then they came for the Jews,
1962 and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
1963 Then they came for the Catholics,
1964 and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
1965 Then they came for me,
1966 and by that time there was no one left to speak up.
1967 -- Martin Niemueller
1969 In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
1970 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1972 One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.
1973 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1975 What does not destroy me, makes me strong.
1976 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1978 Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
1979 -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil", 1885-1886
1981 A ship is always referred to as "she"
1982 because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
1983 -- Chester Nimitz, Speech, 13 February 1940
1985 I have nothing to hide.
1988 I would have made a good pope.
1991 Voters quickly forget what a man says.
1994 Your President is no crook!
1997 Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth -
1998 to see it like it is, and tell it like it is -
1999 to find the truth, to speak the truth, and live the truth.
2000 -- Richard Nixon, accepting the Presidential Nomination, 1968
2002 When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.
2003 -- Richard Nixon, in interview with David Frost, 19 May 1977
2005 Laws were made to be broken.
2006 -- Christopher North
2008 Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view.
2009 -- Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi"
2011 There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
2012 -- Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC,
2013 Convention of the World Future Society, 1977
2015 The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
2016 and the pessimist knows it.
2017 -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951
2019 Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
2022 Liberal--a power worshipper without power.
2025 On the whole human beings want to be good,
2026 but not too good and not quite all the time.
2027 -- George Orwell, collected essays
2029 All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
2030 -- George Orwell, "Animal Farm" 1945
2032 Big Brother Is Watching You
2033 -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
2035 Who controls the past controls the future.
2036 Who controls the present controls the past.
2037 -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
2039 At 50 everyone has the face he deserves.
2040 -- George Orwell, "Journals", 1949
2042 Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,
2043 but on balance life is suffering and only the very young
2044 or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
2045 -- George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", 1950
2047 It is convenient that there be gods,
2048 and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.
2049 -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
2051 To be loved, be lovable.
2052 -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
2054 The chief product of an automated society
2055 is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
2058 It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as
2059 to fill the time available for its completion.
2060 -- C. Northcote Parkinson, in "The Economist", 1955
2062 The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
2065 If all men knew what others say of them,
2066 there would not be four friends in the world.
2067 -- Blaise Pascal, 1656
2069 Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
2070 -- Blaise Pascal, "Pensees", 1670
2072 Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor
2073 of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will
2074 rob him of all if he gives too much.
2075 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2077 God forgives us... Who am I not to forgive?
2078 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2080 I have one great fear in my heart, that one day
2081 when they [the whites of South Africa] have turned to loving,
2082 they will find we [the blacks] are turned to hating.
2083 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2085 Then what is it worth, this mining industry? And why should it
2086 be kept alive, if it is only our poverty that keeps it alive? ...
2087 Is it we that must be kept poor so that others may stay rich?
2088 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2090 What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another?
2091 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2093 Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? ...
2094 Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand.
2095 But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle,
2096 is beyond all human wisdom.
2097 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2099 Yet [white] men [of South Africa] were afraid,
2100 with a fear that was deep, deep in the heart,
2101 a fear so deep that they hid their kindness, ...
2102 They were afraid because they were so few.
2103 And fear could not be cast out, but by love.
2104 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2106 To give up the task of reforming society is to
2107 give up one's responsibility as a free man.
2110 Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often
2111 discover what they lack.
2114 Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do
2115 and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
2116 -- George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It", 1947
2118 Assuming that either the left wing or the right wing gained
2119 control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
2122 Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
2123 -- Boies Penrose, 1931
2125 An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
2126 why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
2127 -- Laurence J. Peter
2129 Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
2132 Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
2133 but forgetting where you heard it.
2136 In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
2137 -- Laurence Peter, "The Peter Principle" 1969
2139 Democracy is a process by which the people are free
2140 to choose the man who will get the blame.
2141 -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
2143 Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
2144 but forgetting where you heard it.
2145 -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
2147 A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well.
2148 -- Gaius Petronius, "Satyricon"
2150 Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
2151 -- Wendell Phillips, Speech, 7 November 1860
2153 Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood.
2156 The measure of man is what he does with power.
2159 If everybody's behavior can be explained by simple stupidity and greed,
2160 there's no point in assuming a conspiracy.
2163 I don't need a friend who changes when I change
2164 and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
2167 Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
2170 Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true.
2173 Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
2176 If you do not raise your eyes you will think you are the highest point.
2177 -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
2179 One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
2180 -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
2182 They talk most who have the least to say.
2185 A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
2188 A good workman is known by his tools.
2191 Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret,
2192 especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.
2195 Maxim 914: Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
2198 Maxim 1070: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
2201 Practice is the best of all instructors.
2204 If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
2205 -- J. Danforth Quayle
2207 There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.
2208 In other words, a good offense wins.
2209 -- J. Danforth Quayle, on "Star Wars",
2210 quoted in "Time", 19 September 1988
2212 Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are,
2213 and happy campers you will always be.
2214 -- J. Danforth Quayle, on arrival in American Samoa,
2215 quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
2217 I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
2218 the only regret I have was that I didn't study
2219 Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.
2220 -- J. Danforth Quayle, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
2222 What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind.
2224 -- J. Danforth Quayle, addressing the United Negro
2225 College Fund, quoted in "Time", 26 June 1989
2227 Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as the Earth]...
2228 We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water.
2229 If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
2230 -- J. Danforth Quayle, interviewed on Cable Network
2231 News, 11 August 1989
2233 Religions tend to disappear with man's good fortune.
2234 -- Raymond Queneau, "A Model History"
2236 I have been staying in Moscow for only 24 hours,
2237 but already I feel almost at home.
2238 -- Hashemi Rafsanjani, in "New York Times",
2241 A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating,
2242 because 300 people choke to death on food every year.
2243 -- Dixy Lee Ray, 1977, quoted from "Loose Talk"
2245 Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
2248 Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible
2249 for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen.
2252 If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
2255 Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards,
2256 if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
2259 Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
2262 Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite
2263 at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
2264 -- Ronald Reagan, "Saturday Evening Post" 1965
2266 I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964
2267 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
2268 -- Ronald Reagan, 20 October 1965
2270 I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
2271 -- Ronald Reagan, 1968
2273 All the wastes in a year from a nuclear power plant
2274 can be stored under a desk.
2275 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Burlington Free Press", 15 February 1980
2277 History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the
2278 people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government....
2279 When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.
2280 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Time", 14 April 1980
2282 Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released
2283 by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough
2284 emissions standards for man-made sources.
2285 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Sierra", 10 September 1980
2287 I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever;
2288 we begin bombing in 5 minutes.
2289 -- Ronald Reagan, weekly radio address, 11 August 1984
2291 Facts are stupid things.
2292 -- Ronald Reagan, 1988 Republican Convention
2294 The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us.
2295 -- Quentin Reynolds, in "Quote & Unquote", 1970
2297 The streets are safe in Philadelphia,
2298 it's only the people who make them unsafe.
2301 We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it,
2302 we'll send in a couple of policemen.
2303 -- Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973
2305 One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability
2306 to distinguish our needs from our greeds.
2307 -- Don Robinson, quoted in "Reader's Digest", 1963
2309 If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind,
2310 give it more thought.
2313 We always love those who admire us,
2314 but we do not always love those whom we admire.
2315 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
2317 Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.
2318 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
2320 Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches
2321 beyond their own understanding.
2322 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2324 Old people like to give good advice,
2325 as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.
2326 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2328 Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done
2329 as the fear of the consequences.
2330 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2332 The reason that lovers never weary each other
2333 is because they are always talking about themselves.
2334 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2336 Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are
2337 for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing
2338 would fall flat in a week.
2341 Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
2344 Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
2347 There is nothing as stupid as an educated man
2348 if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
2351 There's no trick to being a humorist when you have
2352 the whole government working for you.
2355 This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session
2356 as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
2359 We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb
2360 and clap as they go by.
2363 Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else.
2364 -- Will Rogers, "The Illiterate Digest", 1924
2366 I never met a man I didn't like.
2367 -- Will Rogers, speech, June 1930
2369 Half our life is spent trying to find something to do
2370 with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
2371 -- Will Rogers, "The Autobiography of Will Rogers", 1949
2373 The world is an enormous injustice.
2376 We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
2377 of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
2378 but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
2381 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
2382 -- Eleanor Roosevelt, "This is My Story", 1937
2384 The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
2385 who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
2386 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
2388 It is common sense to take a method and try it.
2389 If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
2390 But above all, try something.
2391 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, 22 May 1932
2393 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
2394 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933
2396 A technique is a trick that works.
2399 One half of the children born die before their eighth year.
2400 This is nature's law; why try to contradict it?
2401 -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
2403 People who know little are usually great talkers,
2404 while men who know much say little.
2405 -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
2407 Never trust anyone over thirty. -- Jerry Rubin, 1966
2409 The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
2410 so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
2413 Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -
2414 more than ruin, more even than death.
2415 -- Bertrand Russell, "Selected Papers"
2417 You can outdistance that which is running after you,
2418 but not what is running inside you.
2421 A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.
2424 Women and elephants never forget an injury.
2425 -- Saki, "Reginald", 1904
2427 A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
2428 -- Saki, "The Square Egg", 1924
2430 Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king
2431 but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
2432 -- Sallust, "De bello Iugurthino"
2434 Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves,
2435 spits on its hands and goes to work.
2436 -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Times", 1959
2438 In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes
2439 when you awake in the morning.
2440 -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Post", 1960
2442 A man's feet should be planted in his country,
2443 but his eyes should survey the world.
2446 Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.
2449 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
2452 When the rich make war it's the poor that die.
2453 -- Jean-Paul Sartre, "Le Diable et le bon Dieu", 1951
2455 Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make.
2456 Tact means not noticing them.
2457 -- Arthur Schnitzler
2459 Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision
2460 for the limits of the world.
2461 -- Arthur Schopenhauer, "Studies in Pessimism"
2463 There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.
2464 -- Charles M. Schulz
2466 Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
2467 -- C. P. Scott, c.1900
2469 They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---
2470 -- General John B. Sedgwick, last words, 1864
2472 They that govern the most make the least noise.
2473 -- John Seldon, 1689
2475 People will swim through sh*t if you put a few bob in it.
2478 It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
2479 -- Seneca, "Epistles"
2481 There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
2482 -- Seneca, "On Tranquility of the Mind"
2484 Every reign must submit to a greater reign. -- Seneca, "Thyestes"
2486 Singing makes all the sad people happy because it is the voice of happiness.
2489 A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
2490 can always depend upon the support of Paul.
2491 -- George Bernard Shaw
2493 Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it.
2494 -- George Bernard Shaw
2496 If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
2497 -- George Bernard Shaw
2499 It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
2500 -- George Bernard Shaw
2502 Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior
2503 to all others because you were born in it.
2504 -- George Bernard Shaw
2506 Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad.
2507 -- George Bernard Shaw
2509 We've already established what you are, ma'am.
2510 Now we're just haggling over the price.
2511 -- George Bernard Shaw
2513 Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
2514 -- George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement"
2516 He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
2517 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
2519 Lack of money is the root of all evil.
2520 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
2522 Liars ought to have good memories.
2525 All reformers, however strict their social conscience,
2526 live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
2527 -- Logan Pearsall Smith
2529 I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
2532 I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
2535 The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
2538 If God had meant there to be more than 2 factors of production,
2539 He would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams.
2542 Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.
2545 Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.
2548 If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
2549 -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
2551 A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
2554 The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
2557 Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
2558 -- Joseph Stalin, Speech, 19 April 1923
2560 Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
2561 -- Joseph Stalin, 1935
2563 Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?
2566 Time is the only critic without ambition.
2567 -- John Steinbeck, "Writers at Work', 1977
2569 There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
2570 vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
2573 A hungry man is not a free man.
2576 In America, any boy may become president and I suppose
2577 that's just one of the risks he takes.
2580 Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact
2581 that sometimes he has to eat them.
2584 The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end.
2585 -- Adlai Stevenson, 9 September 1952
2587 The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
2588 -- Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque", 1881
2590 Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness.
2591 Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success.
2592 -- Sting (Gordon Summer), 1980
2594 If God, as some now say, is dead, He no doubt died of trying
2595 to find an equitable solution to the Arab-Jewish problem.
2596 -- I. F. Stone, 1967
2598 Ninety per cent of everything is crap.
2599 -- Theodore Sturgeon
2601 There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy.
2604 Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and
2605 thinking what no one else has thought.
2606 -- Albert Szent-Gyorgi
2608 And you may ask yourself "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
2609 And you may say to yourself "MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
2610 -- The Talking Heads
2612 The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from;
2613 furthermore, if you do not like any of them,
2614 you can just wait for next year's model.
2615 -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
2617 A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, will tell you.
2618 -- Bert Taylor, "The So-Called Human Race", 1922
2620 The hunger for love is much more difficult
2621 to remove than the hunger for bread.
2622 -- Mother Teresa, quoted in "Time", 4 December 1989
2624 El infierno es el lugar donde no se ama.
2625 (Hell is the place where love is not found.)
2628 If you want anything said, ask a man.
2629 If you want anything done, ask a woman.
2630 -- Margaret Thatcher
2632 You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
2633 -- Margaret Thatcher, 1976
2635 Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
2636 the true place for a just man is also a prison.
2637 -- Henry David Thoreau
2639 That government is best which governs least.
2640 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" 1849
2642 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
2643 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
2645 If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
2646 perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
2647 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
2649 The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
2650 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal", 26 September 1859
2652 I think that maybe if women and children
2653 were in charge we would get somewhere.
2656 It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
2659 You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
2660 -- James Thurber, "The Thurber Carnival", 1945
2662 The Law of Raspberry Jam--The wider any culture is spread,
2663 the thinner it gets.
2664 -- Alvin Toffler, "The Culture Consumers", 1964
2666 The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
2669 The function of genius is not to give new answers,
2670 but to pose new questions--which time and mediocrity can solve.
2671 -- Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events"
2673 The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained
2674 by recourse to every form of violence.
2675 -- Leon Trotsky, "Terrorism and Communism", 1924
2677 If you can't convince them, confuse them.
2680 If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
2683 It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
2686 Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
2687 -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
2689 A President cannot always be popular.
2690 -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
2692 It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job;
2693 it's a depression when you lose yours.
2694 -- Harry S. Truman, 1958
2696 Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
2697 -- Harry S. Truman, 1959
2699 The more laws and order are made prominent,
2700 the more thieves and robbers there will be.
2703 Words divide us, action unites us.
2704 -- Slogan of the Tupamaros
2706 If I had any humility I would be perfect.
2709 Man is the only animal that blushes--or needs to.
2712 The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
2715 The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
2718 When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand
2719 to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished
2720 at how much he had learned in seven years.
2723 Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority,
2724 it is time to reform.
2727 Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,
2728 it's time to pause and reflect.
2731 Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.
2732 -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson", 1894
2734 Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy
2735 you must have somebody to divide it with.
2736 -- Mark Twain, "Following the Equator", 1897
2738 Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
2739 -- Mark Twain, Correspondence, 1908
2741 Good politics are often inextricably intertwined.
2742 -- Morris Udall, "Too Funny to Be President", 1988
2744 Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender,
2745 for tomorrow we may have to eat them.
2746 -- Morris Udall, quoted in "Sierra", May/June 1989
2748 To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.
2749 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "The Tragic Sense of Life", 1913
2751 Nada muere, todo baja del rio del tiempo al mar de la eternidad y alli queda.
2752 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Ver con los Ojos y Otros Relatos Novelescos"
2754 No es acaso todo esto un sueno de Dios o de quien sea,
2755 que se desvanecera en cuanto El despierte,
2756 y por eso le rezamos y elevamos a El canticos a himnos,
2757 para adormecerle, para cunar su sueno?
2758 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Niebla", 1914
2760 Nadie tiene mas imaginacion que la realidad.
2761 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "El Espejo de la Muerte", 1941
2763 The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate.
2764 Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does.
2767 Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
2768 (And perhaps at some later date it will be pleasant to remember these things.)
2771 Time is flying never to return.
2774 It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
2777 There's a lot to be said for being noveau riche,
2778 and the Reagans mean to say it all.
2779 -- Gore Vidal, in "The Observer", 1981
2781 A witty saying proves nothing. -- Voltaire
2783 If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. -- Voltaire
2785 Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft...
2786 and the only one that can be mass-produced with unskilled labor.
2787 -- Wernher von Braun
2789 We are what we pretend to be. -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2791 One's company, two's a crowd and three's a party.
2792 -- Andy Warhol, in "Exposures", 1979
2794 The sports page records people's accomplishments;
2795 The front page nothing but their failures.
2796 -- Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren
2798 My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us
2799 to occupy the land until Jesus returns.
2800 -- James Watt, in "The Washington Post", 24 May 1981
2802 If you worry about your customers,
2803 you won't have to worry about money.
2804 -- Les Welch, in "Bicycle USA", March/April 1990
2806 I passionately hate the idea of being with it,
2807 I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
2808 -- Orson Welles, 1966
2810 I never loved another person the way I loved myself. -- Mae West
2812 Too much of a good thing is wonderful. -- Mae West
2814 When choosing between two evils, I always like to take
2815 the one I've never tried before.
2816 -- Mae West, in "Klondike Annie" 1936
2818 Do I contradict myself?
2819 Very well then I contradict myself,
2820 (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
2821 -- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1855
2823 There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
2826 No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
2829 There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
2830 and that is not being talked about.
2833 A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
2834 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
2836 Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them;
2837 sometimes they forgive them.
2838 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
2840 There is no sin except stupidity.
2841 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist", 1891
2843 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
2844 -- Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892
2846 Relations are simply a tedious pack of people,
2847 who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live,
2848 nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
2849 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest", 1895
2851 Hindsight is always 20:20.
2854 Voters do not decide issues. They decide *who* will decide issues.
2855 -- George F. Will, in "Newsweek", 1976
2857 Anyone can hate. It costs to love.
2860 Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
2861 -- Gary Wills, in "New York Times", 1975
2863 Not-really-trying is just as much effort as trying-really-hard.
2864 The only difference... is that not-really-trying receives no reward.
2865 -- A. N. Wilson, "Incline Our Hearts", 1989
2867 If you think nobody cares if you're alive,
2868 try missing a couple of car payments.
2871 You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't
2872 put a few nickels in the machine.
2873 -- Flip Wilson, 1971
2875 Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
2876 -- Jonathan Winters in "The Twilight Zone"
2878 The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
2879 -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
2881 Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses
2882 possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting
2883 the figure of man at twice its natural size.
2884 -- Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", 1929
2886 TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
2887 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
2889 I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.
2892 Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
2893 -- William Butler Yeats
2895 He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage.
2896 -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1968
2898 It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
2901 Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
2904 One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you
2905 only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.
2906 -- Frank Zappa, 1979
2908 Progress might be a circle, rather than a straight line.
2909 -- Eberhard Zeidler, in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
2911 Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a
2912 mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and
2913 wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as
2914 long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch,
2915 you know." He started telling his story, about the treasure
2916 and his life and all, and I thought "This story isn't too long".
2917 But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this
2918 story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said
2919 to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all".
2920 I forgot what the story was about, but there was a good movie
2921 on the plane. It was a little long though.
2922 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2924 I believe in making the world safe for our children,
2925 but not for our children's children, because i don't
2926 believe children should be having sex.
2927 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2929 In weightlifting, I don't think that sudden uncontrolled urination should
2930 automatically disqualify you.
2931 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2933 Blow ye winds, like the trumpet blows, but without that noise.
2934 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2936 When the age of the Vikings came to a close, they must have sensed it.
2937 Probably, they gathered together one evening, slapped each other on the
2938 back and said, "Hey, good job".
2939 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2941 I can still recall old Mister Barnslow getting out every morning and nailing
2942 a fresh load of tadpoles to that old board of his. Then he'd spin it round
2943 and round, like a wheel of fortune, and no matter where it stopped he'd yell
2944 out, "Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!" We all thought he was crazy. But
2945 then, we had some growing up to do.
2946 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2948 If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land,
2949 because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the
2950 impression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we
2951 would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless
2952 a tramp's gyrations seemed to be getting out of control.
2953 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2955 I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula
2956 _and_ Superman away.
2957 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2959 Too bad you can't just grab a tree by the very tiptop and bend it clear to
2960 the ground and then let her fly, because I bet you'd be amazed at all the
2961 stuff that comes flying out.
2962 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2964 I remember that fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew
2966 "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I am off the team, aren't I?"
2967 "Well," said the coach, "You never were really _on_ the team. You
2968 made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet
2969 is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the
2970 ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at
2971 inappropriate times."
2972 It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought, something is
2973 brewing inside the head of the coach. He sees something inside of me,
2974 some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the
2976 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2978 When I heard that trees grow a new "ring" for each year they live, I thought,
2979 we humans are kind of like that; we grow a new layer of skin each year; and
2980 after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all our skin layers.
2981 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2983 If you're in a boxing match, try not to let the other guy's glove touch your
2984 lips, because you don't know where that glove has been.
2985 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2987 It's too bad that whole families have been torn apart by something as
2988 simple as wild dogs.
2989 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2991 Marta says the interesting thing about fly fishing is that it's two lives
2992 connected by a thin strand. Come on, Marta. Grow up.
2993 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2995 The old pool shooter had many a game in his life. But now it was time to
2996 hang up the cue. When he did, all the other cues came crashing to the floor.
2997 "Sorry," he said with a smile.
2998 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3000 If I ever do a book on the Amazon, I hope I am able to bring a certain
3001 lightheartedness to the subject, in a way that tells the reader we are going
3002 to have fun with this thing.
3003 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3005 Even though he was an enemy of mine, I had to admit that what he had
3006 accomplished was a brillant piece of stratagy. First, he punched me, then
3007 he kicked me, then he punched me again.
3008 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3010 The sound of fresh rain run-off splashing from the roof reminded me of the
3011 sound of urine splashing into a filthy Texaco latrine.
3012 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3014 I think somebody should come up with a way to breed a very
3015 large shrimp. That way, you could ride him, then, after you
3016 camped at night, you could eat him. How about it, science?
3017 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3019 I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was
3020 fun," I said. "You bet it was", said Nick. "Lets climb higher." "No," I
3021 said, "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick
3022 insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth
3023 like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't
3024 say it was an interesting story.
3025 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3027 Some folks say it was a miracle. Saint Francis suddenly appeared and knocked
3028 the pitch clean over the fence. But I think it was just a lucky swing.
3029 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3031 Too bad there's not such a thing as a _golden_ skunk, because you'd probably
3032 be _proud_ to be sprayed by one.
3033 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3035 To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same
3036 time unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I
3037 can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing". This is truth, to me.
3038 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3040 I bet a fun thing would be to go way back in time to where there was going to
3041 be an eclipse and tell the cave men, "If I have come to destroy you, may the
3042 sun be blotted out from the sky". Just then the eclipse would start, and
3043 they'd probably try to kill you or something, but then you could explain about
3044 the rotation of the moon and all, and everyone would get a good laugh.
3045 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3047 I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like
3048 people that do what I say.
3049 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3051 Today I accidentally stepped on a snail on the sidewalk in front of our
3052 house. And I thought, I too am like that snail. I build a defensive wall
3053 around myself, a "shell" if you will. But my shell isn't made out of a hard,
3054 protective substance. Mine is made out of tinfoil and paper bags.
3055 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3057 A man doesn't automatically get my respect. He has to get down in the dirt
3059 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3061 If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't
3062 stop and start thinking of what other words have "under" in them, because
3063 that's probably the first sign of jungle madness.
3064 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3066 Sometimes the beauty of the world is so overwhelming, I just want to throw
3067 back my head and gargle. Just gargle and gargle, and I don't care who hears
3068 me, because I am beautiful.
3069 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3071 Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an
3072 astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into
3073 Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!!, you just
3074 slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and
3075 say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."
3076 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3078 I wish scientists would come up with a way to make a dogs a lot bigger, but
3079 with a smaller head. That way, they'd still be good as watchdogs, but they
3080 wouldn't eat so much.
3081 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3083 I bet for an Indian, shooting an old fat pioneer woman in the back with an
3084 arrow, and she fires her shotgun into the ground as she falls over, is like
3085 the top thing you can do.
3086 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3088 I think a good movie would be about a guy who's a brain scientist but he gets
3089 hit on the head and it damages the part of the brain that makes you want
3091 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3093 I wouldn't be surprised if someday some fishermen caught a big shark and cut
3094 it open, and there inside was a whole person. Then they cut the person open,
3095 and in him is a little baby shark. And in the baby shark there isn't a
3096 person, because it would be too small. But there's a little doll or
3097 something, like a Johnny Combat little toy guy--something like that.
3098 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3100 It makes me mad when I go to all the trouble of having Marta cook up about
3101 a hundred drumsticks, then the guy at Marineland says, "You can't throw
3102 chicken to the dolphins. They eat fish." Sure they eat fish, if that is all
3103 you give them. Man, wise up.
3104 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3106 If the Vikings were around today, they would probably be amazed at how much
3107 glow-in-the-dark stuff we have, and how we take so much of it for granted.
3108 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3110 It's not good to let any kid near a container that has a skull and
3111 crossbones on it, because there might be a skeleton costume inside and the
3112 kid could put it on and really scare you.
3113 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3115 If you had a school for professional fireworks people, I don't think you
3116 could cover fuses in just one class. It's just too rich a subject.
3117 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3119 People think it would be fun to be a bird because you could fly. But they
3120 forget the negative side, which is the preening.
3121 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3123 If I lived back in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my
3124 holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy
3125 said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started
3126 laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's
3127 right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody
3128 would be real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron
3129 of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
3130 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3132 When I think back on all the blessings I have been given in my life, I can't
3133 think of a single one, unless you count that rattlesnake that granted me
3135 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3137 I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people,
3138 because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot.
3139 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3141 Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, "Aw,
3142 who cares?" And then I think "Hey, what's for supper?"
3143 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3145 If you ever discover that what you're seeing is a play within a play, just
3146 slow down, take a deep breath, and hold on for the ride of your life.
3147 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3149 I can see why it would be prohibited to throw most things off the top of
3150 the Empire State Building, but what's wrong with little bits of cheese?
3151 They probably break down into their various gases before they even hit.
3152 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3154 If you're a circus clown, and you have a dog that you use in your act, I
3155 don't think it's a good idea to to dress the dog up like a clown, because
3156 people see that and they think, "Forgive me, but that's just too much".
3157 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3159 Here's a good joke to do during an earthquake: straddle a big crack in the
3160 ground, and if it opens wider, go "Whoa! Whoa!" and flail your arms around,
3161 like you're going to fall in.
3162 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3164 If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people
3165 do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be suprised.
3166 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3168 It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe
3169 it was like an angry rabbit, who was running to go fight in another fight,
3170 away from the first fight.
3171 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3173 I think a good way to get into a movie is to show up where they're making the
3174 movie, then stick a big cactus plant onto your buttocks and start yowling
3175 and running around. Everyone would think it was funny, and the head movie guy
3176 would say, "Hey, let's put him in the movie."
3177 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3179 Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them
3180 "impressions", and if you got a different "impression", so what, can't we
3182 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3184 If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes
3185 enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!
3186 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3188 Probably to a shark, about the funniest thing there is a wounded seal,
3189 trying to swim to shore, because _where_does_he_think_he's_going_?!
3190 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3192 Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday
3193 be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the
3194 greatest works of genius ever created by Man.
3195 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3197 Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine,
3198 which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
3199 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3201 Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself:
3202 "Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words--"mank" and "ind."
3203 What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
3204 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3206 I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't
3207 just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good
3209 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3211 It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at
3213 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3215 I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him,
3216 and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin
3218 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3220 I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is
3221 they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then,
3222 when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was
3224 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3226 The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
3227 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3229 Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite
3230 and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny
3231 plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like
3233 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3235 I'd rather be rich than stupid.
3236 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3238 If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors
3239 came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a
3240 good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me."
3241 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3243 If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger,
3244 screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave Man, I
3246 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3248 I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture,
3249 is the story of Popeye.
3250 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3252 When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they
3254 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3256 To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography,
3257 and the dancers hit each other.
3258 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3260 What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a
3261 solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.
3262 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3264 We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at
3265 them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
3266 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3268 Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of
3269 striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
3270 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3272 I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was
3273 free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending
3274 he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.
3275 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3277 To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've
3278 wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to
3279 the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
3280 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3282 As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was
3283 very pleasurable-until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN
3285 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3287 Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been
3288 painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a
3289 child look like a deer.
3290 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3292 If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We
3293 might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
3294 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3296 Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head
3297 out when you're coming home his face might burn up.
3298 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3300 You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes
3301 people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
3302 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3304 Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm
3305 myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell.
3306 When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on
3307 the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with
3308 a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no
3310 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3312 If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets
3313 right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.
3314 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3316 If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep
3317 the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to
3319 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3321 If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe
3322 you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey,
3324 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3326 I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet
3327 you can really see it in those genitals.
3328 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3330 Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's
3331 neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because
3333 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3335 He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he
3336 made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she
3337 disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to
3338 dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he
3339 told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."
3340 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3342 The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I
3343 remember we'd all pile into the car-I forget what kind it was-and drive and
3344 drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there.
3345 The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we
3346 played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff,
3347 or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
3348 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3350 If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is
3351 "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to
3352 tell him is "probably because of something you did."
3353 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3355 Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is
3356 not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an
3357 elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
3358 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3360 As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Martha said
3361 it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in
3362 her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a
3363 joke-- just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy!
3364 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3366 One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my
3367 little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out
3368 warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried,
3369 but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started
3370 to drive over to the the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
3371 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3373 If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flipper, which one would you think
3374 liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong,
3375 though. It's Hambone.
3376 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3378 Laurie got offended because I used the word "puke."
3379 But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.
3380 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3382 We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we
3383 wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with a whore he
3385 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3387 I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to
3388 town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.
3389 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3391 As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I
3392 thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and
3393 how I named him Flint.
3394 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3396 If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real
3397 embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.
3398 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3400 Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first
3401 instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell
3402 on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
3403 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3405 If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and your friends
3406 are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were
3408 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3410 When I was a kid, my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school
3411 we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of
3412 us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
3413 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3415 I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're
3416 sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.
3417 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3419 Another major social development of the time was the Temperance
3420 Movement, led by Carrie Nation, who headed an organization called
3421 Scary Looking Women with Hatchets. They would swoop down upon saloons
3422 and smash all the whiskey bottles, then go back to their headquarters,
3423 fire up reefers as big as Roman candles, and laugh until dawn. This
3424 resulted in so much social turmoil that in 1918 Congress decided to
3425 have a total prohibition on alcohol, which was approved early on a
3426 Saturday morning by a vote of 9-2, with 416 members unable to attend
3427 because of severe headaches. Thus began the nation's "Noble
3428 Experiment," which was eventually judged to be a noble failure and
3429 replaced by the current sensible and coherent alcohol policy of
3430 showing public-service TV announcements wherein professional sports
3431 figures urge people not to drink, interspersed with TV commercials
3432 wherein professional sports figures urge people to drink.
3433 -- from "Dave Barry Slept Here", 1989
3437 The Tao that can be known is not Tao.
3438 The substance of the World is only a name for Tao.
3439 Tao is all that exists and may exist;
3440 The World is only a map of what exists and may exist.
3442 One experiences without Self to sense the World;
3443 One experiences with Self to understand the World.
3444 The two experiences are the same within Tao;
3445 They are distinct only within the World.
3446 Neither experience conveys Tao
3447 Which is infinitely greater and subtler than the World.
3451 When Beauty is ascribed to the World
3452 Ugliness has been learned;
3453 When Good is ascribed to the World
3454 Evil has been learned.
3457 Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;
3458 Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;
3459 Long and short are abstracted from contrast;
3460 High and low are abstracted from position;
3461 Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;
3462 After and before are abstracted from sequence.
3464 For this reason the sage controls without instruction,
3465 And teaches without words.
3466 He lets all things rise and fall,
3467 Nurtures, but does not interfere,
3468 Gives without demanding,
3471 3. Control without Action
3473 Not praising the worthy prevents cheating
3474 Not esteeming the rare prevents theft
3475 Not flaunting beauty prevents lust
3477 So the sage controls people by:
3478 Emptying their hearts,
3479 Filling their bellies,
3480 Weakening their ambitions,
3481 And strengthening their bodies.
3483 If people lack knowledge and desire
3484 The crafty among them can not act;
3485 If no action is taken
3486 Then all live in peace.
3488 4. Properties of Tao
3490 Tao is a depthless vessel;
3491 Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
3492 It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
3493 Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
3494 I don't know where it came from,
3495 But it came before Nature.
3500 It treats all things impartially.
3501 The Sage is not kind,
3502 And treats all people impartially.
3504 Nature is like a bellows
3505 Empty, yet supplying all needs,
3506 The more it moves, the more it yields;
3507 The sage draws upon Tao in the same way
3508 And so can not be exhausted.
3512 Like a riverbed, the heart is never filled
3513 It is an ineffable female
3514 Whose entrance is the root of the World;
3515 Tao is ever present within it:
3516 Draw upon it and it will never fail.
3520 Nature is everlasting
3521 Because it does not have a Self.
3523 In the same way the sage
3524 Serves his Self last and finds it served first,
3525 Regards his body as accidental and finds it endures;
3526 Because his Self does not require service
3531 The best of man is like water,
3532 Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
3533 Which flows in places that others disdain,
3534 Where it holds fast to Tao.
3537 In dwelling holds fast to the land,
3538 In feeling holds fast to the heart,
3539 In dealing holds fast to men,
3540 In talking holds fast to truth,
3541 In governing holds fast to order,
3542 In crafting holds fast to competence,
3543 In acting holds fast to opportunity;
3544 So he does not contend, and is without blame.
3548 Stretch a bow to its limit and it is soon broken;
3549 Temper a blade to its sharpest and it is soon blunted;
3550 Amass the greatest treasure and it is soon stolen;
3551 Claim credit and honour and you will soon fall;
3552 Retire once your purpose is achieved--this is the best way.
3556 Embracing Tao, can you become embraced?
3557 Supple, breathing gently, can you become newborn?
3558 Clearing your vision, can you become clear?
3559 Nurturing your beloved, can you become impartial?
3560 Opening your heart, can you become female?
3561 Knowing the world, can you embrace Tao?
3563 Bearing and nurturing,
3564 Creating but not owning,
3565 Giving without demanding,
3566 Controlling without authority.
3569 11. Wealth and Worth
3571 Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
3572 Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
3573 Clay is moulded into a vessel;
3574 Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
3575 Walls are built around a hearth
3576 Because of the doors we may use the house.
3577 Thus wealth comes from what is,
3578 But worth from what is not.
3582 Too much color blinds the eye
3583 Too much tone deafens the ear
3584 Too much taste dulls the palate
3585 Too much play maddens the mind
3586 Too much desire tears the heart.
3588 The sage provides for the belly but not for the senses;
3589 He lets go of sensation and accepts substance.
3593 The mythic masters said: "Praise and blame cause anxiety;
3594 The objects of hope and fear are within your Self."
3596 "Praise and blame cause anxiety"
3597 For you must hope and fear to receive or to lose them.
3599 "The objects of hope and fear are within your Self"
3600 For, without Self, neither fortune nor disaster can befall.
3603 He who regards the World as the Self is able to control the World;
3604 He who loves the World as the Self is able to nurture the World.
3606 14. The Continuity of Tao
3608 Looked at but cannot be seen--it is beyond form;
3609 Listened to but cannot be heard--it is beyond sound;
3610 Grasped at but cannot be touched--it is beyond reach;
3611 Depthless things evade definition,
3612 And blend into a single mystery.
3614 In its rising there is no light,
3615 In its falling there is no darkness,
3616 A continuous thread beyond description,
3617 Lining what can not exist,
3621 Meet it, it has no face,
3622 Follow it, it has no back.
3624 Understand the past, but attend the present;
3625 In this way you know the continuity of Tao,
3626 Which is its essence.
3628 15. The Mythic Masters
3630 The Mythic Masters of Tao had understanding
3631 So profound they can not be understood.
3633 Because they cannot be understood
3634 I can only describe their appearance:
3635 Cautious, like one crossing thin ice,
3636 Hesitant, like one who fears danger,
3637 Modest, like one who is a guest,
3638 Smooth, like melting ice,
3639 Genuine, like unshaped wood,
3640 Empty, like a riverbed,
3641 Opaque, like muddy water.
3643 He who can lie still while the mud settles,
3644 And remain still until the water flows
3645 Does not seek fulfillment
3646 And may transcend Nature.
3648 16. Transcending Nature
3650 Empty the Self completely;
3651 Embrace perfect peace.
3652 The World will rise and move;
3653 Watch it return to rest.
3654 All the flourishing things
3655 Will return to their source.
3657 This return is peaceful;
3658 It is the way of Nature,
3659 An eternal decay and renewal.
3660 Understanding this brings enlightenment,
3661 Ignorance of this brings misery.
3663 Who understands Nature's way becomes all-cherishing;
3664 Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
3665 Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
3666 Being magnanimous he becomes part of Nature;
3667 Being part of Nature he becomes one with Tao;
3668 Being one with Tao he becomes immortal:
3669 Though his body will decay, Tao will not.
3673 The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
3674 The next best are loved and praised;
3675 The next are feared;
3677 They have no faith in their subjects,
3678 So their subjects become unfaithful to them.
3680 When the best kings achieve their purpose
3681 Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
3685 When Tao is forgotten
3686 Duty and justice arise;
3687 Then wisdom and sagacity are born
3688 Along with hypocrisy.
3690 When family relationships dissolve
3691 Then respect and devotion arise;
3692 When a nation falls to chaos
3693 Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
3697 If we could discard wisdom and sagacity
3698 Then people would profit a hundredfold;
3699 If we could discard duty and justice
3700 Then loving relationships would form;
3701 If we could discard artifice and profit
3702 Then corruption and theft would disappear -
3703 Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
3704 And so are inadequate.
3706 People need personal remedies:
3707 Reveal your naked Self,
3708 Embrace your original nature,
3709 Bind your self-interest,
3710 Control your desire.
3714 I know nothing and nothing troubles me.
3715 I see no difference between yes and no.
3716 I see no difference between good and evil.
3717 I do not fear what the people fear in the night.
3719 The people are merry as if at a tremendous party
3720 Or playing in the park at springtime;
3721 But I am tranquil and wandering,
3722 Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
3723 Lonely, with no true home.
3725 The people have enough and to spare,
3727 And my heart is foolish,
3730 The people are bright and certain,
3731 Where I am dim and confused;
3732 The people are clever and wise,
3733 Where I am dull and ignorant,
3734 Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
3735 Attached to nothing.
3737 The people are busy with purpose,
3738 Where I am impractical and uncouth.
3739 I am apart from all other people
3740 Yet I am sustained by Nature, their mother.
3742 21. Expressions of Tao
3744 Love is expressed by following Tao.
3746 Tao is evasive and intangible
3747 But expresses all form and substance;
3748 Tao is dark and subtle
3749 But expresses Nature;
3750 Nature is unchanging,
3751 But expresses sensation.
3753 Since before knowledge
3754 Tao has expressed these things.
3756 By faith in my senses.
3758 22. Contention and Contentment
3760 Accept and you become whole,
3761 Bend and you straighten,
3763 Decay and you renew,
3764 Want and you acquire,
3765 Fulfill and you become confused.
3767 The sage embraces the one
3768 As the World embraces Tao;
3769 He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
3770 Does not justify himself, so is famed,
3771 Does not boast, so is credited,
3772 Does not glory, so excels,
3773 Does not contend, and so no one contends against him.
3775 The mythic masters said, "Accept and you become whole",
3776 Once whole, the World is your home.
3780 Nature says only a few words:
3781 High wind does not last long,
3782 Nor does heavy rain.
3783 If Nature's words do not last
3784 Why should those of man?
3786 To follow Tao, become Tao; Tao will embrace you.
3787 To give love, become love; love will embrace you.
3788 To lose Tao, become lost; loss will embrace you.
3789 You must trust in order to be trusted.
3793 If you stand on tiptoe you can not stand steady;
3794 If you stride too long you can not stride well;
3795 If you display yourself you can not be clearly seen;
3796 If you justify yourself you can not be respected;
3797 If you promote yourself you can not be believed;
3798 If you pride yourself you can not excel.
3799 These behaviours are dregs and tumors,
3800 Disgusting things avoided by love.
3802 25. Four Infinities.
3804 Before the World exists
3808 Ubiquitous and ever moving,
3809 The mother of the World.
3810 I can not know its name, so I call it Tao;
3811 I can not know its limit, so I call it infinite.
3813 Being infinite, it flows away forever
3814 Flowing away forever, it will return to the Self.
3816 For the Self follows the way of the World
3817 The World follows the way of Nature
3818 And Nature follows the way of Tao.
3822 Therefore Nature is infinite,
3823 Therefore the World is infinite,
3824 Therefore the Self is infinite.
3825 There are four infinities,
3826 And the Self is one of them.
3828 26. Gravity and Calm
3830 Gravity is the root of Lightness,
3831 Calm, the master of Haste
3833 The commander of a great fleet should not act lightly or hastily.
3834 Acting lightly, he loses touch with the World,
3835 Acting hastily, he loses control of the Self.
3837 The sage will travel all day without losing his vehicles.
3838 Surrounded by desirable things,
3839 He remains calm and unattached.
3843 A good traveller leaves no trail to be followed
3844 A good speaker leaves no questions to be asked
3845 A good accountant leaves no workings to be checked
3846 A good container leaves no lock to be opened
3847 A good fastener leaves no knots to be unravelled
3849 So the sage nurtures all men
3850 And abandons no one.
3851 He accepts everything
3852 And rejects nothing.
3853 He attends to the smallest details.
3855 So the strong must guide the weak,
3856 For the weak are raw material to the strong.
3857 If the guide is not respected
3858 Or the material is not nurtured
3859 Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
3860 This is the essence of subtlety.
3862 28. Being the Female
3864 Knowing the male, being the female,
3865 Being the course through which flows the World,
3866 One possesses unfailing Love
3867 And exists again as a newborn.
3869 Knowing the light, being the dark,
3871 One becomes unerring Love
3874 Knowing honour, being humble,
3875 Being the valley of the World,
3877 And one becomes as unshaped wood.
3879 When wood is shaped it becomes tools.
3880 Used by the sage, tools become powerful;
3881 A good carpenter wastes little.
3885 Those who wish to change the World
3886 According with their desire
3889 The World is shaped by Tao;
3890 It cannot be shaped by the Self.
3891 If one tries to shape it, one damages it;
3892 If one tries to possess it, one loses it.
3895 Sometimes things will flourish,
3896 And sometimes they will not.
3897 Sometimes life is hard
3898 And sometimes it is easy.
3899 Sometimes people are strong
3900 And sometimes they are weak.
3901 Sometimes you get where you are going
3902 And sometimes you fall by the way.
3904 The sage is never extreme, extravagant, or complacent.
3908 Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
3909 For violence has a habit of returning;
3910 Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
3911 And lean years follow a great war.
3913 A general is well advised
3914 To achieve nothing more than his orders,
3915 No matter how strong his army;
3916 To carry out his orders
3917 But not glory, boast or be proud;
3918 To do what is dictated by necessity,
3919 But not by bloodlust;
3920 For even the fiercest force will weaken with time,
3921 And then its violence will return, and kill it.
3923 31. Tools of Violence
3925 Soldiers are tools of violence, feared by all;
3926 The sage will not employ them.
3927 His purpose is creation;
3928 Their purpose is destruction.
3930 Weapons are tools of violence, not of the wise man;
3931 He uses them when there is no choice
3932 For he values peace and tact,
3933 And does not delight in conquest.
3935 For who delights in conquest
3936 Delights in the slaughter of men;
3937 Who delights in the slaughter of men
3938 Cannot control them.
3940 Slaughters should be mourned
3941 And conquest should be celebrated with a funeral.
3945 Tao has no true definition.
3946 Like unshaped wood, it has no use;
3947 If a ruler understands this
3948 His whole country flourishes and obeys
3949 In harmony with his Self,
3950 Just as sweet rain falls
3951 Needing no instruction
3952 To slake the thirst of all.
3954 When Tao is shaped by use,
3955 The shape gains a name in the World;
3956 One should not keep too many names
3957 Lest their shapes stop up the Self;
3958 Instead let Tao flow through the Self into the World
3959 As water courses down a riverbed into the sea.
3963 He who understands the World is learned;
3964 He who understands the Self is enlightened.
3965 He who conquers the World has strength;
3966 He who conquers the Self has love.
3967 He who is contented has riches;
3968 He who is determined has purpose.
3969 He who maintains his home will long endure
3970 He who maintains his influence will live long after death.
3972 34. Tao Favours Nothing
3974 Infinite Tao flows everywhere, creating and destroying,
3975 Implementing all the World, attending to the tiniest details,
3976 Claiming nothing in return.
3978 It nurtures all things,
3979 Though it does not control them;
3981 So it seems inconsequential.
3983 It is the substance of all things;
3984 Though it does not control them;
3986 So it seems all-important.
3988 Because it favours no finite thing,
3993 Tao lacks art and flavour;
3994 It can neither be seen nor heard,
3995 Yet its application cannot be exhausted.
3997 So, if you offer music and food
3998 Strangers may stop with you;
3999 But if you accord with the shape of Tao
4000 The people of the World will keep you
4001 In safety, health, community, and peace.
4005 To reduce someone's influence, first cause it to expand;
4006 To reduce someone's force, first cause it to increase;
4007 To overthrow someone, first cause them to be exalted;
4008 To take something from someone, first give it to them.
4010 This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong,
4011 For fish should not leave their depths;
4012 And soldiers should not leave their camouflage.
4014 37. Quieting the Heart
4016 Tao does not act, yet leaves nothing undone.
4017 If the Self understands this
4018 All things of the World will naturally flourish;
4019 Flourishing, they will be restrained by Nature.
4021 Nature does not possess desire;
4022 Without desire, the heart becomes quiet,
4023 And so the whole World may be made tranquil.
4027 The kind act without self-interest;
4028 The just act to serve self-interest;
4029 The religious act to reproduce self-interest.
4031 When Tao is lost, there is love;
4032 When love is lost, there is kindness;
4033 When kindness is lost, there is justice;
4034 And when justice is lost, there is religion.
4036 Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
4037 Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
4038 So religions enthrall generation after generation.
4040 Religion is the dissolution of love and trust,
4041 The beginning of confusion.
4042 Belief is a colourful hope or fear,
4043 The origin of folly.
4045 The sage goes by knowledge, not by hope;
4046 He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
4047 He accepts the former, and rejects the latter.
4051 In mythic times things were whole:
4052 All the sky was clear,
4053 All the earth was stable,
4054 All the mountains were strong,
4055 All the riverbeds were full,
4056 All of nature was alive,
4057 All the rulers were supported.
4059 For without clarity the sky tears;
4060 Without stability the earth cracks;
4061 Without strength the mountain collapses;
4062 Without water the riverbed stagnates;
4063 Without life nature dies back;
4064 And without support rulers fall.
4066 So the ruler depends upon his subjects,
4067 The noble depend upon the humble;
4068 Rulers call themselves orphaned, lonely or disabled,
4069 To win the people's sympathy,
4070 For wholeness gains no support.
4072 So there is weakness in power,
4073 And power in weakness;
4074 Rather than tinkle like jade,
4075 One should clatter like stones.
4077 40. Application of Tao
4079 The motion of Tao is to return;
4080 The use of Tao is to accept;
4081 All things are made of Tao,
4082 And Tao is made of nothing.
4086 When the strong learn Tao, they practice it diligently;
4087 When the average learn Tao, they practice it sometimes;
4088 When the weak learn Tao, they laugh out loud;
4089 Those who do not laugh do not learn at all.
4091 Therefore is it said:
4092 Who understands Tao seems foolish;
4093 Who progresses in Tao seems to fail;
4094 Who follows Tao seems to wander.
4096 For the greatest force appears vulnerable;
4097 The brightest truth appears coloured;
4098 The richest character appears incomplete;
4099 The strongest heart appears meek;
4100 The most beautiful nature appears fickle;
4102 For the square, perfected, has no corner;
4103 Art, perfected, has no meaning;
4104 Sex, perfected, has no climax;
4105 Form, perfected, has no shape.
4107 So Tao can not be sensed or known:
4108 It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
4113 Love bears restraint;
4114 Restraint bears acceptance;
4115 Acceptance bears the World;
4116 All things begin with love and end with restraint,
4117 But it is acceptance that brings harmony.
4119 As others teach, I teach:
4120 "Those without harmony end with violence";
4123 43. Overcoming the Impossible
4125 The soft overcomes the hard;
4126 The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
4127 Therefore I value taking no action.
4129 Teaching without words,
4130 Work without action,
4131 Are understood by no one.
4135 Fame or Self: which is dearer?
4136 Self or wealth: which is more valuable?
4137 Profit or loss: which is more torturous?
4139 Great love incurs great expense,
4140 And great wealth incurs great theft,
4141 But great contentment incurs no loss.
4144 He who knows when to stop
4145 Does not continue into danger,
4146 And may long endure.
4150 Great perfection seems imperfect,
4152 Great abundance seems empty,
4155 Great truth seems contradictory;
4156 Great cleverness seems stupid;
4157 Great eloquence seems awkward.
4159 Action overcomes contentment,
4160 But stillness overcomes desire;
4161 Therefore calm and quiet control the World.
4165 When the World is not in accord with Tao,
4166 Horses bear soldiers through the countryside;
4167 When the World is in accord with Tao,
4168 Horses bear horse-manure through the countryside.
4170 There is no greater curse than desire;
4171 There is no greater misery than discontent;
4172 There is no greater ailment than greed;
4173 He who is content to be content shall always be content.
4175 47. Knowledge and Experience
4177 Without taking a step outdoors
4178 You know the whole World.
4179 Without taking a look out the window
4180 You see the colour of the sky.
4182 The more you experience,
4184 The sage wanders without knowing,
4185 Looks without seeing,
4186 Accomplishes without acting.
4190 The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
4191 The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.
4193 By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
4194 Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
4196 To conquer the world, do nothing;
4197 If you must do something,
4198 The world remains beyond conquest.
4200 49. The Worlds of Others
4202 The sage does not distinguish between Self and World;
4203 Therefore the needs of people in the World are as his own.
4205 He is good to those who are good;
4206 He is also good to those who are not good;
4207 For love is goodness.
4208 He trusts those who are trustworthy;
4209 He also trusts those who are not trustworthy;
4212 He is in harmony with the World;
4213 Therefore he nurtures the Worlds of others
4214 As a mother does her children.
4218 Death enters life as man enters woman.
4221 Thirty years of growth;
4222 Thirty years of decay;
4223 Thirty years inbetween;
4224 So death and life reproduce themselves.
4226 He who would prolong his life
4227 Will not meet tigers or rhinoceri in the wilds,
4228 Nor soldiers in battle
4229 So the rhinoceros sees no place in him for its horn,
4230 The tiger no place for its claw,
4231 The soldier no place for a weapon;
4232 So death finds no place to enter his life.
4239 Circumstance completes us.
4241 We worship Tao and honour love;
4242 For worship of Tao and honour of love
4243 Are performed just by being alive.
4246 Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
4247 Shelters, comforts and makes a home for us.
4249 Making without controlling,
4250 Giving without demanding,
4251 Guiding without interfering,
4252 Helping without profiting,
4257 The origins of the World are its mother;
4258 Know the mother, and you understand the child;
4259 Know the child, and you embrace the mother,
4260 Who will not perish when you die.
4262 Reserve your judgments and words
4263 And you maintain your influence;
4264 Draw conclusions and speak your mind
4265 And your cause is lost.
4267 As seeing detail is clarity,
4268 So maintaining tact is strength;
4269 Keep your eyes and mind open
4270 So that you may not regret your actions;
4275 With but a small understanding
4276 One may follow Tao like a main road,
4277 Fearing only to leave it;
4278 Following a main road is easy,
4279 But being sidetracked is also easy.
4281 For when palaces are kept up
4282 Fields are left to weeds
4283 And granaries empty.
4285 Wearing fine clothes,
4286 Bearing sharp swords,
4287 Glutting with food and drink,
4288 Hoarding wealth and possessions -
4289 These are the ways of theft
4290 And deviations from Tao.
4294 Love does not think of love
4295 For this reason is it strong;
4297 Yet leaves nothing undone.
4298 Desire is intent upon love
4299 For this reason is it weak;
4301 Yet gets nothing done.
4303 Nurture love in the Self, and love will be genuine;
4304 Nurture love in the family, and love will be abundant;
4305 Nurture love in the community, and love will multiply;
4306 Nurture love in the culture, and love will flourish;
4307 Nurture love in the World, and love will be ubiquitous.
4310 Judge a person by their love;
4311 Judge a family by its love;
4312 Judge a community by its love;
4313 Judge a culture by its love;
4314 Judge the World by its love.
4315 How can I know the love of the World?
4320 Who is filled with love is like a newborn.
4321 Wasps will not sting him;
4322 Tigers will not eat him;
4323 Hawks will not tear out his eyes.
4325 His bones are soft, yet his sinews are supple,
4326 So his grip is strong;
4327 He has no wife, yet his manhood is healthy,
4328 So his vigour is unspoiled;
4329 He sings all day yet his voice remains sweet
4330 So his harmony is perfect.
4332 To approach Nature is to know harmony;
4333 To achieve Nature is to be enlightened;
4334 But to surpass Nature invites calamity
4335 For emotion will burst the lungs
4336 And exhaustion will age the heart:
4337 The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
4341 He who knows does not speak;
4342 He who speaks does not know.
4344 Reserve your judgments and words;
4345 Dull your wit and simplify your purpose;
4346 Be humble as earth and a part of Nature.
4349 Friendship and enmity,
4351 Honour and disgrace,
4352 Will not affect you.
4353 The impartial Self is of most benefit to the World.
4357 A nation is best governed by innocence;
4358 A war is best waged by treachery;
4359 The World is best controlled by inaction;
4363 The more property and taxes there are,
4364 The more poverty prevails;
4365 The more guns and knives there are,
4366 The more chaos prevails;
4367 The more arts and sciences there are,
4368 The more deceit prevails;
4369 The more rules and regulations there are,
4370 The more theft prevails.
4372 Therefore the sage says:
4373 I take no action, and the people become civilized;
4374 I wage no war, and the people become just;
4375 I transact no business, and the people become wealthy;
4376 I have no desire, and the people become innocent.
4380 When government is lazy and blunt
4381 The people are kind and honest;
4382 When government is efficient and severe
4383 The people are discontented and deceitful.
4385 Misery may yield happiness;
4386 Happiness may conceal misery.
4387 Who can say which will be for the best?
4388 Nothing is straightforward.
4389 Honesty is ever corrupted;
4390 Kindness is ever seduced;
4391 Men have been like this for a long time.
4393 So the sage is firm but not cutting,
4394 Pointed but not piercing,
4395 Straight but not inflexible,
4396 Brilliant but not blinding.
4400 Manage a great nation
4401 As you would cook a delicate fish.
4403 When directing men to a purpose
4404 The sage is restrained;
4405 Restraint allows time to prepare and strengthen,
4406 To build loving relationships;
4407 With sufficient strength and love all resistance is overcome;
4408 When all resistance is overcome his purpose is achieved.
4410 Who can achieve his purpose is able to direct men
4411 And his influence upon them long endures.
4412 Deeply rooted and firmly established,
4413 His vision lives on even after death.
4417 Because the sage follows Tao his emotions do no hurt;
4418 It is not that they lose their power;
4419 But that they do not hurt others;
4420 Because they do not hurt others,
4421 He does not hurt others:
4422 Because his emotions do no hurt,
4423 His relations with people are loving.
4425 61. International Relations
4427 A nation acts as a hierarchy, a meeting place, and a female.
4428 A female seduces a male by being cool,
4429 Being cool is a means of submission.
4431 If a large country submits to a small country
4432 It will seduce the small country;
4433 If a small country submits to a large country
4434 It will seduce the large country;
4435 The large will submit in order to control
4436 And the small will submit in order to prosper.
4439 It is in the interests of a large country to give shelter,
4440 And in the interests of a small country to give service;
4441 If both would achieve their purposes,
4446 Tao is the source of all things,
4447 The treasure of the saint,
4448 And the refuge of the sinner.
4450 Fine words win honour
4451 And fine acts win respect,
4452 But if a man sins, do not abandon him;
4453 And if a man wins power, do not bribe him;
4454 Just be still and present accordance with Tao.
4456 Why do saints treasure Tao?
4457 Because it is easily found by seeking,
4458 And absolves every sin.
4459 It is the most valuable gift.
4461 63. Confront Difficulty
4464 Attend to do-nothing;
4465 Taste the flavorless,
4468 Return love for hate.
4470 Deal with difficulty while it is yet easy;
4471 Deal with the great while it is yet small;
4473 The difficult develops naturally from the easy
4474 And the great from the small;
4475 So the sage, by dealing with the small
4478 He who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to deliver;
4479 He who takes things lightly makes things hard;
4480 The sage confronts difficulty, and so has none.
4482 64. Care at Beginning and End
4484 What lies still is easy to grasp;
4485 What is far off is easy to plan for;
4486 What is cold is easy to shatter;
4487 What is small is easy to disperse.
4490 A tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
4491 A dam taller than a river can overflow is born of a clod of earth;
4492 A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one's feet.
4494 Therefore deal with things before they happen;
4495 Create order before there is confusion.
4497 Yet he who acts, spoils;
4498 He who grasps, loses.
4499 People often fail on the verge of success.
4500 Take care at the end as at the beginning,
4501 So that you may avoid failure.
4503 The sage desires no desire,
4506 But gives the people what they can not find
4507 And helps all things accord with Nature
4508 Without interfering.
4510 65. Understanding History
4512 The mythic masters of Tao did not want to make people wise,
4513 But to keep them ignorant;
4514 For it is difficult to govern people who know too much.
4516 To govern a nation by imparting knowledge to its people
4517 Destroys the nation.
4518 To govern a nation by decreasing the knowledge of its people
4521 Understanding these two paths is understanding history;
4522 Understanding history gives clarity of vision
4523 By which one may see through deceit.
4525 66. Lead by Following
4527 How does the river carve out the valley?
4528 By flowing beneath it.
4529 Thereby the river is master of the valley.
4531 In order to master people
4532 One must speak as their servant;
4533 So when the sage is elevated to power
4534 People do not feel oppressed.
4536 In order to lead people
4537 One must follow them;
4538 So when the sage restrains people
4539 They do not feel hindered.
4541 Thus the popularity of the sage does not fail,
4542 He does not seem superior, so no one wishes to usurp him.
4546 It may seem that my teaching means nothing;
4547 It describes the infinite, so of course it means nothing;
4548 If it meant something it would long since have been refuted.
4550 Yet I have three treasures, which I follow and commend to you:
4552 By which one finds courage.
4553 The second is restraint.
4554 By which one finds strength.
4555 The third is not contending.
4556 By which one finds influence.
4558 Those who are fearless, but without love,
4559 Strong, but without restraint,
4560 Or influential, yet contentious,
4563 Only love conquers all and is defeated by none.
4564 It is Nature's finest tool and sharpest weapon.
4568 A good soldier does not use violence;
4569 A good fighter does not use anger;
4570 A good conqueror does not use attack;
4571 A good ruler does not use authority;
4572 So not contending is the best way to use men.
4576 There is a saying among soldiers:
4577 It is easier to lose a yard than take an inch.
4579 In this way one may deploy troops without marshalling them,
4580 Reveal weapons without exposing them,
4581 Assault the foe without charging them,
4582 And apply force without aggression.
4584 Conversely there is no disaster like underestimating your enemy;
4585 For false confidence will lose you your most valued assets.
4586 When two equally matched forces meet
4587 The general who conserves life will win.
4591 My words are easy to understand
4592 And my actions are easy to perform
4593 Yet no man can understand or perform them.
4595 My words have logic; my actions have meaning;
4596 Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.
4598 We are each unique; no man understands another.
4599 Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.
4603 Who knows what he knows is healthy;
4604 Who ignores what he ignores is sick;
4605 Who grows sick of sickness recovers;
4606 The sage is never sick, but always sick of sickness.
4610 When people do not fear, they are easily conquered.
4612 Praise their goods and children
4613 And they will not dislike yours.
4614 Know your superiority,
4615 But do not tell it to them;
4617 But do not let them know;
4618 Reject what is yours
4619 And accept what is theirs.
4623 Who is brave and bold may die;
4624 Who is brave and subtle may live.
4625 Which course best serves one's purpose?
4626 Fate favours some and destroys others.
4627 The sage does not know why.
4629 Fate does not contend, yet all things are conquered by it;
4630 It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
4631 It does not call, yet all things come to it;
4632 It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
4634 Fate's hands are vast, its fingers spread wide,
4635 Yet none slip through its grasp.
4639 People do not fear death, so do not threaten them with death.
4641 If people feared death, and you executed all who did not love you
4642 There would be no people left but you and the executioner.
4643 You would then need to kill him.
4644 You would then need to chop off your own hand.
4648 If rulers take too much grain
4649 People rapidly starve;
4650 If rulers take too much freedom
4651 People easily rebel;
4652 If rulers take too much happiness.
4655 By not interfering the sage improves the people's lives.
4659 Man is born soft and tender,
4660 But dies hard and stiff.
4661 Plants and animals, in life, are supple and juicy;
4662 In death, brittle and dry.
4663 So hardness and stiffness are attributes of death,
4664 And softness and tenderness attributes of life.
4666 Just as a sapless tree splits and decays
4667 A strong but inflexible force will meet defeat;
4668 So the hard and mighty lie beneath our feet
4669 While the tender and weak toss in the breeze above.
4673 Is the movement of Nature not unlike drawing a bow?
4674 What is higher descends and what is lower ascends;
4675 What is longer shortens and what is shorter lengthens;
4676 Nature's way decreases those who have more than they need
4677 So to increase those who need more than they have.
4679 It is not so with Man.
4680 Man decreases those who need more than they have
4681 So to increase those who have more than they need.
4683 The sage works regardless of personal reward or recognition;
4684 To benefit the World is to benefit the Self.
4686 78. Accept Responsibility
4688 Nothing in the World is as yielding as water;
4689 Nor can anything better overcome the hardened.
4691 Just as the yielding overcomes the hardened,
4692 The weak may overcome the strong;
4696 "Who accepts responsibility for his people rules the country;
4697 Who accepts responsibility for the World rules the World"
4698 Yet his words are not understood.
4702 When conflict is reconciled, some hatred remains;
4703 How can this be put right?
4705 The sage accepts less than is due
4706 And does not blame or punish;
4707 Love seeks agreement
4708 Where justice seeks payment.
4710 The mythic masters said: "Nature is impartial;
4711 Therefore it serves those who serve all."
4715 Imagine that there is a small country with few people;
4716 Who have a hundred times more than they need;
4717 Who love life and do not wander far;
4718 Who own ships but do no foreign trade;
4719 Who own weapons but do not threaten war;
4720 Who are literate but keep no histories;
4721 Who cook well, dress beautifully, dwell safely
4722 And delight in their own culture,
4723 But live within cock crow of their neighbours.
4725 People in such a place would never leave.
4729 Truth is not rhetorical;
4730 Therefore rhetoric is not true;
4731 Lovers do not contend;
4732 Therefore competitors do not love;
4733 The enlightened keep no knowledge;
4734 Therefore the learned are not enlightened.
4736 The sage does not aim to increase himself;
4737 But the more he does for others the more he is satisfied;
4738 And the more he gives the more he gets.
4740 The best way is to benefit all and harm none;
4741 So the sage achieves his purpose without contention.
4743 Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they're open.
4744 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
4768 /\/\ (. ).) `_'_', ( )
4771 / \ ~====' /_____/` D)
4773 .__|~-/^\-~|_/_ |^^^^^^^|| |
4776 _- ,`_'_' .~\ \|__ __|-____ / )
4777 < -(. ).) > \ ( .\ (. ) \(_/ )
4778 ~- _) \_- ooo @ (_) @ \(_//.
4779 / /_C (-.____) /((O)/ \ ._/\~_.
4780 / |_\ / / /\\\\`-----'' _|>o< |__
4781 | \ooooO ( \ \\ \\___/ \ `_'_', /
4782 \ \__-| \ `)\\-^\\ ^--. /_(.(.)- _\
4783 \ \ ) |-`--.`--=\-\ /-//_ ' ( c D\
4784 \_\_) |-___/ / \ V /.~ \/\\\ (@)___/ ~|
4785 / | / | |. /`\\_/\/ / /
4786 / | ( C`-'` / | \/ (/ /
4787 /_________- \ `C__-~ | / (/ /
4788 | | | \__________| \ (/
4795 #################### ##
4796 #################### ##
4817 <=============**==============>
4826 [Reuters 8/16/92] SHANGHAI--A 24-year-old bus passenger, Dong Huibo, died
4827 in the street, after tangling with one of the city's dreaded woman bus
4828 conductors. His nightmare began inside the bus when the ticketpuncher
4829 snarled an insult about the shape of his backside. She swore at him,
4830 slapped his face and broke his glasses, made a grab for his testicles, then
4831 stood back and aimed a vicious kick at his private parts. As he scrambled
4832 out of a window, the driver--also a woman--slammed her foot on the
4833 accelerator pedal and sent him flying. (From: Di Bi Cao)
4835 -----------------------------------------
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4857 |@@L `' ,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4858 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4859 -----------------------------------------
4876 Ronald Wilson Reagan can be rearranged into Insane Anglo Warlord
4877 and George Herbert Walker Bush into Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog, and of
4878 course H. Ross Perot can be rearranged into Sport Horse and Short Poser.
4880 HSIN-HSIN-MING (AFFIRMING FAITH IN MIND)
4882 wong@rkna50.riken.go.jp (Wong Weng Fai) posted a version of this,
4883 and I thought I would send another, longer version. This is from
4884 (if my memory serves) Roshi Kapleau's "Zen--Dawn in the West",
4885 so I assume it is his translation.
4887 The Great Way is not difficult
4888 For those who do not pick and choose.
4890 When preferences are cast aside
4891 The Way stands clear and undisguised.
4893 But even slight distinctions made
4894 Set Heaven and Earth far apart.
4896 If you would clearly see the truth,
4897 Discard opinions pro and con.
4899 To founder in like and dislike
4900 Is nothing but the mind's disease.
4902 And not to see the Way's deep truth
4903 Disturbs the Mind's essential peace.
4905 The Way is perfect like vast space,
4906 Where there's no lack and no excess.
4908 Our choice to choose and to reject
4909 Prevents our seeing this simple truth.
4911 Both striving for the outer world
4912 As well as for the inner void
4913 Condemns us to entangled lives.
4915 Just calmly see that all is One
4916 And by themselves false views will go.
4918 Attempts to stop activity
4919 Only fill you with activity.
4921 Remaining in duality
4922 You'll never know of unity.
4924 And not to know this unity
4925 Lets conflict lead you far astray.
4927 When you assert that things are real,
4928 You miss their true reality.
4929 But to assert that things are void
4930 Also misses reality.
4932 The more you talk and think on this,
4933 The further from the truth you'll be.
4935 Cut off all useless thoughts and words
4936 And there's nowhere you cannot go.
4937 Returning to the root itself,
4938 You'll find the meaning of all things.
4940 If you pursue appearances,
4941 You overlook the primal source.
4943 Awakening is to go beyond
4944 Both emptiness as well as form.
4946 All changes in this empty world
4947 Seem real because of ignorance.
4949 Do not go searching for the truth,
4950 Just let those fond opinions go.
4952 Abide not in duality;
4953 Refrain from all pursuit of it.
4955 If there's a trace of right and wrong,
4956 True Mind is lost, confused, distraught.
4958 From One-Mind comes duality,
4959 But cling not even to this one.
4961 When this One-Mind rests undisturbed,
4962 Then nothing in the world offends.
4964 And when nothing can give offense,
4965 Then all obstructions cease to be.
4967 If all thought-objects disappear,
4968 The thinking subject drops away.
4970 For things are things because of mind,
4971 As mind is mind because of things.
4973 These two are merely relative,
4974 And both at source are emptiness.
4976 In emptiness these are not two,
4977 Yet in each are contained all forms.
4979 Once coarse and fine are seen no more,
4980 Then how can there be taking sides?
4982 The Great Way is without limit,
4983 Beyond the easy and the hard.
4985 But those who hold to narrow views
4986 Are fearful and irresolute;
4987 Their frantic haste just slows them down.
4989 If you're attached to anything,
4990 You surely will go far astray.
4992 Just let go now of clinging mind,
4993 And all things are just as they are.
4994 In essence nothing goes or stays.
4996 See into the true self of things,
4997 And you're in step with the Great Way,
4998 Thus walking freely and undisturbed.
5000 But live in bondage to your thoughts,
5001 And you will be confused, unclear.
5003 This heavy burden weighs you down-
5004 O why keep judging good and bad?
5006 If you would walk the highest way,
5007 Do not reject the sense domain.
5009 For as it is, whole and complete,
5010 This sense world is enlightenment.
5012 The wise do not strive after goals,
5013 But fools themselves in bondage put.
5015 The One Way knows no differences;
5016 The foolish cling to this and that.
5017 To seek Great Mind with thinking mind
5018 Is certainly a grave mistake.
5020 From small mind comes rest and unrest,
5021 But mind awakened transcends both.
5023 Delusion spawns dualities-
5024 These dreams are naught but flowers of air-
5025 Why work so hard at grasping them?
5027 Both gain and loss, and right and wrong-
5028 Once and for all get rid of them.
5030 When you are no longer asleep,
5031 All dreams will vanish by themselves.
5033 If mind does not discriminate,
5034 All things are as they are, as one.
5036 To go to this mysterious source
5037 Frees us from all entanglements.
5039 When all is seen with "equal mind",
5040 To our self-nature we return.
5042 This single mind goes right beyond
5043 All reasons and comparisons.
5045 Stop movement and there's no movement,
5046 Stop rest and no-rest comes instead.
5048 When rest and no-rest cease to be,
5049 Then even Oneness disappears.
5050 This ultimate Finality's
5051 Beyond all laws; can't be described.
5053 With single mind one with the Way,
5054 All ego-centered strivings cease.
5056 Doubts and confusion disappear,
5057 And so true faith pervades our life.
5059 There is no thing that clings to us,
5060 And nothing that is left behind.
5062 All's self-revealing, void and clear,
5063 Without exerting power of mind.
5065 Thought cannot reach this state of truth;
5066 Here feelings are of no avail.
5068 In this true world of emptiness,
5069 Both self and other are no more.
5071 To enter this true empty world,
5072 Immediately affirm "Not-Two".
5074 In this "Not-Two" all is the same,
5075 With nothing separate or outside.
5077 The wise in all times and places
5078 Awaken to this primal truth.
5080 The Way's beyond all space, all time;
5081 One instant is ten thousand years.
5083 Not only here, not only there,
5084 Truth's right before your very eyes.
5086 Distinctions such as large and small
5087 Have relevance for you no more.
5089 The largest is the smallest too;
5090 Here limitations have no place.
5092 What is is not, what is not is;
5093 If this is not yet clear to you,
5094 You're still far from the inner truth.
5096 One thing is all, all things are one.
5097 Know this and all's whole and complete.
5099 When faith and mind are not separate,
5100 And not separate are mind and faith,
5101 This is beyond all words, all thought.
5108 You don't understand because you are a technocrat, an engineer.
5109 You work with your hands.
5110 I however am a visionary. I work with my mouth.
5113 So we'll go to the top of the toppest blue space,
5114 The Official Katroo Birthday Sounding-Off Place!
5115 Come on! Open your mouth and sound off at the sky!
5116 Shout loud at the top of your voice,
5120 And I may not know why
5121 But I know that I like it.
5122 _Three cheers_! I AM I!"
5123 -- Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
5132 Human conduct is ever unreliable
5133 until man is anchored in the Divine,
5134 Everything in future will improve
5135 if you are making a spiritual effort now.
5136 -- Swami Sri Yukteswar
5138 A strange weed this be
5139 what's restoreth my vitality.
5142 Q: Is an opinion true or false?
5143 A: Depends on whether it's mine or yours....
5146 Would anyone ever admit that an opinion was wrong?
5147 Wouldn't most people change the opinion instead,
5148 having then a new, well-considered, and more correct opinion?
5151 Through the dark of future past,
5152 The magician longs to see.
5153 One chants out between two worlds,
5154 "Fire, walk with me!"
5156 It's really very simple... I found wearing women's clothes... relaxed me.
5159 the first differentiation between reality as conceived and reality as it IS
5160 consists of an analogy: conceptions of reality (all ideas entertained by a
5161 knower) are maps, while reality is the territory being mapped.
5162 whether or not two individuals can be said to live in the same territory
5163 is unclear, because their conceptions may be different enough that their maps
5164 of reality are very different. it is also unclear whether there can be said
5165 to be two individuals at all--if the self and other are one, then all
5166 distinctions between selves ultimately disappear in the final analysis.
5169 This message partially funded by the Apathy Partnership of Earth (APE).
5171 Styrofoam never dies for as long as you live.
5172 -- Deputy Andy Brennan, Twin Peaks
5181 A dog howling at the moon,
5182 not because he's a dog,
5183 but because he wants to.
5186 I want to share something with you, the three
5187 little sentences that will get you through life:
5189 #2. Ooh, good idea boss!
5190 #3. It was like that when I got here...
5191 -- Homer Simpson to Bart
5193 you wouldn't know the truth if it bit off your nose, stuck a gasoline
5194 nozzle into the gaping wound, filled you up with high octane, and
5197 In a world where children blow up children,
5198 everyone's a threat.
5199 -- psycho cop, on Star Trek: The Next Generation
5203 environments based in chaotic realms inevitably concern themselves less with
5204 conservation of mass or energy, ignore laws regarding increasing entropy,
5205 cease to be rational or defined. chaotic ones within orderly realms still
5206 recall this power and warp the space where they stand.
5212 | \\_/_/ /__|O||O|__ \
5213 / |_ | "I do solemnly swear by the sacred |/_ \_/\_/ _\ |
5214 | ||\_ ~| bedpan to fix the patient, and | | (____) | ||
5215 | ||| \/ ease his wretched suffering, even \/\___/\__/ //
5216 | |||_ until all hope is lost." (_/ ||
5222 / ||||__ (____(____)
5225 When they came for the Fourth Amendment I didn't say anything
5226 because I had nothing to hide.
5227 When they came for the Second Amendment I didn't say anything
5228 because I didn't own a gun.
5229 When they came for the Fifth and Sixth Amendments I didn't say anything
5230 because I had committed no crimes.
5231 When they came for the First Amendment I couldn't say anything.
5233 (taken from the Urine Nation News, spring/summer 1993, number 12, page 1)
5236 something may be great,
5237 but the bother of not doing it
5238 while continuing to think about it
5242 Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed,
5243 how the oceans that covered the world were perturbed,
5244 by the tides from the orbiting moon overhead,
5245 "How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
5246 I began to expound upon tidal effects,
5247 when you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed,
5248 so I did not explain why the sunset turns red,
5249 and we watched the occurrence in silence instead.
5253 Felis catus, Your visual, olfactory,
5254 is your taxonomic nomenclature, and auditory senses,
5255 an endothermic quadruped, contribute to your hunting skills,
5256 carnivorous by nature? and natural defenses.
5258 I find myself intrigued A tail is quite essential
5259 by your subvocal oscillations, for your acrobatic talents,
5260 a singular development you would not be so agile,
5261 of cat communications, if you lacked its counterbalance,
5262 that obviates your basic and when not being utilized,
5263 hedonistic predilection, to aid in locomotion,
5264 for a rhythmic stroking of your fur it often serves to illustrate,
5265 to demonstrate affection. the state of your emotion.
5267 Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display,
5268 connote a fairly well developed cognitive array,
5269 and though you are not sentient, Spot,
5270 and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you
5271 a true and valued friend.
5275 There is no secret to excel in playing the shakuhachi.
5276 Blow not intensely, but from your heart.
5277 Although technique is secondary, it helps to express your true self.
5278 If we are natural, we make fine sound.
5279 If we have an open mind, our sound will be mellow.
5280 If we have right attitudes toward life,
5281 our music will be acceptable to everyone.
5282 Take care of your sound as you would care for yourself.
5285 You can't save money by spending it. Beware claims to the contrary.
5288 If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.
5289 This is true because the mind is the governing aspect of human life.
5290 If the river flows clearly and cleanly through the proper channel,
5291 all will be well along its banks.
5293 The Integral Way depends on decreasing, not increasing:
5294 To correct your mind, rely on not-doing.
5295 Decrease thinking and clinging to complications;
5296 keep your mind detached and whole.
5297 Eliminate mental muddiness and obscurity;
5298 keep your mind crystal clear.
5299 Avoid daydreaming and allow your pure original insight to emerge.
5300 Quiet your emotions and abide in serenity.
5301 Don't go crazy with the worship of idols, images, and ideas;
5302 this is like putting a new head on top of the head you already have.
5304 Remember: if you can cease all restless activity,
5305 your integral nature will appear.
5306 -- Hua Hu Ching -- 45
5308 Dualistic thinking is a sickness.
5309 Religion is a distortion.
5310 Materialism is cruel.
5311 Blind spirituality is unreal.
5313 Chanting is no more holy than listening to the
5314 murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more
5315 sacred than simply breathing, religious robes no
5316 more spiritual than work clothes.
5318 If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get
5319 caught up in spiritual superficialities.
5320 Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and
5322 Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating
5323 virtue, the only true power.
5324 Giving to others selflessly and anonymously, radiating
5325 light throughout the world and illuminating your
5326 own darkness, your virtue becomes a sanctuary for
5327 yourself and all beings.
5329 This is what is meant by embodying the Tao.
5331 -- Hua Hu Ching -- 47
5333 ________________ _______________
5338 | ___\ \| | / / \____________ \ \
5343 | | __ | | (o-) _ | |
5344 | __\ (_o) | / \ | |
5345 | | | Heh Heh Heh / ) ) | |
5346 \ || \ / Huh Huh Huh / ) / | |
5347 | |__ \ / \ |___ - | |
5348 | | (*___\ / \ *' | |
5349 | | _ | / \ |____ | |
5350 | | //_______| ####\ | |
5351 | / |_|_|_|___/\ ------ |_/
5353 | _----_______/ \_____ |
5355 |_____/ \__________|
5357 "Beavis and Butthead are catching up in the poles."
5358 "Yeah, our poles are rising."
5360 The chief cause of problems is solutions. -- Eric Severeid
5362 [CND, 12/15/93] A women trafficking gang, consisting of 69 members, was
5363 rounded up by the Inner Mongolia police, the Inner Mongolian Daily said.
5364 The gang, operating in several nearby provinces, enticed a total of 200
5365 unemployed women to make the journey to Inner Mongolia with the promise
5366 of good jobs and shelter. The women, ranging from 15 to 41, then were sold
5367 as wives or servants to local peasants who had difficulties in finding
5371 A genuine ASCII stereogram!
5372 Here's an ASCII single image random dot stereogram for your enjoyment. To
5373 get the 3d effect, you need to diverge (unfocus) your eyes such that two
5374 adjacent letters in the same row come together. To help you focus, try to
5375 make the two capital O's at the top look like three. Once you've done that,
5376 the rest of the image should jump out of the screen at you!
5378 n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
5379 f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
5380 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
5381 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
5382 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
5383 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
5384 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
5386 Try moving your head back from the screen and moving it about a bit
5387 once you have focused on the image to increase the stereo effect even
5391 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5392 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5393 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5394 . . . . . . . . . . .
5410 . . . . . . . . . . .
5411 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5412 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5413 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5415 The following a 3-d Maze (3x4) consisting of the following objects:
5416 circle, square, asterisk, hour-glass, triangle, and a square with two lines
5417 in it. The rules are as follows: You can 'warp' from one part of the maze to
5418 another by matching similar objects. Each 'warp' counts as one move. You
5419 can also travel along the lines, if there is a line. This also counts as one
5420 move. (I got the idea of this from a GAMES magazine I read a LONG time ago)
5421 Try to go from "START" to "END" in the least amount of moves. I would give
5422 out a prize to somebody, if I could think of one(that doesn't cost anything,
5423 of course!). (Take this as a first maze...I didn't plan it out, and it's not
5424 very difficult.) I would suggest that people that have worked with
5425 stereograms EXTENSIVELY try this, as it is hard to move your eyes around and
5426 still keep focused on the 3-D image. E-mail me the number of moves it took
5427 you and the path you followed (e.g. 6 Sqauare -warp- Asterisk Circle...etc.),
5428 I'll post the list of people that reply to it within the next week and got
5429 the lowest number of moves. Good luck!!
5431 [qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(
5432 UflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_Q
5433 rwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<
5434 $*-Xj+V&%Ui\START*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%Uieg%(
5435 BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF
5436 WL(-W->WTPh:UQ:oWL(-W->WT:UQ:oWL(-eBW->WT:UQ:oW-YoeBW->WT:UQ:oW-YBW|H->WT:UQ:oW
5437 cTV:wpR6GN\ne![|cTV:wpR6Gn<e![|cT:YQwpR6Gn<e![T4YH\QwpR6Gn<e!4YH\QQpR6GHln<e!4Y
5438 ycYu]kP@LbRF<D?`ycYu]kP@LF4<D?`ycuc]kP@LF4<D?ybcu]W]kP@LF4<D?yb]KW]k@':LF4<D?yb
5439 H6hhYb"6^EwE*rEoH6hhYb"6^Ea*rEoH6h]Yb"6^Ea*ro<Hh"]bD$"6^Ea*ro<H]DbD$6zP^Ea*ro<H
5440 zp@.Gx,Tu(Q!.hKbzp@.Gx,Tu!t.hKbzp.8?Gx,Tu!tKbbzp.8?xcy,Tu!tKbp.8?Xxy,TuB&!tKbp.
5441 =V\idlNwT]T;S"1(=V\idlNwT;S"1(=V\ic|dlNwT;1(=V\ic|dlN<fwT;1(=V\iclN;h<fwT;1(=V\
5442 1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1Q)5K|.BH?n:K-g
5443 lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>l,gMO$66yAP&W<?
5444 u1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFuJCN&-_WLwf7JiG
5445 *Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*gbw{pQJw6e{v*'
5446 b*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvbcBi2RFU5R+{3my
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5448 k?8@P&:FiQz%QJ*,k?8@P&:FiQQJ$*,?86L@P&:FiQ$*,&86LBP&:i:FiQ$*,6+LBP&:iF02iQ$*,6+
5449 wn(odb-='HALW=^Wwn(odb-='LW:=^Ww(o?db-='LW=^W/(o?fb-=1T'LW=^Wop?fb-=1')OLW=^Wop
5450 S<>"\$f";MP\$4?hS<>"\$f";\$S4?hS>"!\$f";\$4?hh>"!q$f"F*;\$4?h"v!q$f"*;]j\$4?h"v
5451 =/twTn#S9ikXS%`y=/twTn#S9iS%[`y/t2nwTn#S9i[`y't2n/Tn#\\S9i[`y2Yn/Tn#\S?I9i[`y2Y
5452 d1|,!mJqjd8x^=!Bd1|,!mJqjd8x!Bd1=1|,!mJqjd!Bd1=1|,!mJV^qjd!Bd1|,!mJV^qIGjd!Bd1|
5453 Sy<6*yAW|!l;tZ]nSy<6*yAW|!l;t]n'Sy<6*yAW|!l;t]nSy+<6*yAW|!l;t]nSy<6X*yAW|!l;t]n
5454 &)v;_!*qY*L)-IQd&)v;_!*qY*L)-Qd5&)v;_!*qY*L)-Qd&)Bv;_!*qY*L)-Qd&)v;6_!*qY*L)-Qd
5455 t?K!lfksx)kzAp2Wt?K!lfksx)kzA2W:t?K!lfksx)kzA2Wt?%K!lfksx)kzA2Wt?K!Llfksx)kzA2W
5456 UAsuytGXa{(cnug]UAsuytGXa{(cng](UAsuytGXa{(cng]UAzsuytGXa{(cng]UAsuXytGXa{(cng]
5457 |Is@[A-F0)KmcN>o|Is@[A-F0)Kmc>o#|Is@[A-F0)Kmc>o|Ins@[A-F0)Kmc>o|Is@>[A-F0)Kmc>o
5458 NHnuKxzh"2zQ=hq+NHnuKxzh"2zQ=hNmhHnuKxzh"2zQ=hNHn85uKxzh"2zQNHn85uKxzh".I2zQNHn
5459 vj5-juY;&H>b[w"mvj5-juY;&H>b[mBjX!5-juY;&H>mBjXc!-juYY:;&H>mXc!;juYJ:;&.fH>mXc!
5460 zE"A{TfCX?9H9e;:zE"A{TfCX?9H;8:z"mA{TfCX?9H;8z="mATRwfCX?9H;="m{TRwbCX?zt9H;="m
5461 OI5{{UQa5D.Vo/rVOI5{{UQa5D./@rOoI{D{UQa5D./@rotI{DU.ZQa5D./@tI{pU.ZNa5D85./@tI{
5462 VvmyUF3wGZ.Vd-0.VvmyUF3wGZd1-0.VvmUKqF3wGZd0.VvKmKqF3?kwGZd0vKmxqF3okwGU!Zd0vKm
5463 Yo{BgD`f\`$JRtu'Yo{BgD`f\JRtu'Yo{BgDis`f\JRtu'YBg3#Dis`f\JRtYBg3#Dis`f\ygJRtYBg
5464 80[vV7`fchW6A#'x80[vV7`fchW6A'x-80[vV7`fchW6A'x80r[vV7`fchW6A'x80r[vV7`fchW6A'x
5465 O"<a1OA^o=:]aa=(O"<a1OA^o=:]a=([O"<a1OA^o=:]a=(O"Z<a1OA^o=:]a=(O"Z<a1OA^o=:]a=(
5466 V+{S>As"N5\Ul_^TV+{S>As"N5\Ul^TkV+{S>As"N5\Ul^TV+;{S>As"N5\Ul^TV+;{S>As"N5\Ul^T
5467 /U!sJ3m%/qr?4m!I/U!sJ3m%/qr?4!IB/U!sJ3m%/qr?4!I/Uw!sJ3m%/qr?4!I/Uw!sJ3m%/qr?4!I
5468 yh6Sd(VC3g&>\H<.yh6Sd(VC3g&>\<.Vyh6Sd(VC3g&>\<.yhs6Sd(VC3g&>\<.yhs6Sd(VC3g&>\<.
5469 ;*<*[r!OIx.k(ZB^;*<*[r!OIk(ZB^;*<*[rkw!OIk(ZB^<*[i^rkw!OIk(Z<*[i^rkw!OI]Fk(Z<*[
5470 9xGH.E=u,tZXVx!<9xGH.E=u,tZx!<9xGH;W.E=u,tZx9x'GHW.TzE=u,tZx9xHW.TzE=.|u,tZx9xH
5471 \Hu"\@V#8"mLukmM\Hu"\@V#8"mLuM\Hs;u"\@V#8"mM\PHs;u\@DV#8"mM\PHs;\@DECV#8"mM\PHs
5472 +TnXOmPMQKTVwlSV+TnXOmPMQKTVwV+TJInXOmPMQKTV+@TJInOmmPMQKTV+@TJIOmmizPMQKTV+@TJ
5473 JaXq{$*|_pP|-`[wJaXq{$*|_pP`[wJaXqS*{$*|_pP`Ja,Xq*{K3$*|_pP`Jaq*{K3$*g.|_pP`Jaq
5474 A7_qF(|hvg5>t;!nA7_qF(|hv>t;!nA7_qF(f"|hv>t;!n_qFIf(f"|hv>t;_qFIf(f"|hvY*>t;_qF
5475 Clzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.c
5476 UENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JEND>u6z[k<anY>&
5477 h-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jW
5478 #7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2.
5479 IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz
5483 ## # # # # ## #### #
5484 ## # # # #### ######## # ##
5486 ### ## # ## # ### ### ## ##
5487 # #### ### # # # ## # # # # ###
5488 ## ############# # # # ## ###
5489 # # # # ## ### ## ###
5490 # # ## # ## ### # ###
5492 # #### # ## #### ###
5493 ##### # # ## # # # ##### #
5494 # # # # # # ## # ##### #
5498 # ## # # ## ##### ##
5499 ###### # # # # ### ###
5500 ## # # # # ###### ##
5501 ## # ##### # ##### ### ## ##
5502 # ## ## ## # ## ## # ### ####
5503 ### #### # # #### # # ########
5504 ##### # ## ### # ### #
5505 #### ## # ### #### ##
5510 # # # ##################
5512 ### # # ## #### ## ##
5515 ## # ## # ## ## #####
5516 # ### ## # ## #### ## # ###
5517 ## ##### # ######### # ####
5539 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5540 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"" ""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5541 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5542 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " " o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5543 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5544 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5545 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o " o"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5546 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5547 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " o " " "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5548 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o " "o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5549 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o" " o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5550 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$ " o " " $$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5551 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$ o o " o " $$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5552 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$ o o o $$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5553 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o $$$ " o o " " $$$ " "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5554 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$$$ " o $$$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5555 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " $$$$ " oo$$$$$$$oooo $$$$" " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5556 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " $$$$$o """ o o"""o$$$$" " ""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5557 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " ooooo$$$$$$$$oo o o oo$$$$$$$ooooo o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5558 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5559 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o$$$"" " $ ""$$$$$$$$" ""$$$$$$$$"" " """"$$o" "$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5560 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$oo$" " $o $"$$$$oo " o$$$$" o$o " ""$oo"$$$$$$$$$$$$
5561 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ o" " o " $$" o "" o o " o o$o " o "" "$$$$$$$$$$$
5562 $$$$$$$$$$$$" $ " " $$ "$$$$$$$$ $$ o o o $ ""$$$$$$$$$$
5563 $$$$$$$$$$$" o o o o o$$ "$$$$$$ o $$ o o o $$$$$$$$$
5564 $$$$$$$$$$ o $ " $$oo "$$$$$$" oo$$ $ $$$$$$$$
5565 $$$$$$$$$ " o " "$ $$$$$$ "$" " " " o $$$$$$$
5566 $$$$$$$$ " " " " o "o$$$$$$o" o " o $$$$$$
5567 $$$$$$$" " o " o $$$$$$$$$o " o o " " o $$$$$
5568 $$$$$"o " o o o " "$$$$" ""$$$oo o " " $$$$
5569 $$$$"o o " $ o " oo$$$$"o o"$$$$oo o " o "$$
5570 $$$$ " $ o oo$o$$"$" o o """$$$oooo "" o " o $$
5571 $$$$$ " " o " o o o o o o o " " " o$$$
5572 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5573 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5579 ___\ \ \ /\___/___ \
5581 ____/ /_______/ \ / _\/_____
5583 __/ / \ \ / / / / _\__
5584 / / / \_______\/ / / / / /\
5585 /_/___/___________________/ /_______/ /___/ \
5586 \ \ \ ___________ \ \ \ \ \ /
5587 \_\ \ / /\ \ \ \ \___\/
5589 \__/ / \ \ \_______\/
5600 "$mmmmm m$" mmmmmmm$"
5602 mmmmmmm$$$$$$$$$"mmmm
5603 mmm$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ m$$$$m " m "
5604 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$"$$$
5605 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm $$$$$$$$$$
5606 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$""" m
5607 "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$ " "
5608 """""""$$$$$$$$$$$m """"
5609 mmmmmmmm" m$ "$mmmmm
5610 $$"""""" "$ """"""$$
5618 _ _ _ _ _ _ _---| | _---| \ ` ' /
5619 ]-I-I-I-I-[ ---| | ---| |. |
5620 \ ` '_/ | / \ | | /^\|
5621 [*] __| ^ / ^ \ ^ | |*||
5622 |__ ,| / \ / `\ / \ | ===|
5623 ___| ___ ,|__ / /=_=_=_=\ \ |, _|
5624 I_I__I_I__I_I (====(_________)___|_|____|____
5625 \-\--|-|--/-/ | I [ ]__I I_I__|____I_I_|
5626 |[] '| | [] |`__ . [ \-\--|-|--/-/
5627 |. | |' |___|_____I___|___I___|---------|
5628 / \| [] .|_|-|_|-|-|_|-|_|-|_|-| [] [] |
5629 <===> | .|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| | / \
5630 ] []|` [] ||.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.||- <===>
5631 ] []| ` | |/////////\\\\\\\\\\.||__. | |[] [
5632 <===> ' ||||| | | | ||||.|| [] <===>
5633 \T/ | |-- ||||| | O | O | ||||.|| . |' \T/
5634 | . _||||| | | | ||||.|| | | |
5635 ../|' v . | .|||||/____|____\|||| /|. . | . ./
5636 .|//\............/...........\........../../\\\
5644 ___---___---_________________________________
5645 =============================================
5647 |-------------------------------------------
5648 |-___-----___-----___-----___-----___-----__
5649 / _ \===/ _ \ / _ \===/ _ \ / _ \===/ _
5650 ( (.\ oOo /.) ) ( (.\ oOo /.) ) ( (.\ oOo /.
5651 \__/=====\__/ \__/=====\__/ \__/=====\_
5652 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5653 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5654 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5655 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5656 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5657 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5658 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5659 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5660 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5661 (oOoOo) (oOoOo) (oOoOo)
5662 J%%%%%L J%%%%%L J%%%%%L
5663 ZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZ
5664 ==========================================
5665 __|_________________________________________
5668 ____----------- _____
5669 \~~~~~~~~~~/~_--~~~------~~~~~(__) \
5672 / ___ ~~--[""] | __/__|__-------'_
5673 > /~` \ |-. `\~~.~~~~~ _ ~ - _
5674 ~| ||\% | | ~ ._ ~ _ ~ ._
5675 `_//|_% \ | ~ . ~-_ /\
5676 `--__ | _-____ /\ ~-_ \/.
5677 ~--_ / ,/ -~-_ \ \/ _______---~/
5678 ~~-/._< \ \`~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ##--~/
5679 \ ) |`------##---~~~~-~ ) )
5715 oooo$$$$$$$$$$$$oooo
5716 oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o
5717 oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o o$ $$ o$
5718 o $ oo o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o $$ $$ $$o$
5719 oo $ $ "$ o$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$o $$$o$$o$
5720 "$$$$$$o$ o$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$o $$$$$$$$
5721 $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5722 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ """$$$
5723 "$$$""""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$$
5724 $$$ o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$$o
5725 o$$" $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$o
5726 $$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" "$$$$$$ooooo$$$$o
5727 o$$$oooo$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5728 $$$$$$$$"$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$""""""""
5729 """" $$$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$$
5730 "$$$o """$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"$$" $$$
5731 $$$o "$$""$$$$$$"""" o$$$
5733 "$$$$o o$$$$$$o"$$$$o o$$$$
5734 "$$$$$oo ""$$$$o$$$$$o o$$$$""
5735 ""$$$$$oooo "$$$o$$$$$$$$$"""
5736 ""$$$$$$$oo $$$$$$$$$$
5750 \._____.-~\ . ~\. ./
5754 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5758 ,agd888b,_ "Y8, ___`""Ybga,
5759 ,gdP""88888888baa,.""8b "888g,
5760 ,dP" ]888888888P' "Y `888Yb,
5761 ,dP" ,88888888P" db, "8P""Yb,
5762 ,8" ,888888888b, d8888a "8,
5763 ,8' d88888888888,88P"' a, `8,
5764 ,8' 88888888888888PP" "" `8,
5765 d' I88888888888P" `b
5771 `8, ,d8888888baaa ,8'
5772 `8, 888888888888' ,8'
5773 `8a "8888888888I a8'
5774 `Yba `Y8888888P' adP'
5776 `"Yba, d8888P" ,adP"' Normand Veilleux
5777 `"Y8baa, ,d888P,ad8P"' from
5778 ``""YYba8888P""'' Spaceship Earth
5781 =========================================================================
5782 ________________ _______________ _______________
5783 /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\
5784 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ ||||||||||||||||| / ////////////////
5785 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / ////////////////
5786 \\\\\\_______/\ ||||||_______\ / //////_____\
5787 \\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ |||||||||||||| / /////////////
5788 \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / /////////////
5789 \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / ////
5790 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ ||||| / ////
5791 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \////
5793 =========================================================================
5795 88 d8'd8' 88 88 ad88888ba ,adba, ,d8
5796 88 d8'd8' 88 88 d8" 8 8 "8b 8I I8 ,d8"
5797 88 "" "" aa88aaa88aa Y8, 8 8 "fbdP' ,d8"
5798 88 ""88"""88"" `Y8a8a8a, ,d8"
5799 88 aa88aaa88aa `"8"8"8b, ,d8"
5800 "" ""88"""88"" 8 8 `8b ,d8" ,adba,
5801 aa 88 88 Y8a 8 8 a8P ,d8" 8I I8
5802 88 88 88 "Y88888P" 8" "fbdP'
5823 ** * ********* * ***
5824 ***** **********************
5825 ******** *************** ****
5826 ****** ***************** ** **
5827 ** ******************* *** ********
5828 ******************** *** *******
5829 ********************* *** ** ****
5830 ********* * *********************** *** ****
5831 ********** ************************ **** ** ***
5832 **** *********************** * ****
5833 ************** ****** * *** * **
5834 *********** ** **** * *** * ** ********** *
5835 ************* ***** ***** ** * ** ****** *
5836 * ************* **** ******* *** **
5837 ************** **************** *********** **
5838 ****** ******************************* **
5839 ********************************* **
5840 ******************************** ** **
5841 ******************************* ** *********
5842 **** *************************** *** *****
5843 ***** * *** ******************** **
5844 ***** * ***************** ** ******
5845 **** ********************* * *****
5846 ***** ****************** **
5847 **** **************** * *****
5848 * ***************** ** ******
5849 ** ************** ** **
5851 *** ************* **
5852 * *** *********************
5853 ****** ******* * *** ***
5855 ************ ********
5856 ********************** * **********
5857 ************************* ***********
5858 ************************** ***********
5859 ************************* ***********
5860 ************************ **********
5861 ********************* *********
5862 **************** ***
5872 \. \. "~" ./ /c-..,__
5873 ^r- .._ .- .-" `- . ~"--.
5877 ,.__.--._ _j \ ~ . ; |
5878 ( ~"-._~"^._\ ^. ^._ I . l
5879 "-._ ___ ~"-,_7 .Z-._ 7" Y ; \ _
5880 /" "~-(r r _/_--._~-/ / /,.--^-._ / Y
5881 "-._ '"~~~>-._~]>--^---./____,.^~ ^.^ !
5884 ~-._~~~---._,____..--- \
5891 / `-.____/ |||||||/`-.____________
5892 \-'_ \-' ||||||||| `-._
5893 -- `-. -/||||||||\ `` -`.
5894 |\ /||||||\ \_ | `\\
5895 | \ \_______...-//|||\|________...---'\ \ \\
5896 | \ \ || | \ ``-.__--. | \ | ``-.__--.
5897 | |\ \ / | |\ \ ``---'/ / | | ``---'
5898 _/ / _| ) __/_/ / _| ) __/ / _| |
5899 /,__/ /,__/ /,_/,__/_/,__/ /,__/ /,__/ tbk
5901 Aw mom, you act like I'm not even wearing a bungie cord! -- Calvin
5907 YES ============================= NO
5908 +-----------|| Does the Darn Thing work? ||-----------+
5909 | ============================= |
5911 +----------+ +---------+ +---------+
5912 | Don't | NO | Does | +-------+ YES | Did you |
5913 | mess | +---| anyone |<------| YOU |<---------| mess |
5914 | with it! | | | know? | | MORON | | with it |
5915 +----------+ | +---------+ +-------+ +---------+
5917 | +------+ +-----------+ |
5919 | | IT | +--------+ +-----------+
5920 | +------+ | YOU | YES | WILL THEY |
5921 | | +------->| POOR |<------------| CATCH YOU?|
5922 | | | |BASTARD!| +-----------+
5923 | | | |________| | NO
5926 | | | +---------------+ +-----------+
5927 | | | NO | CAN YOU BLAME | |DESTROY THE|
5928 | | +------| SOMEONE ELSE? | | EVIDENCE |
5929 | | +---------------+ +-----------+
5932 | | ============================ |
5933 | +---->|| N O ||<---------+
5934 +------------>|| P R O B L E M ||
5935 ============================
5943 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8"Y8a, "Y8a,
5944 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
5945 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
5946 ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad88a, "Y8a, "Y8a,
5947 dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" "Y8a, ,ad8"" ,ad8"8
5948 8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" Y888"" ,ad8"" 8
5949 Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8
5950 "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,8
5951 ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
5952 dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
5953 8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
5954 Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
5955 "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
5962 .... NO! ... ... MNO! ...
5963 ..... MNO!! ...................... MNNOO! ...
5964 ..... MMNO! ......................... MNNOO!! .
5965 .... MNOONNOO! MMMMMMMMMMPPPOII! MNNO!!!! .
5966 ... !O! NNO! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPOOOII!! NO! ....
5967 ...... ! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPOOOOIII! ! ...
5968 ........ MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPOOOOOOII!! .....
5969 ........ MMMMMOOOOOOPPPPPPPPOOOOMII! ...
5970 ....... MMMMM.. OPPMMP .,OMI! ....
5971 ...... MMMM:: o.,OPMP,.o ::I!! ...
5972 .... NNM:::.,,OOPM!P,.::::!! ....
5973 .. MMNNNNNOOOOPMO!!IIPPO!!O! .....
5974 ... MMMMMNNNNOO:!!:!!IPPPPOO! ....
5975 .. MMMMMNNOOMMNNIIIPPPOO!! ......
5976 ...... MMMONNMMNNNIIIOO!..........
5977 ....... MN MOMMMNNNIIIIIO! OO ..........
5978 ......... MNO! IiiiiiiiiiiiI OOOO ...........
5979 ...... NNN.MNO! . O!!!!!!!!!O . OONO NO! ........
5980 .... MNNNNNO! ...OOOOOOOOOOO . MMNNON!........
5981 ...... MNNNNO! .. PPPPPPPPP .. MMNON!........
5982 ...... OO! ................. ON! .......
5983 ................................
5987 --/- ___ / \/ / / / \
5997 // / / // / /\ /-_-/\//-__-
5998 / / // / \__// / / / //
5999 // / / // / // / // /
6000 /// // / / / // / //
6003 /// / / / // // / // //
6005 /// / // / / // / / / /
6037 /.../###/______________\ \###\
6038 /........................\ \###\
6039 /..........................\ \###\
6040 ----------------------------- \###/
6042 \_________________________________/
6045 ___. .. . _ .. . ___. .__ . . _ . . __ __ _ __ _ . .___
6046 | | ||\||- ||\| | | ||_)|\| | ||\| | ||_)| ||_) | || | |
6047 ` `-`` ``- `` ` ``` ` `-`` \` ` `-`` ` ``` `-`` \`-`| `-``-` `
6075 ;;;;: ==;; :==== :+++=;; ::;=i===+: :=;;=+: ,,,,:==+;
6076 =tt;;: i+; ++++ :ii=: :::i++= ==;;+: :::=;+; ,
6077 :; iIt=: ;t+; ii=;::;+;=+; +;=; ;i+i, ==;=+; :,;;;i : ,
6078 :: :tIi: +i+ =+::=;;,;;;+; +;=; :=i==+;,:,;=;;+= ::;=;++ : ;
6079 ,i; iIt: t+= :+=,,,,::: ;,+;=;;: ;:,,;==;+=;+= ::;;=i; : ;ii
6080 RYi +Yt: ++i :i;,::==;; ;:i;=;;: ======+=i=++ :;=tYY: : :tt
6081 VXY= =Yi; :t=+ it==+It;; ;:+:=;:: :,;;=:=+==+ :;tYVY :: =Iii
6082 tVYt ;Yt, i+= +t+;=iI,; ;:;:;;:= :i :=;+ :;i+tt : :Iti
6083 iYY: :Yi, :i+: :t+;++i:; ;,;,;;;= :t +=+ ;i+ii :: =Y+
6084 =YY= ;Vi I++ :++=;==;;; +,=,,,,+ ;i;::;it, :i+t=;;: +I+
6085 IX+ =V; +i+=;;==;::,:::,,t,+,,,,;;iiii+iIiX=:=+ii;:;: iI+
6086 iXi =VItYIi=+======;;::;;ii;:,,,,,;iittiYV+XXttiit+, Yt
6087 IVYXYYIYi+;;;;;;;;;;;;;+it+:::::::=====+IttIItiitMBttti
6088 +tVVVttti+;::;;======+YBBVVVVXRVti+++==+IXIiYi+iRWWi+i=
6089 +=ttYVIi= ....,,,,+iIRWWWWWWWMBBRYI+....... +YMBYX==++
6090 ==+t: .;;===::,,:,,;=iIIItIIt=:,,:::===iii=;.,iXY+i;i
6091 t;+.IIY+++iii++;===:==++++I,:;;:,:=iiVXIBVRt+;,.IXY;t
6092 ii+, =itIItY==+tt+=+++;=ti;=;+M+i=;;=;=i+=it+tVti+==;.itI= +=ii
6093 i:===iIttIii+,:,, ,,:+++;t=t;V++;=;=;:,, ,,:;+IYii+==;.+Y+Ii===:i
6094 ti iii=i;;,, ;i: =i ,;.i=t=I=;Ri=, ,; ,it: ,:.,==;;;i+=YYttt,
6095 iit :Y++IIIIi+;;,,,,,,:;:i+;I=i;=II=;:;;;;;;;;;+++tIt+ii;iII; iYi=
6096 t= iV+tYYYVYVt===;;;===ii+=ti+=+=iii+==+;=+=IYVXRitYYItYXtVt= :+=
6097 Yi XX+iYYYVYR+i+++===;tIti=i+ttit;;=+====+;=IRVRRXtIIYM+YYI+ ++=I
6098 tt==Y+iYYYVYRI+++++=+IIti+++tt+=iYI+;;==+=+ttMMMRBXiiYi=+YYIt=;;
6099 t+iY:;iYYYYXRYi+++++Yt+iIt=+iItVXYYtIXBXYYVRWWWBXIi++=+=X+ ;It
6100 ti;I iYYYIYYVVRI++++i+ti++=:,;;++IX+YWWWMBWWWXYYi+++=;t:;IItY
6101 tt:,+;YYYYYYYYX+++====:::;=:;;;::++iYRWWBYt+tt+==++==:=;:=+
6102 tYYYYIYYt++++=;=YYI+;,,BYBBYIi++iii+=+I+++++;=I
6103 +YYYYYYt+++==iYYII;ittitVBBXBI+++==+i++=+=;=:i
6104 +YYYIYt+++iBt=:,...:;;=++itXXI++==i++==;;ii:
6105 IYYYI=;+=iitI;,;.,=iitIiiI;++=+++===;=:I;
6106 YYYt==tittIi;+:::=+tItIBIt+=+i++==;+=;+
6107 iYYIIIttt+=;=::::::=++ti+++=i==;+i=:=
6108 tIYYIIIVi++;;:::=+;+IYt+=;;IVY+:,;
6109 ;,ttIYIY++ii;=;==Y+iVYt===YIi;;Ii
6110 ;=:,:=iI====;;;;:=;;+ii=+i+iIttIi
6111 :==+++,;=;::::::::=;=+t++==it+iti
6126 / / / /\ \ Pat \ \ \
6127 / / / / \ \ Taylor / \ \
6128 / / / / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \
6129 / / / / / /\ \ \ / / /\ \_\
6130 / / / / /_/ \ \_\ / / / \/_/
6131 / / / / \ \ / / / / / / __ __
6132 / / / / /\ \ \/ / / / / / /\_\ /\ \
6133 / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / / / / / \ \ \
6134 / / /_/ / / \ / / / / / / / /____\_\ \
6135 / / /__\/ / / / / / / / / / /__________\
6136 \/_______/ / / / / / / \/_____________/
6158 L;;PMMMbaa_ "d88ad8'
6160 ,V;;;;;;;;;;"Man,8b.
6161 gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb;Mb.
6162 gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb,
6163 d8b;;;;;;;;b;;;;;;;;;;;"b,
6164 7P"8ba;;;;;B;;;;;;;;;;;;"Na
6165 8" "8b;;a";;;;;;;;;;;;;lB.
6166 B "8b,d;;paaaaaaqaL;;;"B
6167 ,B P" """' ""Y8bmdMb
6184 '8 .adP""9a .d" d lb
6193 ,oood8888888888booo,
6224 $ oo 8' `""booooooob 8' ooo 8
6225 $ o$"$o ,P o 8 8 d8"""" 8 `8
6226 $' d$' d8 od do d8 d8 8 `8 8
6227 $' d$' dP 8' d8 d8' 8 8 `8 `b
6228 $' od$ dP ,8' d8' d8 8b 8 `"b 8b
6229 $' od' d"' od od 88 `8 "8 `8 `8,
6230 $ od' 8 8' `8 8b 8 8 "o `8,
6231 $oo"" 8b 8 `8o 8bo "8 8b 8b 8b
6232 " 8b 8' 8o $$$ "8 8 `b `"oo
6233 Yb `b `8"$$$" 8b 8b 8b $$o
6234 `8 `b 8o "b `$o$$$$"
6238 happiness is a state of mind
6239 more than anything else,
6240 but so is everything else.
6243 Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.
6247 1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
6248 2) "You and what army?"
6249 3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be a cop."
6251 For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
6254 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
6255 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
6257 Pittsburgh Driver's Test
6259 The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light but
6260 a steady left tail light. This means:
6262 (a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn to call
6263 the problem to the driver's attention.
6264 (b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
6265 (c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
6266 (d) the driver is from out of town.
6269 (The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
6270 countries to signal turns.)
6274 1. Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
6275 2. Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
6276 3. What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
6277 4. We won't need reservations.
6278 5. It's always sunny there this time of the year.
6279 6. Don't worry, it's not loaded.
6280 7. They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
6282 Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
6283 but it's very funny--Did you ever try buying them without money?
6286 Lactomangulation, n.:
6287 Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
6288 that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
6289 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
6291 If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
6294 Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones.
6296 Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
6298 The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
6299 human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of
6300 ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that
6301 we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction,
6302 have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of
6303 dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and
6304 of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the
6305 revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a
6309 "Krusty non-toxic Cologne
6310 'The smell of the big top'
6311 Warning: Use in a well ventilated area.
6312 May stain furniture.
6313 Prolonged use may cause chemical burns."
6316 a girlfriend is a bottle of wine,
6317 a wife is a wine bottle.
6319 The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
6320 Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
6321 to fit their views... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
6322 be one of the facts that needs altering.
6323 -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
6325 In the beginning was The Plan
6326 And then came The Assumptions
6327 And the Assumptions were without form
6328 And The Plan was completely without substance
6329 And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
6330 And they spoke amongst themselves, saying
6331 "It is a crock of sh*t, and it stinketh."
6332 And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
6333 "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
6334 And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them,
6335 "It is a container of excrement and it is very stong
6336 Such that none may abide by it."
6337 And the Managers went unto the Directors and sayeth,
6338 "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
6339 And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another,
6340 "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
6341 And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
6342 "It promotes growth and is very powerful."
6343 And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto Him,
6344 "This new Plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency
6345 Of this Company, and these Areas in particular."
6346 And the President looked upon The Plan,
6347 And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
6348 This is how sh*t happens.
6350 be unafraid to think fully on a small matter. -- fred t. hamster
6352 The late Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma sect of the Tibetan Buddhist
6353 tradition, wrote one book on the evils of tobacco. He detailed a number of
6354 problems, both physical and spiritual, which would derive from the use of
6355 tobacco. Interestingly, he claims the origin of the plant to be a demoness
6356 who vowed to take rebirth as a plant to afflict humankind.
6359 be unafraid to walk across the water. -- fred t. hamster
6367 | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
6368 | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
6369 | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
6370 | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
6371 | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
6372 | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
6373 | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
6374 // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
6375 // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
6376 //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
6378 Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
6379 start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
6380 then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas... with the
6381 music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
6382 -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
6384 dude, i have your tickets
6385 for the grateful briquettes
6386 on saturday the 20th.
6388 so get out your wallets
6389 i need the rental lease
6390 or be hit with mallets
6391 for my friend has no peace
6392 and i have no ballots.
6393 without which you get no tickets
6394 for my friend has no spigots
6395 disgorging money in hiccups
6396 in the land of honey and pickups.
6399 Some people imagine that only the person who physically carries out the
6400 killing is creating a negative karmic effect, and that the person who just
6401 gave the orders is not--or, if he is, then only a little. But you
6402 should know that the same karmic result comes to everyone involved,
6403 including even anyone who just felt pleased about it--and therefore how
6404 much more so the person who actually ordered that the killing be carried
6405 out. Each person gets the whole karmic result of killing one animal. It
6406 is not as if one act of killing could be divided up among many people.
6408 From the Nying-ma _kunzang lama'i shelung_ (The Words of My Perfect Teacher)
6409 written by Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), (Padmakara translation group,
6410 trans., New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994, 104.)
6412 did you hear about the professor that got some human lips grafted onto his
6413 anus? then when his students were kissing butt, they could get some response.
6414 and he can also now wear a hat on his ass and sit on his head, and no one
6415 knows the difference...
6418 Software undergoes alpha testing as a first step in getting user
6419 feedback. Alpha is Latin for "doesn't work."
6422 Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is
6423 Latin for "still doesn't work."
6426 Instrument of torture. The first computer was invented by Roger
6427 "Duffy" Billingsly, a British scientist. In a plot to overthrow Adolf
6428 Hitler, Duffy disguised himself as a German ally and offered his
6429 invention as a gift to the surly dictator. The plot worked. On April
6430 8, 1945, Adolf became so enraged at the "Incompatible File Format"
6431 error message that he shot himself. The war ended soon after Hitler's
6432 death, and Duffy began working for IBM.
6435 Central propulsion unit. The CPU is the computer's engine. It
6436 consists of a hard drive, an interface card and a tiny spinning wheel
6437 that's powered by a running rodent--a gerbil if the machine is a 286,
6438 a ferret if it's a 386 and a ferret on speed if it's a 486.
6441 Black hole. Default directory is where all files that you need
6445 Terse, baffling remark used by programmers to place blame on users for
6446 the program's shortcomings.
6449 A document that has been saved with an unidentifiable name. It helps
6450 to think of a file as something stored in a file cabinet--except when
6451 you try to remove the file, the cabinet gives you an electric shock
6452 and tells you the file format is unknown.
6455 Collective term for any computer-related object that can be kicked or
6459 The feature that assists in generating more questions. When the help
6460 feature is used correctly, users are able to navigate through a series
6461 of Help screens and end up where they started from without learning
6465 Information is input from the keyboard as intelligible data and output
6466 to the printer as unrecognizable junk.
6469 A programmer's feeble attempt at repentance.
6472 Of computer components, the most generous in terms of variety, and the
6473 skimpiest in terms of quantity.
6476 A joke in poor taste. A printer consists of three main parts: the
6477 case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.
6480 Computer avengers. Once members of that group of high school nerds
6481 who wore tape on their glasses, played Dungeons and Dragons, and
6482 memorized Star Trek episodes; now millionaires who create
6483 "user-friendly" software to get revenge on whoever gave them noogies.
6486 Object that raises the monitor to eye level. Also used to compensate
6487 for that short table leg.
6489 Scheduled Release Date:
6490 A carefully calculated date determined by estimating the actual
6491 shipping date and subtracting six months from it.
6494 Of or pertaining to any feature, device or concept that makes perfect
6495 sense to a programmer.
6498 Collective term for those who stare vacantly at a monitor. Users are
6499 divided into three types: novice, intermediate and expert.
6500 - Novice Users--People who are afraid that simply pressing a key
6501 might break their computer.
6502 - Intermediate Users--People who don't know how to fix their computer
6503 after they've just pressed a key that broke it.
6504 - Expert Users--People who break other people's computers.
6507 H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
6508 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
6509 DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
6510 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
6511 JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
6512 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6513 &^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
6514 KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)
6515 +J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*
6516 H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
6517 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
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6519 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
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6521 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6522 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
6523 DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
6524 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
6525 JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
6526 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6527 &^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
6529 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;itIRXItIt=:;iVRIIII:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6530 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:+ItXRYtIIi;IIRXiII+=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6531 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;==+ittYRViII+iiRRtIIiiti++=;;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6532 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;=+iitIIiitIXViII+tYRtIII=iIYIti++=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6533 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;=+iitIi+=;;=+ttYYtIiiiYIII+==;;=+tItii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
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6546 ;;;;;;;;;;:;;,;i+VBMX+tI+;+itIYt==ittVRWWWWIIIIItItti+++;;IIii+;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6547 ;;;;;;;;;;;;,,:tYYYYi=+itt+;=+iiIIIIYWWWWWWIIIII=itii+;:+Itii+:,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
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6550 ;;;;;;;;;;,:,,,,,,:;iIIIIIIti+;;;+IWWWXWWWWWYIi+tIYtii+=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6551 ;;;;;;;;;;,,:::,,,::::=itiiiIII+itIWWWMWWWWWXI+tiii+=;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6552 ;;;;;;;;;;;:,,:,,:;;;;;:IYIIItiIItMWWWWWWWWWXI;=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6558 ___-==++""" . /. . . \ . """++==-___
6559 __-+"" __\ .. . . | .. . | . . . /__ ""+-__
6560 /\__+-"" `-----=====\_ <O> _/=====-----' ""-+__/\
6571 WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED TENURE AT ANY UNIVERSITY
6573 1. He had only one major publication.
6574 2. It had no references.
6575 3. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
6576 4. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
6577 5. It may be true that he created the world,
6578 but what has he done since then?
6579 6. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
6580 7. The scientific community has had a hard time
6581 replicating his results.
6582 8. He never applied to the Ethics Board
6583 for permission to use human subjects.
6584 9. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up
6585 by drowning the subjects.
6586 10. When subjects didn't behave as predicted,
6587 he deleted them from the sample.
6588 11. He rarely came to class, just told students
6590 12. Some say he had his son teach the class.
6591 13. He expelled his first two students for learning.
6592 14. Although there were only ten requirements,
6593 most students failed his tests.
6594 15. His office hours were infrequent and usually
6595 held on a mountaintop.
6597 When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully
6598 because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up
6599 at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
6600 -- Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation
6603 the foot is forgotten...
6606 Talent, will, and genius are natural phenomena, like volcanoes,
6607 lakes, mountains, winds, stars, clouds.
6608 -- George Sand -- 1874
6610 Creeping Featurism is the desire to add every technologically possible
6611 feature to a product whether or not the market needs it or will pay
6613 -- Leu Platt, CEO Hewlett Packard
6615 everybody's equal, but nobody's the same. -- fred t. hamster
6617 Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
6620 The successful mother sets her children free
6621 and becomes more free herself in the process.
6622 -- Robert J. Havinghurst
6624 No amount of energy will take the place of thought.
6625 A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
6628 It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.
6631 It's strange the way the imagination, having exhausted one field,
6632 turns for rest and reinvigoration to another.
6635 Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.
6638 People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding.
6639 -- Dr. Wilhem Stekel
6641 Love is the greatest refreshment of life.
6644 An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe it.
6647 I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent
6648 that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.
6651 You can exert no influence if you are not susceptible to influence.
6654 The greater the difficulty
6655 the more glory in surmounting it.
6658 Society is always engaged in a vast conspiracy to preserve itself--at the
6659 expense of the new demands of each new generation.
6660 -- John Haynes Holmes
6662 The only thing that is really difficult is to prove what one believes.
6665 There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for
6666 all one's life--reciprocity.
6669 Each time we make a decision, it is determined by the good or evil forces,
6670 respectively, which are dominant.
6673 We taste and feel and see the truth.
6674 We do not reason ourselves into it.
6677 You inside and the wind outside, tangled on the window blind, tell me why you
6678 treated me so unkind. Down where the sun don't shine I'm lonely and I call
6679 your name, no place to go ain't that a shame....
6682 The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough
6683 to believe the best is yet to come.
6686 "Observing formations of pigs flying south for the winter is several orders
6687 of magnitude more likely than having two competing C[++] compilers deal
6688 with more than eight lines of source code the same way."
6689 -- Steve Rimmer -- windows columnist
6691 If asses were rainbows, we'd all have a pot of gold.
6700 Good judgment is a result of experience.
6701 Experience is a result of poor judgment.
6704 in programming, insanity is not a handicap.
6713 you don't have to get mad every time you have the right to. -- fred t. hamster
6715 It's actually quite straightforward, but first you must be familiar
6716 with the 9 Palaces and 24 Directions.
6719 Every fairly intelligent person realizes that
6720 the price of respectability is a muffled soul
6721 bent on the trivial and mediocre.
6724 People will admit to anything on the Internet. -- fred t. hamster
6726 If all the beasts were gone, men would die
6727 from great loneliness of spirit,
6728 for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.
6729 All things are connected.
6730 Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth.
6731 -- Chief Seathl (Seattle) of Suwamish tribe,
6732 State of Washington, 1855
6734 keep doing good, but don't be a do-gooder. -- fred t. hamster
6736 All systems of thought confine their thinkers within the accepted boundaries.
6737 To free the mind from this conceptual jail, step back from and outside of the
6738 system; detachment enables both sides of the system (that which is within
6739 and that which is not within) to be perceived and dealt with as an object
6743 That which exists requires no reaffirmation by the mind; it simply is.
6744 It is that which does not exist that needs constant renewing contact by
6745 the mind; else it would fade from its only sphere of influence, the internal
6746 stage upon which it dances and captures the imagination.
6749 Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, no matter how stupid.
6750 -- Frank Zappa (paraphrase unfortunately... know the exact quote?)
6754 i am the beaver who reincarnated as a carpenter.
6755 i am the squirrel who came back as jimmy carter.
6756 if there's anything more fun than programming (where i actually use my brain
6757 mainly and not my body), then i don't want to know what it is.
6758 algorithms are my bread.
6759 objects are my butter.
6760 state machines are my toaster.
6761 library hierarchies are my table.
6762 my house is composed of invisible data and my nation rides along cables.
6763 i really need a girlfriend.
6766 every religion constitutes a view of reality and a view of the world.
6767 each one might suit a particular person differently.
6768 for any religion to claim that it is the one true religion is ridiculous
6769 because it asserts that its one way of viewing reality is the only correct
6770 one. surely this is a bad case of religious egotism or selfishness.
6773 talking about dharma is like making a home movie. when you watch it later,
6774 you see it, you hear it, and yet it isn't really there and the vital
6775 experience of being there is missing. but when you are there... you know
6776 it and feel it in a way your brain can't accurately record for later
6780 Deja Fu: The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the
6781 head like this before.
6783 A day without sunshine is like night.
6785 There is a CD out entitled "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane". If you buy
6786 this, take it home, play it, and enjoy it, should you take it back and
6789 College is a fountain of knowledge... and the students are there to drink.
6791 A polar bear is a rectangular bear after a coordinate transform.
6793 Some people say that I must be a horrible person, but that's not true.
6794 I have the heart of a young boy--in a jar on my desk.
6795 -- Stephen King, 3/8/90
6797 He who dies with the most toys, is, nonetheless, still dead.
6799 Photons have mass? I didn't know they were catholic!
6801 If you had everything, where would you keep it?
6803 I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
6804 has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
6805 -- Supposedly an English Professor, Ohio University
6807 What was sliced bread the greatest thing since?
6809 When aiming for the common denominator, be prepared
6810 for the occasional division by zero.
6812 When you're swimmin' in the creek
6813 And an eel bites your cheek
6815 -- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
6817 Q: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
6818 A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with
6819 brightly colored machine tools.
6821 "... one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking
6822 zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs."
6825 Grabel's Law: 2 is not equal to 3--not even for very large values of 2.
6827 Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
6829 There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and BSD.
6830 We don't believe this to be a coincidence.
6832 If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet,
6833 what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?
6836 One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's satellite
6837 dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world.
6840 My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of
6841 Oreo cookies while I'm in the waiting room. Sometimes she has to cancel
6842 the rest of the afternoon's appointments.
6845 Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've
6846 forgotten this before.
6849 Smoking cures weight problems... eventually.
6852 I have an inferiority complex. But it's not a very good one.
6855 I was in the supermarket the other day, and I met a lady in the aisle where
6856 they keep the generic brands. Her name was 'woman'.
6859 I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the
6863 I'd like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend. It's
6864 called, 'They'll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away 'Cause I'm
6865 Not Raking 'Til Spring.'
6868 When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?'
6869 I said, 'No, I made a few mistakes.'
6872 I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.
6875 The other day, I was walking my dog around my building... on the ledge.
6878 Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
6881 I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now.
6884 Referring to a glass of water: I mixed this myself. Two parts H, one
6885 part O. I don't trust anybody!
6888 I went to the cinema, and the prices were: Adults $5.00, children $2.50.
6889 So I said, 'Give me two boys and a girl.'
6892 I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered
6893 French Toast during the Renaissance.
6896 There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. In the back
6897 you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
6900 I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically.
6903 I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy
6904 was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24
6905 hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.'
6908 There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people
6909 were trapped on the escalators.
6912 I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap
6913 Department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would
6914 know when to stop unwrapping.
6917 I was born by Cesarean section... But not so you'd notice. It's just that
6918 when I leave a house, I go out through the window.
6921 When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five
6922 minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice.
6925 I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead.
6926 You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling
6930 Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and
6931 sang 'Happy Birthday'.
6934 A wino asked me for change... I gave him my shirt.
6937 I bought this thing for my car. You put it on your car, it sends out this
6938 little noise, so when you drive through the woods, deer won't run in front
6939 of your car. I installed it backwards by accident... Driving down the
6940 street with a herd of deer chasing me.
6943 The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter'.
6946 The sky already fell. Now what?
6949 My girlfriend and I went on a picnic. I don't know how she did it, but she
6950 got poison ivy on the brain. When it itched, the only way she could scratch
6951 it was to think about sandpaper.
6954 Trees that grow in smoggy cities are needed to make carbon paper.
6957 What's another word for Thesaurus?
6960 When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms
6961 with me. I said, 'Well, what do you need?'
6964 Why doesn't the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie?
6967 You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail,
6968 and then you remember it really is?
6971 I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No
6972 brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.
6975 My watch is three hours fast, and I can't fix it. So I'm going to move to
6979 When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction.
6982 One time I went to a museum where all the work on display had been done by
6983 children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.
6986 When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was
6987 an only child... Eventually.
6990 One day I got on the bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous
6991 blond Chinese girl. I sat beside her. I said, 'Hi', And she said, 'Hi',
6992 and then I said, 'Nice day, isn't it?' And she said, 'I saw my analyst
6993 today and he says I have a problem. So I asked, 'What's the problem?'
6994 She replied, 'I can't tell you. I don't even know you.' I said, 'Well,
6995 sometimes it's good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus.'
6996 So she said, 'Well, my analyst said I'm a nymphomaniac and I only like
6997 Jewish cowboys... By the way, my name is Denise.' I said, 'Hello, Denise.
6998 My name is Bucky Goldstein.'
7001 Today I was arrested for scalping low numbers at the deli. I sold a #3 for
7005 Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just
7006 whipped out a quarter?
7009 I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.
7012 What happens if you put a slinky on an escalator?
7015 If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
7018 If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
7021 If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?
7024 In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over
7025 what I considered to be an odd number.
7028 Is "tired old cliche" one?
7031 My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good,
7032 she'll give me the other one next year.
7035 At an October re-trial in Leeds, England, jurors took about an
7036 hour to acquit police officer Andrew Whitfield, 30, of stealing a
7037 calculator worth about $4. The cost of the trial, plus the original
7038 mistrial, plus keeping Whitfield on paid suspension for 14 months
7039 as required by law, was about $158,000.
7040 -- News of the Weird -- Compiled by Chuck Shepard
7042 Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world,
7043 I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not
7044 with those flies and death and stuff.
7048 If you could live forever, would you and why?
7050 I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because
7051 if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we
7052 cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
7053 -- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss Universe contest
7055 Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions
7056 in the brain as marijuana... The researchers also discovered other
7057 similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are.
7058 -- Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show, August 22
7060 I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
7061 -- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he
7062 failed to pay his taxes.
7064 Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your
7066 -- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson
7067 for a federal anti-smoking campaign
7069 I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.
7070 -- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward
7072 Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates
7074 -- Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.
7076 Beginning in February 1976 your assistance benefits will be discontinued...
7078 it has been reported to our office that you expired on January 1, 1976.
7079 -- Letter from the Illinois Department of Public Aid
7081 The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history... This century's
7082 history... We all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.
7083 -- Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican vice-presidential
7084 candidate during a news conference in which he was asked his opinion
7087 I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly
7089 -- Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, explaining why
7090 we should export toxic wastes to Third World countries
7092 After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal,
7093 the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of
7094 David Steele to the post.
7095 -- Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, Rhode Island
7097 The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.
7098 -- Dizzy Dean explaining how he felt after being hit on the head
7099 by a ball in the 1934 World Series
7101 there are some who believe that intelligence can only be won at the cost of
7102 other's intelligence; that is, there is no way to be intelligent without being
7103 more intelligent than someone else. i hypothesize that talking to this kind
7104 of person is a very draining experience because all that they are interested
7105 in is proving how much smarter they are than you are.
7106 i believe that people who want to increase intelligence everywhere are easy
7107 to talk to; they want you to know what they know and vice-versa, not to prove
7108 that they are the most intelligent person in the room.
7111 You are 97% water; the other 3% keeps you from drowning.
7114 It got to the end of our show, so I was just wandering around. I had
7115 this maternity dress on and a white face and I was doing unattractive
7116 things, spitting on people, things like that.
7117 -- Iggy Pop, sept. 22, 1968, several minutes before he signed his first
7120 The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive
7121 valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and speed
7122 themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best, know the triumph of high
7123 achievement; and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring
7124 greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid
7125 souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
7126 -- Theodore Roosevelt
7128 I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian
7129 because I hate plants.
7132 My young brother asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get
7133 buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should
7134 have told him the truth--that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally,
7135 but I didn't want to upset him.
7136 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
7138 When I go to heaven, I want to see my grandpa again. But he better have
7139 lost the nose hair and the old-man smell.
7140 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
7142 I once heard the voice of God. It said "Vrrrrmmmm." Unless it was just
7144 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 11
7146 I don't know about you, but I enjoy watching paint dry. I imagine that
7147 the wet paint is a big freshwater lake that is the only source of water
7148 for some tiny cities by the lake. As the lake gets drier, the population
7149 gets more desperate, and sometimes there are water riots. Once there was
7150 a big fire and everyone died.
7151 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7153 I like to go down to the dog pound and pretend that I've found my dog.
7154 Then I tell them to kill it anyway because I already gave away all of
7155 his stuff. Dog people sure don't have a sense of humor.
7156 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 14
7158 I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I
7159 don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes
7160 on the last day of their life?
7161 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7163 It sure would be nice if we got a day off for the president's birthday,
7164 like they do for the queen. Of course, then we would have a lot of people
7165 voting for a candidate born on July 3 or December 26, just for the long
7167 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 8
7169 As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few
7170 minutes each day. At the end of the year, you'll have a couple of days
7172 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 7
7174 Democracy is a beautiful thing, except for that part about letting just
7176 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
7178 Home is where the house is.
7179 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7181 Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That
7182 is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number.
7183 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7185 It would be terrible if the Red Cross Bloodmobile got into an accident.
7186 No, wait. That would be good because if anyone needed it, the blood would be
7188 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
7190 Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the
7191 things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.
7192 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7194 I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
7195 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7197 For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then
7198 the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what
7199 happens to cheese when you leave it out.
7200 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7202 Think of the biggest number you can. Now add five. Then, imagine if you
7203 had that many Twinkies. Wow, that's five more than the biggest number
7204 you could come up with!
7205 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7207 The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe
7208 "Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?" or "Isn't it morally
7209 wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?"
7210 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7212 Once, I wept for I had no shoes. Then I came upon a man who had no feet.
7213 So I took his shoes. I mean, it's not like he really needed them, right?
7214 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7216 I often wonder how come John Tesh isn't as popular a singer as some
7217 people think he should be. Then, I remember it's because he sucks.
7218 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7220 If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world
7221 peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the
7223 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7225 Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
7227 Lobotomies for republicans? Why be redundant?
7229 The last time we mixed politics and religion,
7230 people got burned at the stake.
7234 Minimum wage for politicians.
7237 i dancing nude green
7239 (a haiku-style anagram for "inova engineering and production")
7242 If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
7244 A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
7246 Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.
7248 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
7250 A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7252 He who hesitates is probably right.
7254 Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
7256 The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.
7258 To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
7260 Two wrongs are only the beginning.
7262 You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
7264 The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
7266 Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
7268 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
7270 A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
7272 Change is inevitable... except from vending machines.
7274 Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
7276 Half the people you know are above average.
7278 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
7280 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
7282 If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
7284 Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or
7285 the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when
7286 they bark, they shoot bees at you?
7289 Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not
7290 whether you win or lose... it's how drunk you get.
7293 Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably.
7294 The lesson is, never try.
7297 It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but
7298 somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
7301 Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What
7307 Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
7308 Homer: Heh heh heh... ooh... yeah.... right, Lisa. A wonderful...
7311 Marge: Do you want your son to be Chief Justice of the
7312 Supreme Court, or a sleazy male stripper?
7313 Homer: Can't he be both, like the late Earl Warren?
7314 Marge: Earl Warren was never a stripper!
7315 Homer: Oh, now who's being naive?
7317 Homer: But every time I learn something new, it pushes out
7318 something old! Remember that time I took a home
7319 wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
7320 Marge: That's because you were drunk!
7323 Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer
7324 kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that...
7325 building...thingie... where our beds and TV... is.
7328 Operator! Give me the number for 911!
7331 Lenny: Hey, Homer? What do I tell the boss?
7332 Homer: Tell him I'm going to the back seat of my car with
7333 the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!
7335 Big brother representative: Now, Mr. Simpson, may I ask why
7337 Homer's brain: Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge.
7338 Homer: Ummm... revenge?
7339 Homer's brain: Okay, that's it. I'm outta here.
7340 (step step step step step...slam)
7342 Homer: Okay, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like
7343 you, but let's get through this thing and then I can
7344 continue killing you with beer.
7345 Homer's Brain: It's a deal!
7347 Homer: But Marge! I was a political prisoner!
7348 Marge: How were you a political prisoner?
7349 Homer: I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to
7352 Homer: Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they
7353 smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just
7354 to get one! (chugs beer)
7356 Old man: Take this doll, but beware; it carries a terrible curse.
7357 Homer: Ooo, that's bad.
7358 Old man: But it comes with a free serving of frozen yogurt!
7360 Old man: The frozen yogurt is also cursed.
7362 Old man: But it comes with your choice of toppings!
7364 Old man: The toppings contain potassium benzoate...
7366 Old man: That's bad.
7367 Homer: Can I go now?
7369 Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say
7370 you're prejudiced against all races.
7373 Homer's brain: Use reverse psychology.
7374 Homer: Oh, that sounds too complicated.
7375 Homer's brain: Okay, don't use reverse psychology.
7376 Homer: Okay, I will!
7378 Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought
7379 it would be fun and zany, like that movie--Spaceballs. But instead it was
7380 dark and disturbing. Like that movie--Police Academy.
7382 Marge: Homer, did you call the audience "Chicken"?
7383 Homer: No! I swear on this bible!
7384 Marge: That's not a bible. That's a book of carpet samples.
7385 Homer: Mmmm... fuzzy.
7387 Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad!
7388 Homer: Did you wreck the car?
7390 Homer: Did you raise the dead?
7392 Homer: But the car's okay?
7393 Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh.
7394 Homer: All right then.
7396 Mmmmm... reprocessed pig fat... -- Homer Simpson
7398 (praying): Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me. As
7399 an offering, I present these milk and cookies. If you
7400 wish me to eat them instead, please give me no sign
7401 whatsoever... thy will be done (munch munch munch).
7404 Homer: (On George HW Bush) I didn't vote for him!
7405 Marge: You didn't vote for anybody.
7406 Homer: I voted for Prell to go back to the old glass bottle.
7407 Then I became deeply cynical.
7409 What's the point of going out? We're just going to
7410 wind up back here anyway.
7413 I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
7416 All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me--so let's
7417 just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer.
7420 You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline;
7421 it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear
7422 weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
7425 Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to
7426 keep your mouth shut.
7427 -- Ernest Hemmingway
7429 Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has
7431 -- Winston Churchill
7433 He was a wise man who invented beer.
7436 Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.
7437 -- Catherine Zandonella
7439 A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
7442 "Sir, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
7443 -- Lady Nancy Astor speaking to Winston Churchill
7444 "Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."
7445 -- Winston Churchill's reply
7447 If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.
7450 Work is the curse of the drinking class.
7453 When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
7456 Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
7457 -- Benjamin Franklin
7459 If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it
7460 makes beer shoot out your nose.
7461 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
7463 Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is
7464 beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but
7465 the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
7468 The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
7471 Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
7474 People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just
7476 -- Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
7478 Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
7481 Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
7482 oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital
7486 I drink to make other people interesting.
7487 -- George Jean Nathan
7489 They who drink beer will think beer.
7490 -- Washington Irving
7492 An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with
7494 -- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway
7496 You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
7499 I will not carve gods.
7500 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7502 I will not spank others.
7503 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7505 I will not aim for the head.
7506 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7508 I will not barf unless I'm sick.
7509 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7511 I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty.
7512 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7514 I saw nothing unusual in the teacher's lounge.
7515 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7517 I will not conduct my own fire drills.
7518 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7520 Funny noises are not funny.
7521 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7523 I will not snap bras.
7524 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7526 I will not fake seizures.
7527 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7529 This punishment is not boring and pointless.
7530 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7532 My name is not Dr. Death.
7533 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7535 I will not defame New Orleans.
7536 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7538 I will not prescribe medication.
7539 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7541 I will not bury the new kid.
7542 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7544 I will not teach others to fly.
7545 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7547 I will not bring sheep to class.
7548 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7550 A burp is not an answer.
7551 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7553 Teacher is not a leper.
7554 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7556 Coffee is not for kids.
7557 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7559 I will not eat things for money.
7560 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7562 I will not yell "She's Dead" at roll call.
7563 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7565 The principal's toupee is not a Frisbee.
7566 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7568 I will not call the principal "spud head".
7569 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7571 Goldfish don't bounce.
7572 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7574 Mud is not one of the 4 food groups.
7575 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7577 No one is interested in my underpants.
7578 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7580 I will not sell miracle cures.
7581 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7583 I will return the seeing-eye dog.
7584 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7586 I do not have diplomatic immunity.
7587 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7589 I will not charge admission to the bathroom.
7590 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7592 The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy.
7593 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7595 All work and no play makes Bart a dull boy.
7596 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7598 I will not say "Springfield" just to get applause.
7599 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7601 I am not authorized to fire substitute teachers.
7602 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7604 My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man.
7605 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7607 I will not go near the kindergarten turtle.
7608 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7610 I am not deliciously saucy.
7611 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7613 Organ transplants are best left to professionals.
7614 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7616 The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with "Hail Satan".
7617 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7619 I will not celebrate meaningless milestones.
7620 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7622 There are plenty of businesses like show business.
7623 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7625 Five days is not too long to wait for a gun.
7626 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7628 I will not waste chalk.
7629 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7631 I will not skateboard in the halls.
7632 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7634 Underwear should be worn on the inside.
7635 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7637 I will never win an emmy.
7638 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7640 I will not torment the emotionally frail.
7641 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7643 Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert,
7644 drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to
7645 abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
7646 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7647 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7649 Me--trying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a
7650 cigarette; you--choking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get
7651 away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue.
7652 Can I have a dollar?
7653 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7654 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7656 Imp and angel. Disembodied head in jar, 24, seeks pixie goddess to fiddle with
7657 while Rome burns. You bring marshmallows. No. I make joke. You like laugh?
7658 I like comebacks and confessions. Send photo of someone else.
7659 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7660 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7662 I am spitting kitty. Ftt Fttttttt. I am angry bear. Grrrrr. I am large
7663 watermelon seed stuck in your nose. Zermmmmmmmmmm. I am small biting spider
7664 in your underwear. Yub yub yub. No mimes.
7665 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7666 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7668 Three toed mango peeler searching for wicked lesbian infielder. Like screaming
7669 and marking territory with urine? Let's make banana enchiladas together in my
7670 bathtub. You bring the salsa.
7671 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7672 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7674 Mongoloid spastic underwear model with extra limb (you guess where?) in search
7675 of bottlenosed dolphin and extra prickly cactus juice. Soup is good food.
7676 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7677 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7679 I like eating mayonnaise and peanut butter sandwiches in the rain, watching
7680 Barney Miller reruns, peeing on birds in the park and licking strangers on the
7681 subway; you eat beets raw, have climbed Kilimanjaro, and sweat freely and
7682 often. Must wear size five shoes.
7683 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7684 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7686 Timber! Falling downward is the lumber of my love. You grind your axe of
7687 passion into my endangered headlands. Don't make me into a bureau. I want
7688 to be lots and lots of toothpicks.
7689 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7690 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7692 Small lumpy squid monkey seeks healthy woman with no identifying scars, any
7693 age. Must have all limbs. Recommend appreciation of high-pitched, screeching
7694 noises. Must like being bored and lonely. Must not touch the squids, EVER.
7695 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7696 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7698 There is a little place in the jumbled sock drawer of my heart where you
7699 match up all the pairs, throw out the ones with holes in them, and buy me
7700 some of those neat dressy ones with the weird black and red geometrical
7702 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7703 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7705 Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights,
7706 fighting for our rights and the old red, white 'n blue. You look like
7707 Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
7708 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7709 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7711 Sanctimonious mordacious raconteur seeking same for hijinks and hiballs.
7712 SJM 27 wants to look someone in the eye so don't be tall. Or, if you can't
7713 help it, enjoy laying down. Wanna swim upstream?
7714 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7715 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7717 Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you
7718 were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw
7719 the most gorgeous man you'd ever encountered strolling down the beach looking
7720 at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And
7721 how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way,
7722 masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never
7723 did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and
7725 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7726 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7728 Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a
7729 passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily
7730 tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings,
7731 bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
7732 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7733 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7735 A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho
7736 Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned
7737 we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear
7738 of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign
7739 a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
7740 "dihydrogen monoxide." And for plenty of good reasons, since
7742 1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting;
7743 2. it is a major component in acid rain;
7744 3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state;
7745 4. accidental inhalation can kill you;
7746 5. it contributes to erosion;
7747 6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes;
7748 7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
7750 He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said
7751 yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was water. The
7752 title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?".
7753 The conclusion is obvious.
7755 If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera
7757 -- Bobcat Goldthwait
7759 I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because
7760 it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive,
7761 but I have photographs of her.
7764 I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other
7765 one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they
7766 are always locking three.
7769 Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
7772 Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like
7773 one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you
7774 two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay and before they leave you,
7775 they should have to find you a temp.
7778 I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and
7779 the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a
7783 I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language
7784 that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may may be. But I
7785 think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't
7786 afraid of vacuum cleaners.
7789 Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how
7790 dogs spend their lives.
7793 Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to
7794 listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating
7798 The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering
7799 from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they
7800 are okay, then it's you.
7803 Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image
7804 there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe
7805 laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body
7806 before you do the wash.
7809 USA Today has come out with a new survey: Apparently three out of four people
7810 make up 75 percent of the population.
7813 A lady came up to me on the street and pointed at my suede jacket. 'You know
7814 a cow was murdered for that jacket?' she sneered. I replied in a psychotic
7815 tone, 'I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too.'
7818 I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.
7821 The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty
7822 impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife
7823 they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle
7824 openers. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me,
7825 he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
7828 Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my
7829 fishburger and I realize, Oh my God... I could be eating a slow learner.
7832 Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.
7835 Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
7836 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7838 Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.
7839 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7841 I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom
7842 and democracy--but that could change.
7843 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
7845 One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that
7846 one word is 'to be prepared'.
7847 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89
7849 May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world.
7850 -- The Quayles' 1989 Christmas card
7852 Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
7853 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7855 We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.
7856 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7858 I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the
7860 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7862 The future will be better tomorrow.
7863 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7865 We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.
7866 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7868 People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a
7869 tremendous impact on history.
7870 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7872 I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.
7873 -- Vice President Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/89
7875 We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm
7876 commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.
7877 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7879 I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.
7880 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7882 I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.
7883 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7885 A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
7886 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7888 When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and
7889 the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame
7890 for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings?
7891 The killers are to blame.
7892 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7894 Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
7895 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)
7897 Murphy Brown is doing better than I am. At least she knows she still has a job
7899 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/18/92
7901 We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
7902 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/22/90
7904 For NASA, space is still a high priority.
7905 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/5/90
7907 Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
7908 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/18/90
7910 The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle
7911 may or may not make.
7912 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7914 We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
7915 mistakes we may or may not have made.
7916 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7918 It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
7919 in our air and water that are doing it.
7920 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7922 [It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.
7923 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7925 Public speaking is very easy.
7926 -- Dan Quayle to reporters in 10/88
7928 We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
7931 The president has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.
7932 -- Clinton aide George Stephanopolous speaking on "Larry King Live"
7934 The police are not here to create disorder.
7935 They're here to preserve disorder.
7936 -- Former Chicago mayor Daley
7937 during the infamous 1968 convention
7939 Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.
7940 -- Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery
7942 It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
7943 -- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
7945 The internet is a great way to get on the net.
7946 -- Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole
7948 It is bad luck to be superstitious.
7951 It's like an Alcatraz around my neck.
7952 -- Boston mayor Menino on the shortage of city parking spaces
7954 They're multipurpose. Not only do they put the clips on, but they take
7956 -- Pratt & Whitney spokesperson explaining why the company charged the
7957 Air Force nearly $1,000 for an ordinary pair of pliers
7959 We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees.
7960 -- Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks
7962 I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
7963 We are the president.
7964 -- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents
7966 When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.
7967 -- Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
7969 China is a big country, inhabited by many chinese.
7970 -- Former French President Charles de Gaulle
7972 That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and
7973 i'm just the one to do it.
7974 -- A congressional candidate in Texas
7976 Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
7977 -- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
7979 Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
7980 -- General William Westmoreland, during the war in Viet Nam
7982 If you let that sort of thing go on, your bread and butter will be cut
7983 right out from under your feet.
7984 -- Former British foreign minister Ernest Bevin
7986 Almonds and peaches are members of the Rosaceae family (roses) and are
7987 both in the subfamily Amygdaloideae, which also includes plums, cherries
7990 The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
7992 Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
7994 Nutmeg is toxic and can cause fatal overdoses just from eating too much.
7996 Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real
7997 brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp).
7999 In Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie," mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who
8000 has a speaking role.
8002 Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make--$5 million going to actor's salaries.
8004 A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the
8005 production of Guinness beer.
8007 Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los
8008 Angeles de Porciúncula" or "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of Angels,
8009 of Porziuncola", although its official name is simply "El Pueblo de
8010 la Reina de Los Angeles".
8012 A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
8014 An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
8016 Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
8018 Deborah Winger did the voice of E.T.
8020 In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed
8021 on an analog watch is 10:10.
8023 Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
8025 Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
8027 The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint--no two lions have the same
8028 pattern of whiskers.
8030 Bob Dylan's given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
8032 Research by the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth in
8033 2003 demonstrated that goldfish have a memory-span of at least three
8034 months and can distinguish between different shapes, colours and sounds.
8036 The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
8038 It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog
8039 throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's
8040 mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's
8041 contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
8043 Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
8045 ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first
8046 names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)
8048 The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister,
8049 Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles
8050 at a religious retreat in India.
8052 The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
8054 The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator,
8055 Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."
8057 Horses and rabbits cannot normally vomit, but have been observed in
8058 extreme cases appearing to vomit. For example, horses with severe colic
8059 can produce fermented stomach contents, and rabbits have been observed
8060 expelling stomach contents due to over-eating or health issues.
8062 Virgina Woolf liked to write standing up.
8063 Mark Twain often wrote while lying down.
8065 Testimonial from Col. George Harvey, Mark Twain's publisher:
8066 I think that perhaps the funniest thing about Mark Twain now is not
8067 his writing, but his bed. He lies in bed a good deal; he says he has
8068 formed the habit. His bed is the largest one I ever saw, and on it is
8069 the weirdest collection of objects you ever saw, enough to furnish a
8070 Harlem flat--books, writing materials, clothes, any and everything that
8071 could foregather in his vicinity.
8072 He looks quite happy rising out of the mass, and over all prowls a
8073 huge black cat of a very unhappy disposition. She snaps and snarls and
8074 claws and bites, and Mark Twain takes his turn with the rest; when she
8075 gets tired of tearing up manuscript she scratches him and he bears it
8076 with a patience wonderful to behold.
8077 -- interview subtitled "Mark Twain's Bed," Washington Post,
8078 March 26, 1905, p. F12
8080 Testimonial from Katy Leary, Mark Twain's servant:
8081 Mr. Clemens borrowed a kitten one time, called Bambino, from Clara, who
8082 had him in the sanitarium, and had trained him to wash his own face in the
8083 bowl every morning--which shows that he was a very smart little cat. He
8084 used to have this kitten up in his room at the Fifth Avenue house and he
8085 taught it to put out a light, too. He had a tiny little lamp to light his
8086 cigars with at the head of the bed, and after he got all fixed and didn't
8087 want the light any more, he taught that cat to put his paw on the light
8088 and put it out. Bambino would jump on the bed, look at Mr. Clemens to see
8089 if he was through with the light, and when Mr. Clemens would bow twice to
8090 him, he'd jump over on to that table quick, and put his little paw right
8091 on the lamp! Mr. Clemens was always showing him off; he did that for a lot
8092 of people that come there to call.
8093 One night he got kind of gay, when he heard some cats calling from the
8094 back fence, so he found a window open and he stole out. We looked high
8095 and low but couldn't find him. Mr. Clemens felt so bad that he advertised
8096 in all the papers for him. He offered a reward for anybody that would
8097 bring the cat back. My goodness! the people that came bringing cats to
8098 that house! A perfect stream! They all wanted to see Mr. Clemens, of
8100 Two or three nights after, Katherine heard a cat meowing across the
8101 street in General Sickles' back yard, and there was Bambino--large as
8102 life! So she brought him right home. Mr. Clemens was delighted and then
8103 he advertised that his cat was found! But the people kept coming just
8104 the same with all kinds of cats for him--anything to get a glimpse of
8106 -- A Lifetime with Mark Twain, by Mary Lawton
8108 If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to
8109 yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because
8110 for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
8111 -- Rainer Maria Rilke
8113 Compassion is the chief and perhaps the only law of human existence.
8114 -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
8116 If we concede that human life can be governed by reason, the possibility of
8120 What an abyss of uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself;
8121 when it, the seeker, is at the same time the dark region through which it
8122 must go seeking, and where all its equipment will avail nothing. Seek? More
8123 than that: create. It is face to face with something which does not yet exist,
8124 to which it alone can give reality and substance, which it alone can bring into
8128 As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
8129 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8131 I believe that everything depends on attention. I only see you if I pay
8132 attention. I only exist, in my own eyes, if I pay attention to myself.
8135 The sex was so good that even the neighbors had a cigarette.
8137 If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
8139 I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
8141 If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.
8143 Good girls get fat, bad girls get eaten.
8145 The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
8147 A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
8149 I need someone really bad... are you really bad?
8151 If, a two letter word for futility.
8153 Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
8155 To all you virgins, thanks for nothing.
8157 The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
8159 My kid had sex with your honor student.
8161 Don't hit me. My lawyer's in jail.
8163 If something goes without saying, LET IT!
8165 If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
8167 IRS: We've got what it takes to take what you've got.
8169 Hard work has a future payoff, laziness pays off now.
8171 Life's a buffet... so eat me!
8173 Montana--At least our cows are sane!
8179 God must love stupid people, he made so many.
8181 I said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen.
8183 The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
8185 There's too much youth, how about a fountain of smart.
8187 Forget about World Peace... Visualize Using Your Turn Signal!
8189 Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
8191 I know what you're thinking, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
8193 Don't drink and drive, you might hit a bump and spill your drink.
8195 Elvis is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself.
8197 Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
8199 Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
8201 Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
8203 Always be nice to your children because they are
8204 the ones who will choose your rest home.
8207 I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with subatomic particles.
8209 Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off.
8211 I'm not offended by all the dumb blond jokes because I know I'm not
8212 dumb... and I also know that I'm not blond.
8215 You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a
8216 smart woman with a dumb guy.
8219 I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home
8220 which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls
8221 every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon and a cat that
8222 comes home late at night.
8225 I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
8228 I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told
8229 me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that
8230 feels GOOD for 36 hours.
8233 I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
8236 I think--therefore I'm single.
8239 Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
8242 Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as
8243 assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly
8244 promoted as a male schlemiel.
8247 I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on
8248 how to combine marriage and a career.
8251 Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they
8252 should live next door and just visit now and then.
8253 -- Katharine Hepburn
8255 God is my favorite fictional character.
8258 Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
8259 -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
8261 I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
8262 -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
8264 I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the
8265 best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't
8267 -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
8269 But what... is it good for?
8270 -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
8271 commenting on the microchip
8273 This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
8274 means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
8275 -- Western Union internal memo, 1876
8277 The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for
8278 a message sent to nobody in particular?
8279 -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment
8280 in the radio in the 1920s
8282 The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than
8283 a 'C,' the idea must be feasible.
8284 -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's
8285 paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service
8286 (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
8288 Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
8289 -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
8291 I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary
8293 -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone
8296 A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say
8297 America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.
8298 -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies
8300 We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.
8301 -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
8303 If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The
8304 literature was full of examples that said you can't do this.
8305 -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M
8308 So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built
8309 with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll
8310 give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for
8311 you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they
8312 said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'
8313 -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P
8314 interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer
8316 Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and
8317 the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He
8318 seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
8319 -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary
8322 You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your
8323 muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to
8324 accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight
8326 -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by
8329 Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
8331 -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill
8334 Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.
8335 -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
8337 Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
8338 -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy,
8339 Ecole Superieure de Guerre
8341 Everything that can be invented has been invented.
8342 -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, arguing
8343 that the office should be closed
8345 Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.
8346 -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
8348 The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
8349 of the wise and humane surgeon.
8350 -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary
8351 to Queen Victoria 1873
8353 640K ought to be enough for anybody.
8354 -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but he asserts that he did not say this.
8356 Three things are certain:
8357 Death, taxes, and lost data.
8358 Guess which has occurred.
8361 Your life's work has been destroyed.
8362 Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?
8365 I am the Blue Screen of Death.
8366 No one hears your screams.
8368 Seeing my great fault
8369 Through darkening blue windows
8372 The code was willing,
8373 It considered your request,
8374 But the chips were weak.
8377 Could be a fatal error.
8381 It might be very useful.
8384 Errors have occurred.
8385 We won't tell you where or why.
8388 Server's poor response
8389 Not quick enough for browser.
8390 Timed out, plum blossom.
8392 Chaos reigns within.
8393 Reflect, repent, and reboot.
8397 Only perfect spellers may
8400 This site has been moved.
8401 We'd tell you where, but then we'd
8405 scatt'ring petals to the wind:
8409 Close all that you have.
8410 You ask way too much.
8412 First snow, then silence.
8413 This thousand dollar screen dies
8416 With searching comes loss
8417 and the presence of absence:
8418 "My Novel" not found.
8420 The Tao that is seen
8421 Is not the true Tao, until
8422 You bring fresh toner.
8424 The Web site you seek
8425 cannot be located but
8426 endless others exist
8428 Stay the patient course
8429 Of little worth is your ire
8433 your expensive computer
8437 of carbon and silicon
8438 the software can't bridge
8441 Today it is not working
8442 Windows is like that
8445 Would be life without meaning
8448 You step in the stream,
8449 but the water has moved on.
8450 This page is not here.
8457 Hal, open the damn file, Hal
8458 open the, please Hal
8461 We wish to hold the whole sky,
8465 The document you're seeking
8466 Must now be retyped.
8468 The ten thousand things
8469 How long do any persist?
8470 Netscape, too, has gone.
8473 Or a rude error message,
8474 These words: "File not found."
8477 All shortcuts have disappeared.
8478 Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
8480 Indecision may or may not be my problem.
8483 If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
8484 This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
8487 If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He
8491 I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage.
8492 They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
8495 I would love to speak a foreign language but I can't.
8496 So I grew hair under my arms instead.
8499 The second day of a diet is always easier than the first.
8500 By the second day you're off it.
8503 Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
8506 If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's
8507 life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if
8508 there is a man on base.
8511 Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he
8512 hasn't eaten in a while.
8513 -- Charles Barkley, after blatantly elbowing an Angolan basketball
8514 opponent in the Olympics.
8516 I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said,
8517 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough.
8521 The show business newspaper Daily Variety reported in December that John
8522 Kricfalusi, creator of TV's "The Ren & Stimpy Show," was threatening legal
8523 action against the producers of the Comedy Central show "South Park" for
8524 ripping off a cartoon character. According to Kricfalusi, his character
8525 "Nutty the Friendly Dump," an animated piece of excrement, must have been
8526 the basis for "South Park"'s "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo," a holiday-
8527 dressed, singing, dancing piece of excrement.
8529 If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is
8530 no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
8532 If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
8534 If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is
8535 it considered a hostage situation?
8537 Is there another word for synonym?
8539 Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
8541 When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
8543 Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
8545 Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
8547 What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
8549 If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
8551 Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
8553 Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone
8556 If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
8558 If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
8560 Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
8562 Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
8564 If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to
8567 Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
8569 How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
8571 Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
8573 Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
8575 Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
8577 Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies.
8580 In dog years, I'm dead.
8583 Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in
8584 case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in
8589 I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees us peeing in his water bowl.
8592 Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend,
8593 and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
8596 To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
8599 A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times
8603 Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is
8604 how dogs spend their lives.
8607 Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stays up all night
8608 wondering if there really is a Dog?
8611 I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give
8615 I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts
8616 to bite people themselves.
8617 -- August Strindberg
8619 Ever consider what they [our pets] must think of us? I mean, here we come
8620 back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul--chicken, pork, half
8621 a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
8624 My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can.
8625 That's almost $7.00 in dog money.
8628 If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known
8629 will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
8632 You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.
8635 Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
8639 Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get
8641 -- Robert A. Heinlein
8643 In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have
8644 a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
8645 -- Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
8647 When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.
8650 Cat's Motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to
8651 make it look like the dog did it.
8654 Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy
8655 the wag of his tail... No one appreciates the very
8656 special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
8657 -- Christopher Morley
8659 A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
8662 Man is a dog's idea of what God should be.
8665 The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
8668 He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life,
8669 his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
8670 of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
8673 Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog
8677 I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
8680 If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
8683 Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane.
8686 I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt,
8687 and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
8690 There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
8693 One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men.
8694 No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
8697 (AP) Tokyo: Tokyo commuter Katsuo Katugoru caused havoc on a crowded tube
8698 train when his inflatable underpants unexpectedly went off. The rubber
8699 underwear was made by Katsuo himself, and designed to inflate to 30 times
8700 their original size in the event of a tidal wave.
8701 "I am terrified of water, and death by drowning is my greatest fear" said
8702 Katsuo, 48. "Unfortunately I set them off accidently while looking for a
8703 boiled sweet on a rush hour train. They were crushing everybody in the
8704 carriage until a passenger stabbed them with a pencil."
8706 Kindness cannot be taught by harshness--
8707 not by any amount of harshness.
8708 -- Raymond M. Smullyan / The Tao is Silent
8711 Full employment for lawyers
8715 Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump where it
8717 -- attributed to a spokesman for the Nakhon Ratchasima hospital
8719 Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it
8720 holds the universe together....
8723 There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the
8724 Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced
8725 by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which
8726 states that this has already happened.
8729 Only two things are infinite, the universe and
8730 human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
8733 Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for
8734 those people who can't remember where they leave things.
8737 In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that
8738 our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.
8741 It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception,
8742 is composed of others.
8743 -- John Andrew Holmes
8745 Technology is a way of organizing the universe so
8746 that man doesn't have to experience it.
8749 The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
8750 -- Kilgore Trout (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
8752 I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough
8753 to find your way around Chinatown.
8756 In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people
8757 very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
8760 The crux... is that the vast majority of the
8761 mass of the universe seems to be missing.
8764 Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
8765 bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce
8766 bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
8769 There is a coherent plan in the universe,
8770 though I don't know what it's a plan for.
8773 We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. -- Ray Bradbury
8775 My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
8776 -- Christopher Morley
8778 I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing.
8779 It's not holding a charge.
8782 The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
8783 is that it has never tried to contact us.
8784 -- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
8786 As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using
8787 individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and
8788 employees will receive their cards in two weeks.
8789 -- pointy haired boss contest. (This was the winning quote from
8790 Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington)
8792 What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.
8793 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
8795 E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used
8796 only for company business.
8797 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
8799 This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important
8801 -- pointy haired boss contest
8802 (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
8804 Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe
8805 you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now,
8806 go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them.
8807 -- pointy haired boss contest
8808 (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing / 3M Corp.)
8810 My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed
8811 corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit
8812 it. The disk I gave her was write-protected.
8813 -- pointy haired boss contest. (CIO of Dell Computers)
8815 Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say."
8816 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
8818 "How About Friday?" My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for
8819 Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss
8820 work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her
8821 burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
8822 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
8824 "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is
8825 not going to discuss it with the employees."
8826 -- pointy haired boss contest
8827 (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
8829 We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform
8830 you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above."
8831 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
8833 One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project
8834 I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If
8835 I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
8836 -- pointy haired boss contest
8837 (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)
8839 Speaking the Same Language: As director of communications I was asked to
8840 prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In
8841 the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach"
8842 used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the
8843 executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office and told that
8844 the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I
8845 asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophilia)?
8846 working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her
8847 demand that I be fired--and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR
8848 manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his
8849 dictionary, and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me
8850 not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later a memo to the entire
8851 staff came out--directing us that no words which could not be found in the
8852 local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I
8853 resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo
8854 by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.
8855 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Taco Bell Corporation)
8857 This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large
8858 communications company: "(Company name) is endeavorily determined to promote
8859 constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing
8860 emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supersede, the expectations of
8862 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lucent Technologies)
8864 Marriage isn't a word, it's a sentence.
8865 -- unknown, seen on back of Charlottesville, VA cab
8867 Have you ever noticed... Anybody going slower than you is an idiot,
8868 and anyone going faster than you is a f*cking maniac?
8871 You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five
8872 miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where
8876 I'm not into working out. My philosophy: No pain, no pain.
8879 I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you
8880 must eat it with naked fat people.
8883 I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries."
8884 The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"
8887 The reason most people play golf is to wear clothes they would not be
8888 caught dead in otherwise.
8891 I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.
8894 If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.
8897 Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
8898 Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
8899 Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
8902 Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of
8903 Congress... But I repeat myself.
8906 Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least
8907 they can find Kuwait.
8910 My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake
8911 and threw her off the boat. That's how she learned how to swim. I
8912 said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
8915 I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up
8919 What do people mean when they say the computer went down on me?
8922 Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when
8923 God talks to us we're schizophrenic?
8926 When you look at Prince Charles, don't you think that someone in the
8927 Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?
8930 Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to
8931 accept God's final word on where your lips end.
8934 [Modern economists are] "used to measuring the 'standard of living' by
8935 the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who
8936 consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist
8937 economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since
8938 consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to
8939 obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption...
8940 The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic
8941 creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
8942 to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."
8943 -- E. F. Schumacher (1911-1977), from "Small Is Beautiful:
8944 A Study of Economics As If People Mattered", 1973.
8946 As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world
8947 is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of
8948 a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called
8949 a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and
8950 each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.
8951 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
8953 When debugging, suspect the more complicated code,
8954 but keep an eye on the simple code lest it get too cocky.
8957 I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
8960 As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch
8961 with my inner sociopath.
8963 I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring
8964 levels of suspicion and paranoia.
8966 I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones
8967 that are someone else's fault.
8969 I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself,
8970 unless I want to stay employed.
8972 In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
8974 I honor my personality flaws for without them
8975 I would have no personality at all.
8977 Joan of Arc heard voices, too.
8979 I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
8980 censorious, self-righteous people around me.
8982 I need not suffer in silence while I can still
8983 moan, whimper, and complain.
8985 As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they
8986 reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.
8988 When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper
8989 than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.
8991 The first step is to say nice things about myself.
8992 The second is to do nice things for myself, the third,
8993 to find someone to buy me nice things.
8995 As I learn to trust the universe,
8996 I no longer need to carry a gun.
8998 I am at one with my duality.
9000 Blessed are the flexible,
9001 for they can tie themselves into knots.
9003 Only a lack of imagination saves me from
9004 immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.
9006 I will strive to live each day as
9007 if it were my 50th birthday.
9009 I honor and express all facets of my being,
9010 regardless of state and local laws.
9012 Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there
9013 are no sweeter words than "I told you so."
9015 False hope is better than no hope at all.
9017 A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
9019 Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my
9020 underwear in the Hollywood Cafe. Instead, I will move my
9021 computer into the bedroom.
9023 Who can I blame for my problems?
9024 Just give me a minute.
9027 Why should I waste my time reliving the past when
9028 I can spend it worrying about the future?
9030 The complete lack of evidence is the surest
9031 sign that the conspiracy is working.
9033 I am learning that criticism is not nearly as
9034 effective as sabotage.
9036 Becoming aware of my character defects leads me
9037 naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.
9039 To have a successful relationship I must learn to
9040 make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.
9042 I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else
9043 is willing to learn from them.
9045 Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in
9046 his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's
9047 a mile away and barefoot.
9049 Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
9051 Canadian = unarmed American with health care.
9053 Mohandas K. Gandhi's list of "Seven Blunders Of The World That Lead
9056 Science without humanity
9057 Pleasure without conscience
9058 Worship without sacrifice
9059 Knowledge without character
9060 Politics without principle
9061 Commerce without morality
9063 `Tis the longest Purse Conquers the longest Sword.
9066 A Man that will lie still, should never hope to rise;
9067 he that will lie in a Ditch and pray, may depend upon it he
9068 shall lie in the Ditch and die.
9071 He that has Truth on his Side, is a fool, as well
9072 as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of
9073 the Currency or Multitude of other Men's Opinions.
9076 Writers' earnings are the reward of industry and the prize of learning.
9079 Absolute necessity forces many a poor distressed
9080 person to do things which his very soul abhors.
9083 The rising greatness of the British nation
9084 is not owing to war and conquests,
9085 to enlarging its dominion by the sword,
9086 or subjecting the people of other countries to our power;
9087 but it is owing to trade.
9088 An estate is a pond, trade is a spring,
9089 conquest is a Thing attended with Difficulty, Hazard,
9090 Expense, and a Possibility of Miscarriage.
9093 24 hours in a day. 24 beers in a case. coincidence?
9096 When Human Folk at Table Eat,
9097 A Kitten must not mew for meat,
9098 Or Jump to grab it from the Dish
9099 (Unless it happens to be fish).
9102 When I am at peace with myself, and in good spirits--for
9103 instance, on a journey, in a carriage, or after a good meal,
9104 or while taking a walk, or at night when I can't sleep--then
9105 thoughts flow into me most easily and at their best. Where
9106 they come from and how -- that I cannot say; nor can I do
9108 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9110 It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has
9111 become easy to me. I assure you no one has given so much
9112 care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely
9113 a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently
9114 and diligently studied.
9115 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9117 If one has talent it pushes for utterance and torments
9118 one; it will out. And then one is out without questioning.
9119 And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of learning
9120 out of books. Here, here and here [the ear, the head, the
9121 heart] is your school. If everything is right there, then
9122 take your pen and down with it; afterwards ask the opinion
9123 of a man who knows his business.
9124 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9126 It is no just function of government to prohibit what is not wrong.
9129 If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
9130 than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not
9131 your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
9132 May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you
9133 were our countrymen.
9136 You may call, you may call,
9137 But the little black cats won't hear you,
9138 The little black cats are maddened,
9139 By the green light of the moon.
9140 -- Elizabeth Coatsworth
9142 on exception handling...
9143 the point is to create dependable systems. some languages are better than
9144 others for this. some languages provide no support for verification, although
9145 the semantics of most programming constructs are well established. exceptions
9146 predate much of the work done in formal verification of the last 30 years.
9147 many people have tried (with varying degrees of success) to fit exceptions into
9148 the grand scheme and make them verifiable. flaviu cristian has shown how
9149 exception handlers can be fitted with preconditions for their activation and
9150 postconditions for their completion.
9151 however, an attempt to postfit a system with hooks for verifiability will
9152 fail if the system is very large. and programming in this manner is simply a
9153 living hell. the programmer is not generally equipped to set up all of his
9154 handlers for this type of reasoning, even if he has a clear idea for when the
9155 handlers are to be invoked.
9156 what is needed is a general language structure that is capable of embodying
9157 the reasons and the services of the exception-like items in the system.
9160 why aren't programs published in better boxes?
9161 thicker cardboard, smaller profiles, thin like coffee table books,
9162 packaged with only essentials and fitting together well...
9163 you'd be proud to have a software library if the damn boxes weren't
9164 so flimsy and didn't take up so much room.
9166 Here's a thought... The government should only be allowed to test urine for
9167 drugs if they collect the pee in their own mouths.
9169 the drug war is a war on liberty that cannot possibly be won without the
9170 utter removal of all rights or at least the indefinite suspension thereof.
9171 urine testing is the best emblem of this horrible war; it makes the police
9172 look like a bunch of perverted urine sniffers. it is not cost effective
9173 for testing large numbers of people and it is insanely easy to fake if one
9174 wants to anyway. we need to stop the drug war and start the war on ignorance.
9175 this ignorance is an ignorance of the REAL scientifically determined results
9176 of using the drugs in question. studies show that marijuana, for example,
9177 DOES have therapeutic results and that it is almost completely HARMLESS.
9178 smoke inhalation is not harmless, but there are other ways to get stoned than
9179 by inhaling burning vapors. the root ignorance that MUST be warred upon is
9180 an ignorance of the fact that people should leave each other alone and not
9181 be such shrieking paranoid shrews about what their neighbors are doing.
9182 put down your goddamned binoculars, you nosy cretin, and get to the business
9183 of living your own life.
9185 drug prices are caused to soar by the organized crime elements
9186 that are behind the drug war (and behind the republican party).
9187 organized crime at the same time causes the war to look just as
9188 ridiculous as the carrie nation hatchet smashing of beer kegs so
9189 that people will buy more drugs and think that governmental
9190 authority is a crock. who benefitted from the intense CAMP
9191 activity in california? the mafia, because prices on marijuana
9192 soared. who got screwed by CAMP? the people, who made their
9193 honest living off of growing marijuana, which at the time was
9194 our nation's largest commodity. it's time to toss the republican
9195 crooks out of office on their asses. american patriots smoke pot:
9196 george washington, thomas jefferson, benjamin franklin, and thou,
9197 if you like. unamerican creeps are against marijuana and against
9198 the right of the america people to control their own destiny.
9199 i think it really is that simple.
9201 ode to a petty tyrant...
9202 what you don't seem to realize is that productivity is mood dependent.
9203 you seem to think that i need to be degraded repeatedly as some form of
9204 character builder, but what if someone came to this school as your student
9205 who had already been degraded enough in his life? what if every time you
9206 were cutting on them in some sly tricky sarcastic form you were in fact
9207 rubbing a sore spot and only inflaming their opinions as to your anus-nature?
9208 did you realize that one of your students comes back to the office
9209 and just swears and swears at the computer he's working at? this wasn't
9210 because the machine was bad, or his program was bad, or he was bad,
9211 but because he was mad at _you_.
9212 the solution, i think, is to respect people a whole lot more. we're
9213 not here for professors to deride us. this isn't some f*cking fraternity
9214 with you chumps as the chief hazing marshalls. we're here to learn and if
9215 our learning is colored with hues of condemnation and abuse, it diminishes
9216 you, it diminishes us, and it diminishes the whole search for truth and
9220 i don't believe the druidic and grecian universities had this
9221 same kind of "cut him up, slice and dice!" attitude that prevails
9222 at our fine american universities in this day and age. that
9223 attitude is surely a holdover from roman times, when the
9224 patriarchal society demanded discipline and obedience from all
9225 of its members, especially those with license to think. this
9226 approach is impractical these days (because it doesn't work
9227 very well), except at the higher levels in education, where
9228 it is still fervently practiced. root it out, toss it away;
9229 we don't need authoritarian learning, we need to follow the truth
9230 back to all its origins and forward to the myriad potential fruits.
9231 your rule book stopped being effective a long time ago.
9234 on artistic and technical integrity...
9235 in the beginning, i had a totally egotistical attitude that the rest of the
9236 world was screwed and i was right. this is actually somewhat correct, because
9237 one must have his own voice and thoughts, except for the fact that i was not
9238 _that_ correct and the world was not _that_ wrong. but at least what i chose
9239 to say and what i chose to be were right for me. over the past few years i
9240 have sought to learn the phd game, but i have been doing it by suppressing
9241 my own voice and allowing others to tell me what i should say. this is
9242 fundamentally f*cked, because now i have become dependent on them as my voice
9243 instead of relying on the tao to guide the research and for my own voice to
9244 speak what needs to be said. is it any wonder that i have devolved to this
9245 state of being unable to say anything on my own? after years of thinking for
9246 myself, i have allowed myself to become placed in a situation where i was
9247 dependent on someone else as my source of "the scoop". numerous problems
9248 result when others' biases are not what i want to express, yet they have
9249 potency to affect my presentation. the fact that when the bogus guru doesn't
9250 understand something, he usually tells you that you are the one who does not
9251 understand, is no help. he has no subtlety and yet seeks the original
9252 thoughts, leading him to warp other people's original thoughts into his own
9253 mental framework, often losing the original spark and leading the ideas astray
9254 into his own personal interests. i need to cut loose and start thinking on my
9255 own again. if the ideas in my research here have any merit at all, they have
9256 to be proven using my own metrics, not others' metrics. and this no longer
9257 seems possible in this stringently bulletheaded "hard science" department
9258 which instead only enforces conventional viewpoints and does not reach out
9259 into the unknown where the really interesting concepts live....
9262 niceness here is the ineffable.
9263 the only difference between you and the wolf is that you want to be nice,
9264 and fail. the wolf only wants to appear nice while remaining vile inside,
9265 and he succeeds. your demeanor to others is sometimes nice and sometimes
9266 not nice because of your failures in actually being the way you want to
9267 be. and the reason that you fail to be the way you want to be is that you
9268 lack the spiritual strength to keep it up. you can't synchronize your
9269 noble desires with your weak mind/body, and it is mainly because you reject
9270 spirituality itself that you fail in achieving spiritual strength.
9271 one cannot succeed in something one does not believe in except through
9272 dumb beginner's luck. and yet to fully believe in something is to be
9273 trapped in it, without the capacity to disbelieve and free oneself.
9274 you need a fluid belief that accepts what is true within the constraints
9275 of its validity. can this flow be strong enough to become who and what
9279 eek on the candidate from louis cypher... i notice with some lack of
9280 surprise that "ollie north" can be rearranged into the nice phrase
9281 "o, rot in hell". i think this needs to be made more public. perhaps
9282 we should publish an epigram regarding this particular correspondence
9283 between reality and republicanism.
9285 1. Commit to your business.
9286 2. Share your profits with all your associates.
9287 3. Motivate your partners.
9288 4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
9289 5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
9290 6. Celebrate your success.
9291 7. Listen to everyone in your company.
9292 8. Exceed your customers' expectations.
9293 9. Control your expenses better than your competition.
9295 -- "Sam's Rules For Building A Business", from "Made In
9296 America: My Story", by Sam Walton.
9298 Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously.
9299 Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show
9300 enthusiasm--always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a
9301 silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula
9302 on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of
9303 this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really
9304 fools the competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart
9308 If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the
9309 impersonators would be dead.
9312 In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line
9313 up quietly in a single file line from smallest to
9314 tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
9315 -- Warren Hutcherson
9317 Every time a baseball player grabs his crotch, it makes
9318 him spit. That's why you should never date a baseball player.
9321 Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they
9322 always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.'
9332 The creeping cat, looked
9336 The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
9339 A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo.
9340 when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
9341 that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a
9342 whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps
9343 improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.
9344 In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as
9345 the slowest brain cells. Intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain
9346 cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells
9347 first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker
9348 brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
9349 That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
9351 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
9352 which you are used to seeing in print.
9353 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
9354 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
9355 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
9356 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon
9357 word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
9358 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
9360 -- George Orwell, "Politics And The English Language."
9362 Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
9363 -- Felix von Leitner (leitner@inf.fu-berlin.de)
9365 linux: the choice of a GNU generation.
9366 -- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on t-shirts in 1993
9368 There are two types of Linux developers--those who can
9369 spell, and those who can't. There is a constant pitched
9370 battle between the two.
9372 > Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain
9373 > why I should use Linux over BSD?
9375 No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on
9376 creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and
9377 it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just
9378 to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name".
9379 386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird
9380 abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people
9381 just because it sounds too technical.
9382 -- Linus Torvalds' follow-up to a question about Linux
9384 When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people
9385 just stare at you blankly and say, "Hey, I got those with the
9386 system, *for free*".
9389 We come to bury DOS, not to praise it.
9390 -- Paul Vojta, regarding Linux
9392 How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers
9393 are for. I only coded it.
9394 -- Attributed to Linus Torvalds
9396 I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
9397 Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
9400 I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated
9401 Development That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb. Thank you.
9402 -- Vance Petree, Virginia Power
9404 If you want to travel around the world and be invited to
9405 speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix
9409 All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory...
9412 Unix, MS-DOS, and Windows NT (also known as
9413 the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
9416 I would rather spend 10 hours reading someone else's source
9417 code than 10 minutes listening to Muzak waiting for technical
9418 support which isn't.
9419 -- Dr. Greg Wettstein, Roger Maris Cancer Center
9421 Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one
9422 hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix.
9423 -- Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum
9425 We use Linux for all our mission-critical applications.
9426 Having the source code means that we are not held hostage
9427 by anyone's support department.
9428 -- Russell Nelson, President of Crynwr Software
9430 We are Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
9432 The chat program is in public domain. This is not the GNU
9433 public license. If it breaks then you get to keep both pieces.
9434 -- Copyright notice for the chat program
9436 DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random
9437 spontaneous system crashes, usually just before saving
9438 a massive project. Easily cured by UNIX. See also
9439 MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.
9442 MSDOS didn't get as bad as it is overnight--it took over
9443 ten years of careful development.
9444 -- dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca
9446 On the Internet, no one knows you're using Windows NT.
9449 People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
9450 -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel
9452 Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.
9455 The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.
9458 Eh, that's it, I guess. No 300 million dollar unveiling event for this
9459 kernel, I'm afraid, but you're still supposed to think of this as the
9460 "happening of the century" (at least until the next kernel comes along).
9461 Oh, and this is another kernel in that great and venerable "BugFree(tm)"
9462 series of kernels. So be not afraid of bugs, but go out in the streets
9463 and deliver this message of joy to the masses.
9464 -- Linus Torvalds, in the announcement for Linux kernel version 1.3.27
9466 > Linux is not user-friendly.
9468 It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly
9471 I tried to get some documentation out of Digital on this, but
9472 as far as I can tell even _they_ don't have it ;-)
9475 Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence,
9476 no matter _what_ the circumstances.
9479 Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin
9480 really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me
9481 they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in
9482 excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what
9483 they say if they had.
9484 -- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0
9486 Ooohh... "FreeBSD is faster over loopback, when compared to Linux
9487 over the wire". Film at 11.
9490 C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.
9491 -- Dennis M. Ritchie
9493 If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah.
9495 Let's put it this way:
9496 1. A 32-bit counter will expire in little over a year.
9497 2. A 64-bit counter will expire in little over 2^32 years,
9498 or roughly the time the sun (not the Sun) is expected to expire.
9499 3. The odds of your computer hardware surviving the
9500 aforementioned event without reboot are very slim.
9503 The only way tcsh "rocks" is when the rocks are attached
9504 to its feet in the deepest part of a very deep lake.
9507 In accord to UNIX philosophy, PERL gives you enough rope
9509 -- Larry Wall, Randal Schwartz: Programming Perl
9510 (aka the Camel Book).
9512 Anyone can build a fast processor.
9513 The trick is to build a fast system.
9516 Hoping the problem magically goes away by ignoring
9517 it is the "Microsoft approach to programming" and
9518 should never be allowed.
9521 One OS to rule them all,
9522 One OS to find them.
9523 One OS to call them all,
9524 And in salvation bind them.
9525 In the bright land of Linux,
9526 Where the hackers play.
9527 -- J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
9529 I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil.
9530 I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the
9531 devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.
9532 -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
9533 Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld.
9535 After all, how do you give Microsoft the benefit of the
9536 doubt when you know that if you throw it into a room with
9537 truth, you'd risk a matter/anti-matter explosion.
9538 -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
9539 Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld)
9541 The local betaware broker was sitting in the bar, keeping an eye
9542 for potential customers. It was easy to spot him, once you knew
9543 the signs. A slightly paranoid look, but still eager to meet
9544 new people. Not unlike a drug dealer or prostitute. This guy,
9545 however, was carrying a laptop.
9546 I sat in the chair beside him. "Any new stuff for
9547 Linux configuration?", I said, looking at the opposite wall
9549 The broker looked at me, startled, then quickly away. Then
9550 back at me. "What are you, a cop?" The traditional greeting of
9551 the underworld. It made me feel right at home.
9552 "Nope, I just want to install Deb..."
9553 "Shutup. I don't want to go to jail."
9554 I turned around, looked around, then turned back, and put my
9555 knife against his ribs. "Sing or die: where's software for
9556 managing a group of Debian boxes easily?"
9557 His face was pale, and he whispered through his teeth.
9558 "cfgtool. At Lasu's site. http://www.iki.fi/liw/programs/".
9559 I stood up, and walked quickly to the kitchen, and on
9560 out. As I was closing the kitchen door behind me, I heard the
9561 all too familiar sound of MessySoft Police Cars braking in the
9562 street. It would be a hectic night, but I was still one step
9564 -- Lars Wirzenius, advertising his cfgtool program
9566 Microsoft seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the
9567 C2 rating for NT with no network connection. I wonder if a B3
9568 rating for Linux with no power cord might be of value.
9569 -- riordan@math.umn.edu
9571 In the United States there is more space where nobody is
9572 than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.
9573 -- Gertrude Stein, explaining early 20th century America
9575 Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning
9576 "to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet".
9579 Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of
9580 it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.
9583 Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
9586 I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said
9587 to me was, "You'll never find anyone like me again!"
9588 I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you,
9589 why would I want someone like you?"
9592 If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: "I'm cheap!"
9595 According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable
9596 undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other
9597 women. They say that women are too judgemental, where, of course,
9598 men are just grateful.
9601 I am not the boss of my house. I don't know when I lost it.
9602 I don't know if I ever had it. But I have seen the boss's job
9603 and I do not want it.
9606 In the last couple of weeks I have seen the ads for the Wonder Bra.
9607 Is that really a problem in this country? Men not paying enough
9608 attention to women's breasts?
9611 My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care
9612 and vehicle maintenance.
9615 We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines.
9616 They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can.
9617 All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, "You see
9618 the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms."
9621 There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men
9622 are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause
9623 severe swelling. So what's the problem?
9626 There's very little sexual advice in men's magazines,
9627 because men don't think there's a lot they don't know.
9628 Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what
9629 I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
9632 Men are liars. We'll lie about lying if we have to.
9633 I'm an algebra liar. I figure two good lies make a positive.
9636 Men do not like to admit to even momentary imperfection.
9637 My husband forgot the code to turn off the alarm. When
9638 the police came, he wouldn't admit he'd forgotten the
9639 code... he turned himself in.
9642 If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
9645 Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman
9646 I don't like and give her a house.
9649 One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting
9650 as an advisor to scientists is to discourage them from
9651 expecting too much from mathematics.
9654 I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
9656 It is easy to guess why the rabble dislike cats.
9657 A cat is beautiful; it suggests ideas of luxury,
9658 cleanliness, voluptuous pleasures.
9659 -- Charles Baudelaire
9661 An artist must regulate his life.
9663 Here is a time-table of my daily acts. I rise at 7.18; am inspired from
9664 10.23 to 11.47. I lunch at 12.11 and leave the table at 12.14. A healthy
9665 ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1.19 pm to 2.53 pm. Another
9666 bout of inspiration from 3.12 to 4.7 pm. From 5 to 6.47 pm various
9667 occupations (fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation,
9668 dexterity, natation, etc.)
9670 Dinner is served at 7.16 and finished at 7.20 pm. From 8.9 to 9.59 pm
9671 symphonic readings (out loud). I go to bed regularly at 10.37 pm. Once a
9672 week (on Tuesdays) I awake with a start at 3.14 am.
9674 My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded
9675 bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coco-nuts, chicken cooked in
9676 white water, moldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese
9677 (white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their
9678 skin). I boil my wine and drink it cold mixed with the juice of the
9679 Fuschia. I have a good appetite but never talk when eating for fear of
9682 I breathe carefully (a little at a time) and dance very rarely. When
9683 walking I hold my ribs and look steadily behind me.
9685 My expression is very serious; when I laugh it is unintentional, and I
9686 always apologize very politely.
9688 I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly. My bed is round with a
9689 hole in it for my head to go through. Every hour a servant takes my
9690 temperature and gives me another.
9691 -- Erik Satie's description of "A Day in the Life of a Musician"
9693 Confront a child, a puppy and a kitten with sudden danger;
9694 the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy
9695 will grovel in abject submission to the impending visitation,
9696 the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance.
9697 -- H.H. Munro (Saki)
9699 It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted;
9700 instead, men have been exhausted by the problems. Fresh talent approaching
9701 the analysis of a problem without prejudice will always see new
9702 possibilities -- some aspect not considered by those who believe that a
9703 subject is fully understood. Our knowledge is so fragmentary that
9704 unexpected findings appear in even the most fully explored topics...
9705 In summary, there are no small problems. Problems that appear small
9706 are large problems that are not understood. Instead of tiny details
9707 unworthy of the intellectual, we have men whose tiny intellects cannot rise
9708 to penetrate the infinitesimal. Nature is a harmonious mechanism where all
9709 parts, including those appearing to play a secondary role, cooperate in a
9710 functional whole. In contemplating this mechanism, shallow men arbitrarily
9711 divide its parts into essential and secondary, whereas the insightful
9712 thinker is content with classifying them as understood and poorly
9713 understood, ignoring for the moment their size and immediately useful
9714 properties. No one can predict their importance in the future."
9715 -- Santiago Ramon y Cajal, "Advice for a Young Investigator," 1897
9717 He who would do good to another must do it in Minute
9718 Particulars: General Good is the plea of the scoundrel,
9719 hypocrite and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot
9720 exist but in minutely organized particulars.
9723 The Atoms of Democritus
9724 And Newton's Particles of Light
9725 Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
9726 Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
9729 To see a world in a grain of sand
9730 And a heaven in a wild flower, and:
9731 And did those feet in ancient time
9732 Walk upon England's mountains green? ...
9733 And was Jerusalem builded here
9734 Among these dark Satanic mills?
9737 The harlot's cry from street to street,
9738 Shall weave Old England's winding sheet.
9741 Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
9742 In the forests of the night,
9743 What immortal hand or eye
9744 Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
9746 Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
9749 The cat, an aristocrat in type and origin, whom we
9750 have slandered, merits at least our esteem.
9753 society's crumbling, but at least we're getting it televised.
9756 I think maybe it's my purpose in life.
9757 -- The "Guiness Book of World Records" TV show's winner for the category
9758 of longest combined finger nails for ten fingers.
9760 If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will
9761 leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for
9762 the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always
9763 uncertain. The English have developed their government in this direction, it
9764 is called 'muddling through,' and although a rather silly, stupid sounding
9765 thing, it is the most scientific way of progressing. To decide upon the
9766 answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door
9767 to the unknown ajar.
9768 We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of
9769 the development of the human mind, of intelligent life; we have years and
9770 years in the future. It is our responsibility not to give an answer today as
9771 to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and say:
9772 'This is the solution to it all.' Because we will be chained to the limit
9773 of our present imagination, we will only be able to do those things that we
9774 think are the things to do. Whereas, if we leave some room for discussion,
9775 and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will
9776 not arise. I believe, therefore, that although it is not the case today,
9777 there may some day come a time, or I should hope, that the power of
9778 government should be limited. That governments ought not to be empowered to
9779 decide the validity of scientific theories. That is a ridiculous thing for
9780 them to try to do. That they are not to decide the various descriptions of
9781 history or of economic theory or of philosophy.
9782 Only in this way can the real possibilities of the future human race be
9783 ultimately developed.
9784 -- Richard Feynman, from "The Beat Of A Different Drum: The Life And
9785 Science of Richard Feynman," by Jagdish Mehra. Published by Oxford
9786 University Press 1996.
9788 hey, when you come to think of it, isn't it
9789 only the assholes in life who have zero tolerance
9790 about things? and now they're trying to promote
9791 that as a virtue. i just don't buy it.
9794 The spirit of the age cannot be compassed by the processes of human
9795 reason. It is an inclination, an emotional tendency that works upon weaker
9796 minds, through the unconscious, with an overwhelming force of suggestion
9797 that carries them along with it. To think otherwise than our contemporaries
9798 think is somehow illegitimate and disturbing; it is even indecent, morbid
9799 or blasphemous, and therefore socially dangerous for the individual. He is
9800 stupidly swimming against the social current. Just as formerly the
9801 assumption was unquestionable that everything that exists takes its rise
9802 from the creative will of a God who is spirit, so the nineteenth century
9803 discovered the equally unquestionable truth that everything arises from
9804 material causes. Today the psyche does not build itself a body, but on the
9805 contrary, matter, by chemical action, produces the psyche. This reversal of
9806 outlook would be ludicrous if it were not one of the outstanding features of
9807 the spirit of the age. It is the popular way of thinking, and therefore it
9808 is decent, reasonable, scientific and normal. Mind must be thought to be an
9809 epiphenomenon of matter. The same conclusion is reached even if we say not
9810 "mind" but "psyche," and in place of matter speak of brain, hormones,
9811 instincts or drives. To grant the substantiality of the soul or psyche is
9812 repugnant to the spirit of the age, for to do so would be heresy.
9813 -- Carl Jung, from his 1933 book, "Modern Man In Search Of A Soul"
9815 There are many ways to explain an event, and some are better than
9816 others. Even if neuroscientists someday decode the entire wiring
9817 diagram of the brain, human behavior makes the most sense when it
9818 is explained in terms of beliefs and desires, not in terms of volts
9819 and grams. Physics provides no insights into the machinations of a
9820 crafty lawyer, and even fails to enlighten us about many simpler
9821 acts of living things. As Richard Dawkins observed, 'If you throw
9822 a dead bird into the air it will describe a graceful parabola,
9823 exactly as physics books say it should, then come to rest on the
9824 ground and stay there. It behaves as a solid body of a particular
9825 mass and wind resistance ought to behave. But if you throw a live
9826 bird in the air it will not describe a parabola and come to rest on
9827 the ground. It will fly away, and may not touch land this side of
9828 the county boundary.' We understand birds in terms of their innards.
9829 To know why they move and grow, we cut them open and put bits under
9830 a microscope. We need yet another kind of explanation for artifacts
9831 like a chair and a crowbar: a statement of the function the object is
9832 intended to perform. It would be silly to understand why chairs have
9833 a stable horizontal surface by cutting them open and putting bits of
9834 them under a microscope. The explanation is that someone designed
9835 the chair to hold up a human behind.
9836 -- Steven Pinker, from his book, "How The Mind Works,"
9839 What wonder, then, that the world goes from bad to worse, and that
9840 its evils increase more and more, as boredom increases, and boredom is the
9841 root of all evil. The history of this can be traced from the very beginning
9842 of the world. The gods were bored, and so they created man. Adam was bored
9843 because he was alone, and so Eve was created. Thus boredom entered the
9844 world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. Adam was
9845 bored alone; then Adam and Eve were bored together, then Adam and Eve and
9846 Cain and Abel were bored en famille; then the population of the world
9847 increased, and the peoples were bored en masse. To divert themselves they
9848 conceived the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens.
9849 This idea is itself as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a
9850 terrible proof of how boredom gained the upper hand.
9851 -- Soren Kierkegaard, from "Either/Or"
9853 Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man
9854 is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live
9855 without other security, than what their own strength, and their own
9856 invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place
9857 for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no
9858 Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be
9859 imported by Sea; no commodious building; no Instruments of moving, and
9860 removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the
9861 Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is
9862 worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of
9863 man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
9866 A house without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered
9867 cat, may be a perfect house perhaps, but how can it prove its title?
9870 The group cannot function if it has to maintain a large amount of
9871 individual preconceptions and personal experiences. The design group must,
9872 as a whole, have the ability and the opportunity to leave things behind,
9873 that is, select what to remember.
9874 If designers are to come up with novel ideas, they may have to forget
9875 what was 'named and framed' as a problem or solution earlier in the process.
9876 A group of designers needs to work its way through ideas, visions, and
9877 operative images without being held up by heavy demands for documentation of
9878 the process. In a creative design process one thing leads to another,
9879 analogies and metaphors influence the design thinking in new ways, and a
9880 certain amount of chaos is always present...
9881 The characteristics of oral cultures can be applied to group design...
9882 Group members need to repeat themselves, to be redundant and nonlinear in
9883 their arguments, to forget, to make references and analogies in a situated
9885 -- Tone Bratteteig & Erik Stolterman, "Design in Groups--And All That
9886 Jazz," in: M. Kyng & L. Mathiassen, "Computers and Design in Context,"
9889 Where science has progressed by searching for commonalities and
9890 patterns, the arts have celebrated diversity and have resisted attempts to
9891 encapsulate their activities in rules and formulae. They are the ultimate
9892 manifestations of the unpredictabilities and asymmetries of Nature. After
9893 all, what more chaotically unpredictable outcomes are there than some of
9894 those that issue from the human mind? So intractable has been the problem
9895 of finding pattern in creative activity, that few would even seek it. If
9896 one looks not at science and art, but at scientists and artists, one finds a
9897 reflection of this divide. Two populations that overlap only a little,
9898 convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists--
9899 these labels reflect the differences of which we speak...
9900 While science has enlarged its past horizons beyond order and symmetry
9901 to embrace diversity and unpredictability, the humanities have yet to
9902 appreciate the full force of commonality and pattern as a unifying factor in
9903 the interpretation of human creativity. Just as science has begun to
9904 appreciate the ways in which its view of Nature must reconcile the ways in
9905 which Nature is both simple and complex, so the arts and humanities must
9906 appreciate the lessons to be drawn from the regularities of Nature. It is
9907 not enough to collect examples of diversity: the coexistence of diversity
9908 with universal behavior is what requires exploration and reconciliation.
9909 -- John D. Barrow, from "The Artful Universe," Clarendon Press:
9912 I first became interested in Darwin in college when I read about
9913 Darwin's experience with John Gould. When Darwin returned to England after
9914 he visited the Galapagos, he distributed his finch specimens to professional
9915 zoologists to be properly identified. One of the most distinguished experts
9916 was John Gould. What was the most revealing was not what happened to Darwin,
9917 but what had not happened to Gould.
9918 Darwin's notes show Gould taking him through all the birds he had
9919 named. Gould kept flip-flopping back and forth about the number of
9920 different species of finches: The information was there, but he didn't quite
9921 know what to make of it. He assumed that since God made one set of birds
9922 when he created the world, the specimens from different locations would be
9923 identical. It didn't occur to him to look for differences by location. Gould
9924 thought that the birds were so different that they might be distinct species.
9925 What was remarkable to me about the encounter is the completely
9926 different impact it had on the two men. Gould thought the way he had been
9927 taught to think, like an expert taxonomist, and didn't see, in the finches,
9928 the textbook example of evolution unfolding right before him. Darwin didn't
9929 even know they were finches. So the guy who had the intelligence, knowledge,
9930 and the expertise didn't see the differences, and the guy with far less
9931 knowledge and expertise came up with an idea that shaped the way we think
9933 Darwin came up with the idea because he was a productive thinker. He
9934 generated a multiplicity of perspectives and theories. Gould would compare
9935 new ideas and theories with his existing patterns of experience. He thought
9936 reproductively. If the ideas didn't fit with what he had been taught, he
9937 rejected them as worthless. On the other hand, Darwin was willing to
9938 disregard what past thinkers thought and was willing to entertain different
9939 perspectives and different theories to see where they would lead.
9940 Most of us are educated to think like John Gould. We were all born
9941 to be spontaneous, creative thinkers. Yet a great deal of our education may
9942 be regarded as the inculcation of mind-sets. We were taught how to handle
9943 problems and new phenomena with fixed mental attitudes (based on what past
9944 thinkers thought) that predetermine our responses to problems or situations.
9945 In short, we were taught 'what' to think instead of 'how' to think. We
9946 entered school as a question mark and graduated a period.
9947 -- Michael Michalko, in "Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative
9948 Genius," Ten Speed Press, 1998.
9950 The wisdom of the late industrial era was always to start with what
9951 the customer needed and backtrack to which products and services those needs
9952 called for. That fit when the customer already understood the need and the
9953 product, and innovation meant a different shaped bottle for liquid detergent.
9954 In BLUR, technical change is happening so fast, your product must educate the
9955 customer (beepers for kids on dates?) and the customer must educate you. You
9956 can't afford the time delay to put something new in front of the customer.
9957 Instead, start with what technology will make possible, co-develop it as
9958 fast as you can with the customer, and be flexible and adaptive enough to
9959 adjust it according to customer needs as you go. As in software, the first
9960 release is your take on things. The customer enters the feedback loop and
9961 starts to influence things with release 2.0 and beyond.
9962 -- Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, "Blur: The Speed Of Change In The
9963 Connected Economy," Addison-Wesley 1998.
9965 The traditional hidden curriculum of school demands that people of a
9966 certain age assemble in groups of about thirty under the authority of a
9967 professional teacher for from five hundred to a thousand times a year. It
9968 does not matter if the teacher is authoritarian so long as it is the
9969 teacher's authority that counts; it does not matter if all meetings occur
9970 in the same place so long as they are somehow understood as attendance. The
9971 hidden curriculum of school requires--whether by law or by fact--that a
9972 citizen accumulate a minimum quantum of school years in order to obtain his
9974 The translation of the need for learning into the demand for schooling
9975 and the conversion of the quality of growing up into the price tag of a
9976 professional treatment changes the meaning of 'knowledge' from a term that
9977 designates intimacy, intercourse, and life experience into one that
9978 designates professionally packaged products, marketable entitlements, and
9980 -- Ivan Illich, from "After Deschooling, What?"
9982 I consider children to be very expensive and complicated pets.
9985 History tells us that the most successful cures for poverty come from
9986 within. Foreign aid can help, but like windfall wealth, can also hurt. It
9987 can discourage effort and plant a crippling sense of incapacity. As the
9988 African saying has it, 'The hand that receives is always under the one that
9989 gives.' No, what counts is work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity...
9990 To be sure, we are living in a dessert age. We want things to be
9991 sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with
9992 that; it just does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity?
9993 Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product.
9994 Not easy. They who live to work are a small and fortunate elite. But
9995 it is an elite open to newcomers, self-selected, the kind of people who
9996 accentuate the positive. In this world, the optimists have it, not because
9997 they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they
9998 are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement,
9999 and success. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer
10000 the empty consolation of being right.
10001 The one lesson that emerges is the need to keep trying. No miracles.
10002 No perfection. No millennium. No apocalypse. We must cultivate a
10003 skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and
10004 define ends, the better to choose means.
10005 -- David Landis, from "The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations: Why Some Are
10006 So Rich And Some So Poor," W. W. Norton & Co., 1998.
10008 During my travels around the country, visiting inner-city neighborhoods
10009 and talking to young people I've met there, I have been struck again and
10010 again by the stark differences between their childhoods and my own. When I
10011 was growing up in the Bronx, I wasn't rich -- at least not in a material
10012 sense, but I had the matchless blessing of being reared by two devoted
10013 parents--backed up by a platoon of doting aunts and uncles--who gave me
10014 the love, discipline and motivation I needed to succeed.
10015 Too many of today's kids are not getting the same kind of nurturing
10016 environment that I -- and most Americans -- once took for granted. As many
10017 as 15 million youngsters are 'at risk' in today's America. They are in
10018 danger of being lost for good unless the more fortunate among us step
10019 forward and lend a hand... It is this glorious cycle of giving, receiving
10020 and giving back that we want to pass along to the next generation of
10021 Americans. We want them to believe in America, and we want them to know
10022 that America believes in them.
10023 -- Colin Powell's autobiography, "My American Journey" (Ballantine, 1996)
10025 In the past fifteen years one big American company after another has
10026 done this [i.e., downsized itself]--among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
10027 first announced that laying off 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 people would
10028 lead to an immediate turnaround. A year later there had, of course, been no
10029 turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000--
10030 again without results. In many if not most cases, downsizing has turned out
10031 to be something that surgeons have warned against: 'amputation before
10032 diagnosis.' The result is always a casualty.
10033 But there have been a few organizations--some large companies (GE,
10034 for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance)--
10035 that quietly, and without fanfare, did turn themselves around, by rethinking
10036 themselves. They did not start out by downsizing. If fact, they knew that
10037 to start by reducing expenditures is not the way to get control of costs.
10038 The starting point is to identify the activities that are productive, that
10039 should be strengthened, promoted, and expanded. Every agency, every policy,
10040 every program, every activity should be confronted with these questions:
10041 'What is your mission?' 'Is it still the right mission?' 'Is it still
10042 worth doing?' 'If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?'
10043 This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations--
10044 businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments--that we know
10046 The overall answer is almost never 'This is fine as it stands; let's
10047 keep on.' But in some--indeed, a good many--areas, the answer to the
10048 last question is 'Yes, we should go into this again, but with some changes.
10049 We have learned a few things.'
10050 -- Peter F. Drucker, from "Managing in a Time of Great Change,"
10051 Truman-Talley Books/Dutton, 1995.
10053 Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
10054 General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase 'It is
10055 the busiest man who has time to spare.' Thus, an elderly lady of leisure
10056 can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece
10057 at Bognor Reis. An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, half an
10058 hour in a search for spectacles, half an hour in a search for the address,
10059 an hour and a quarter in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding
10060 whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the mailbox in the next
10061 street. The total effort that would occupy a busy man [or woman] for three
10062 minutes all told may in this fashion leave another person [man or woman]
10063 prostate after a day of doubt, anxiety, and toil.
10064 Granted that work (and especially paperwork) is thus elastic in its
10065 demands on time, it is manifest that there need be little or no
10066 relationship between the work to be done and the size of the staff to which
10067 it may be assigned. A lack of real activity does not, of necessity, result
10068 in leisure. A lack of occupation is not necessarily revealed by a manifest
10069 idleness. The thing to be done swells in importance and complexity in a
10070 direct ration with the time to be spent. This fact is widely recognized,
10071 but less attention has been paid to its wider implications, more especially
10072 in the field of publication administration. Politicians and taxpayers have
10073 assume (with occasional phases of doubt) that a rising total in the number
10074 of civil servants must reflect a growing volume of work to be done.
10075 Cynics, in questioning this belief, have imagined that the multiplication
10076 of officials must have left some of them idle or all of them able to work
10077 for shorter hours. But this is a matter in which faith and doubt seem
10078 equally misplaced. The fact is that the number of officials and the
10079 quantity of the work are not related to each other at all. The rise in the
10080 toil of those employed is governed by Parkinson's Law and would be much the
10081 same whether the volume of the work were to increase, diminish, or even
10082 disappear. The importance of Parkinson's Law lies in the fact that it is a
10083 law of growth based upon an analysis of the factors by which that growth is
10085 The validity of this recently discovered law must rest mainly on
10086 statistical proofs, which will follow. Of more interest to the general
10087 reader is the explanation of the factors underlying the general tendency to
10088 which this law gives definition. Omitting technicalities (which are
10089 numerous) we may distinguish at the outset two motive forces. They can be
10090 represented for the present purpose by two almost axiomatic statements,
10091 thus: (1) 'An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals' and (2)
10092 'Officials make work for each other.'
10093 -- C. Northcote Parkinson, from "Parkinson's Law & Other Studies
10094 in Administration," (1957; Buccaneer Books ed., 1996).
10096 The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
10097 -- Leonardo Da Vinci
10099 Though it may be discomforting to admit, throughout history children
10100 have always played violent games. Early in this century, young boys played
10101 'war' with lines of tin soldiers, knocking them down one by one, or in one
10102 fell swoop, in a simulated battle. The next generation played cowboys and
10103 Indians or cops and robbers, where the youngsters themselves fell down and
10104 played dead. When parents stopped buying soldier figures and fake guns,
10105 children created their own weapons and continued to play out good guy/bad
10106 guy plots. Children are attracted to violence and critical studies of
10107 older media forms, including the fairy tale, suggest it is not always in
10108 children's best interests to remove from their cultural experience all
10109 material that parents deem is too provocative or violent.
10110 This is not a simple issue.
10111 Clearly much of the concern about violence in video games and other
10112 media is misplaced--the main sources of violent behavior lies elsewhere.
10113 These include parental violence toward children and violence between
10114 nations which portray the use of force in the real world by important
10115 institutions--parents and government--as an acceptable way to solve
10116 problems or vent anger.
10117 Nevertheless, the impact of video games, television, film or other
10118 media violence (such as the gory details of murders in the print media)
10119 probably has a negative impact on violent behavior in society, as does the
10120 proliferation of weapons.
10121 The impact of media violence on an individual child's behavior is
10122 probably very specific to the child and his or her social context. There
10123 is no evidence, for example, that the use of "Beat-'em-up" video games
10124 leads to violent behavior of well-adjusted youth coming from loving
10125 families. The impact is also probably specific to age. Just as it makes
10126 sense to restrict a 10-year-old's access to movies with extreme violent
10127 content, so it makes sense to restrict age-inappropriate video games. Age
10128 ratings on video game packages do appear to be helpful and appropriate.
10129 Most violent games today are cartoon-like. This will change as games
10130 become more realistic and, 3D, and eventually realistic of virtual reality,
10131 ensuring that this issue will not disappear.
10132 It is inappropriate for children of any age to spend significant
10133 parts of life using violent video games, or any video games for that
10134 matter. Conversely, for most children it makes little sense to deny access
10135 to age-appropriate games simply for fear that these will lead to antisocial
10136 behavior. Successful parenting is a question of balance.
10137 -- Don Tapscott, "Growing Up Digital"
10139 Literacy-based education, as all other literacy experiences, assumes
10140 that people are the same. It presumes that each human being can and must
10141 be literate. Just as the goal of industry was to turn out standardized
10142 products, education assumes the same task through the mold of literacy.
10143 Diplomas and certificates testify how like the mold the product is. To
10144 those who have problems with writing or reading, the labels legasthenic and
10145 dyslexic are applied. Dyscalculus is the name given to the inability to
10146 cope with numbers. The question of why we should expect uniform cognitive
10147 structures covering the literate use of language or numbers, but not the
10148 use of sounds, colors, shapes, and volume, is never raised. Tremendous
10149 effort is made to help individuals who simply cannot execute the
10150 sequentiality of writing or the meaning of successive numbers. Nothing
10151 similar is done to address cognitive characteristics of persons inclined to
10152 means different from literacy...
10153 Education needs to reconsider its expectation of a universal common
10154 denominator, based on the industrial model of standardization. Rather than
10155 taming and sanitizing the minds of students, education has not only to
10156 acknowledge differences in aptitudes and interests but also to stimulate
10157 them. Every known form of energy is the expression of difference and not
10158 the result of leveling.
10159 -- Mihai Nadin, "The Civilization of Illiteracy," (1997)
10161 Anthropologists have identified a number of characteristics that seem
10162 common to most non-technological societies past and present. These
10163 societies tend to value practical rather than abstract knowledge, their
10164 'primitive' rituals are part of the regular day-to-day realities of life,
10165 the groups tend not to support specialists other than the shaman, every
10166 member of the group can to some extent do every task, and all share the
10167 responsibility for all others. Principally, the 'primitive' takes a holist
10168 view of life that examines all social decisions for their effect on the
10169 community and the environment.
10170 These social values may fit well in the webbed communities of the
10171 mid-twenty-first century because they are more appropriate to small,
10172 relatively simple social structures that up to now had seemed to be
10173 disappearing... For such communities, the most valuable skills would be
10174 generalist rather than specialist. They would prize the ability to
10175 connect, to think imaginatively, to understand how data are related, to see
10176 patterns in machine-generated innovation, and to assess its social effect
10177 before releasing it on society...
10178 Today, billions of human talents could be on the verge of
10179 self-expression if we are willing to take new views and see where they
10181 -- James Burke & Robert Ornstein, "The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged
10182 History of Human Culture," (Grosset/Putnam 1995).
10184 (History is) indeed little more than the register of
10185 the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
10188 All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
10191 The beauty of the second amendment is that it will
10192 not be needed until they try to take it.
10193 -- Thomas Jefferson
10195 No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
10196 -- Thomas Jefferson
10198 Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are
10199 the people's liberty's teeth.
10200 -- George Washington
10202 Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks
10203 and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
10204 -- Thomas Jefferson
10206 Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force.
10207 Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.
10208 -- George Washington
10210 I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal... Now I always
10211 thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I
10212 found out that I was a right-wing, conservative extremist...
10215 Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come
10216 from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history
10217 of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of
10218 governmental power, not the increase of it.
10221 I believe there are more instances of abridgment of freedom of the
10222 people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by
10223 violent and sudden usurpations...
10226 You vote for me and I'll give you family values... I promise you the
10227 most ethical administration in the history of our country.
10228 -- William Jefferson Clinton
10230 Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important
10231 matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real
10232 leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do
10233 it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he
10234 delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates
10235 a climate in which people grow.
10236 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10238 True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the
10239 enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last. Most
10240 people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are
10241 treated as personnel, not people.
10242 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10244 How do you spot a leader? They come in all ages, shapes, sizes,
10245 and conditions. Some are poor administrators, some are not overly
10246 bright. One clue: since most people per se are mediocre, the true
10247 leader can be recognized because, somehow or other, his people
10248 consistently turn in superior performances.
10249 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10251 Before you commit yourself to a new effort, it's worth asking
10252 yourself a couple of questions: "Are we really trying to do
10253 something worthwhile here? Or are we just building another
10254 monument to some diseased ego?"
10255 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10257 Beware the boss who walks on water and never makes a mistake.
10258 Save yourself a lot of grief and seek employment elsewhere.
10259 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10261 Every genius is a revolutionary who produces a good deal of commotion
10262 in the world. After he has abolished the old rules he writes his own, the
10263 new ones, which no one even half understands; and after he has stupefied
10264 and bewildered everybody, he leaves the world neither understood nor
10265 regretted. Not always does the next generation comprehend and appreciate
10266 him properly. Sometimes it may even take a whole century.
10267 -- Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
10269 To assume a cat's asleep
10270 Is a great mistake.
10271 He can close his eyes and keep
10272 Both his ears awake.
10275 A most nerve-wracking confirmation of this came some time ago during
10276 an interview with the producer and the writer of the TV mini-series 'Peter
10277 the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama--which
10278 included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton--the
10279 producer said that no one would watch a dry, historically faithful
10280 biography. The writer added that it is better for audiences to learn
10281 something that is untrue, if it is entertaining, than not to learn anything
10282 at all. And just to put some icing on the cake, the actor who played Peter,
10283 Maximilian Schell, remarked that he does not believe in historical truth and
10284 therefore sees no reason to pursue it.
10285 I do not mean to say that the trivialization of American public
10286 discourse is all accomplished on television. Rather, television is the
10287 paradigm for all our attempts at public communication. It conditions our
10288 minds to apprehend the world through fragmented pictures and forces other
10289 media to orient themselves in that direction...
10290 As a medium for conducting public business, language has receded in
10291 importance; it has been moved to the periphery of culture and has been
10292 replaced at the center by the entertaining visual image... When a culture
10293 becomes overloaded with pictures; when logic and rhetoric lose their
10294 binding authority; when historical truth becomes irrelevant; when the
10295 spoken or written word is distrusted or makes demands on our attention that
10296 we are incapable of giving; when our politics, history, education,
10297 religion, public information, and commerce are expressed largely in visual
10298 imagery rather than words, then a culture is in serious jeopardy.
10299 -- Neil Postman, from "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public
10300 Discourse in the Age of Show Business," (Viking Press 1986).
10302 It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have
10303 'something worth fighting for,' they do not feel like fighting. People who
10304 live full, worthwhile lives are not usually ready to die for their own
10305 interests nor for their country nor for a holy cause. Craving, not having,
10306 is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
10307 'Things which are not' are indeed mightier than 'things that are.' In
10308 all ages men have fought most desperately for beautiful cities yet to be
10309 built and gardens yet to be planted...
10310 It is strange, indeed, that those who hug the present and hang on to
10311 it with all their might should be the least capable of defending it. And
10312 that, on the other hand, those who spurn the present and dust their hands of
10313 it should have all its gifts and treasures showered on them unasked.
10314 Dreams, vision and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realistic tools.
10315 The practical-mindedness of a true leader consists in recognizing the
10316 practical value of these tools. Yet this recognition usually stems from a
10317 contempt of the present which can be traced to a natural ineptitude in
10318 practical affairs. The successful businessman is often a failure as a
10319 communal leader because his mind is attuned to the 'things that are' and his
10320 heart set on that which can be accomplished in 'our time.' Failure in the
10321 management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in
10322 the management of public affairs. And it is perhaps fortunate that some
10323 proud natures when suffering defeat in the practical world do not feel
10324 crushed but are suddenly fired with the apparently absurd conviction that
10325 they are eminently competent to direct the fortunes of the community and the
10327 -- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer", 1951
10329 Bought me a cat, the cat pleased me,
10330 I fed my cat under yonder tree,
10331 Cat goes fiddle-i-fee, fiddle-i-fee.
10332 -- Traditional Folk Song
10334 Love is one aspect of what I have called the productive orientation:
10335 the active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and
10336 to nature. In the realm of thought, this productive orientation is
10337 expressed in the proper grasp of the world by reason. In the realm of
10338 action, the productive orientation is expressed in productive work, the
10339 prototype of which is art and craftsmanship. In the realm of feeling, the
10340 productive orientation is expressed in love, which is the experience of
10341 union with another person, with all men, and with nature, under the
10342 condition of retaining one's sense of integrity and independence. In the
10343 experience of love the paradox happens that two people become one, and
10344 remain two at the same time. Love in this sense is never restricted to one
10345 person. If I can love only one person, and nobody else, if my love for one
10346 person makes me more alienated and distant from my fellow man, I may be
10347 attached to this person in any number of ways, yet I do not love. If I can
10348 say, 'I love you,' I say, 'I love you in you also myself.' Self-love, in
10349 this sense, is the opposite of selfishness. The latter is actually a greedy
10350 concern with oneself which springs from and compensates for the lack of
10351 genuine love for oneself. Love, paradoxically, makes me more independent
10352 because it makes me stronger and happier--yet it makes me one with the
10353 loved person to the extent that individuality seems to be extinguished for
10354 the moment. In loving I experience 'I am you,' you-the loved person,
10355 you-the stranger, you-everything alive. In the experience of love lies the
10356 only answer to being human, lies sanity.
10357 -- Erich Fromm, from "The Sane Society", 1955
10359 # NO WARRANTY: THIS WORK IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. THE AUTHOR
10360 # PROVIDES NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR
10361 # IMPLIED, REGARDING THE WORK, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH
10362 # RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY
10363 # PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
10365 # Author contact: Peter Alexander Merel
10366 # Internet: pete@cssc-syd.tansu.oz.au
10367 # UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!cssc-syd!pete
10368 # Snail: 1/18-20 Orion Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066 Australia
10369 # Phone: +61 2 911 3130
10371 # Copyright: Copyright (C) 1992 Peter Alexander Merel
10372 # Permission to copy all or part of this work is granted,
10373 # provided that the copies are not made or distributed
10374 # for resale (except nominal copying fee may be charged),
10375 # and provided that the NO WARRANTY, author-contact, and
10376 # copyright notice are retained verbatim & are displayed
10377 # conspicuously. If anyone needs other permissions that
10378 # aren't covered by the above, please contact the author.
10383 # Peter Merel's Interpolation based upon the translations of:
10384 # Lin Yutang, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English,
10385 # Richard Wilhelm, and Aleister Crowley.
10387 Seeing is of course indispensable to learning, particularly in
10388 science, which is of the eye. Visual aids therefore have a place in the
10389 laboratory. And most students, not being future scientists, will learn
10390 more from good films of important experiments than from their own fumbling
10391 attempts. But sometimes they must fumble too, and have a teacher who
10392 fumbles on occasion, and thinks all the time he is in class. One learns
10393 not by a photographic copying of things shown, but by an internal drama
10394 imitative of the action witnessed. When the instructor gropes for a word,
10395 corrects himself, interjects a comment or an analogy not directly called
10396 for, he gives a spectacle of man thinking which no slick film or televised
10398 -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
10400 Far from behaving (or should one say behavioring?) with the regular
10401 intelligibility of a clock, the bent of the living and of man in particular
10402 is to MISbehave, in all senses of the word--from developing allergies,
10403 which make poison out of delicacies, to committing crimes which, as in
10404 saints and statesman, can later seem the highest wisdom. It is even proved
10405 by research that man must have his ration of dreaming, that is, of
10406 irregular and inaccurate thinking. These facts of experience require that
10407 any science of the regularities of behavior be always qualified and
10408 admonished by another discipline, a learned lore of misbehavior.
10409 -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
10411 Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather
10412 a new wearer of clothes.
10413 -- Henry David Thoreau
10415 What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue
10416 of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.
10417 -- Henry David Thoreau
10419 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
10420 What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
10421 -- Henry David Thoreau
10423 Some circumstantial evidence is very strong,
10424 as when you find a trout in the milk.
10425 -- Henry David Thoreau
10427 I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
10428 only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
10429 to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
10430 not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to
10431 practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep
10432 and suck out all of the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike
10433 as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave
10434 close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and,
10435 if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of
10436 it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it
10437 by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
10438 -- Henry David Thoreau, from "Walden; or Life in the Woods"
10440 The Mind has a different relish, as well as the Palate; and you will
10441 as fruitlessly endeavour to delight all Men with Riches or Glory, (which yet
10442 some Men place their Happiness in,) as you would to satisfie all Men's
10443 Hunger with Cheese or Lobsters; which though very agreeable and delicious
10444 fare to some, are to others extremely nauseous and offensive: And many
10445 People would with Reason prefer the griping of an hungry Belly, to those
10446 Dishes, which are a Feast to others. Hence it was, I think, that the
10447 Philosophers of old did in vain enquire, whether Summum bonum (the chief
10448 good) consisted in Riches, or bodily Delights, or Virtue, or Contemplation:
10449 And they might have as reasonably disputed, whether the best Relish were to
10450 be found in Apples, Plumbs, or Nuts; and have divided themselves into Sects
10451 upon it. For as pleasant Tastes depend not on the things themselves, but
10452 their agreeableness to this or that particulate Palate, wherein there is
10453 great variety: So the greatest Happiness consists, in the having those
10454 things which produce the greatest Pleasure, and the absence of those which
10455 cause any disturbance, any pain, which to different Men are very different
10456 things. If therefore Men in this Life only have hope; if in this Life they
10457 can only enjoy, 'tis not strange, nor unreasonable, they should seek their
10458 Happiness by avoiding all things that disease them here, and by preferring
10459 all that delight them; wherein it will be no wonder to find variety and
10460 difference. For if there be no Prospect beyond the Grave, the inference is
10461 certainly right, Let us eat and drink, let us enjoy what we delight in, for
10462 to morrow we shall die. This, I think, may serve to shew us the Reason,
10463 why, though all Men's desires tend to Happiness, yet they are not moved by
10464 the same Object. Men may chuse different things, and yet all chuse right,
10465 supposing them only like a Company of poor Insects, whereof some are Bees,
10466 delighted with Flowers, and their sweetness; others, Bettles, delighted with
10467 other kinds of Viands; which having enjoyed for a Season, they should cease
10468 to be, and exist no more for ever.
10469 -- John Locke, from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."
10471 Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue.
10474 Even if something new does not require a disruption of the old, there
10475 is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched--in many
10476 cases there is actually a cutting-back in resources.
10477 The paradox is that as we advance into the future the need for change
10478 gets greater and greater (to cope with changes in population, pollution,
10479 etc., and to make full use of our new technologies) but the possibility of
10480 change gets less and less because everything is already committed.
10481 A wise general does not commit all his troops but keeps a strategic
10482 reserve which can be used as the need and opportunity arise. Society does
10483 not do this, because we believe that we have all the bases covered and that
10484 progress will come about through evolution, the clash of opinions and the
10485 occasional lone innovator.
10486 In addition to allocating funds to research, most successful
10487 corporations also allocate funds to new business divisions or venture
10488 groups. Like the strategic reserves of a general, these groups are outside
10489 the day-to-day combat and are looking for new opportunities.
10490 Democracy could not easily tolerate this principle of strategic
10491 reserve, for the unallocated resources would be the target of every
10492 department or issue that felt it was under-funded. Emergency funds do
10493 exist, but not space and resources for change.
10494 The same thing applies on the thinking level. A person who knows all
10495 the answers, has an opinion on everything, has a certainty backed up by
10496 rational argument, has very little possibility of further progress. Such a
10497 person is unlikely to walk away from a discussion with anything more than a
10498 reaffirmation of how right he or she has been all along.
10499 -- Edward deBono, from "I Am Right, You Are Wrong" (Penguin Books, 1990)
10501 The pleasantest time of day here is at sunset. Then accompanied by
10502 some fifteen girls and little children I walk through the village to the end
10503 of Siufaga, where we stand on an iron bound point and watch the waves splash
10504 us in the face, while the sun goes down, over the sea and at the same time
10505 behind the cocoanut covered hills. Most of the adult population is going
10506 into the sea to bathe, clad in lavalavas with buckets for water borne along
10507 on shoulder poles. All the heads of families are seated in the fatele
10508 (village guesthouse) making kava. At one point a group of women are filling
10509 a small canoe with a solution of native starch (arrowroot). And perhaps,
10510 just as we reach the store, the curfew-angelus will stop us, a wooden bell
10511 will clang mellowly through the village. The children must all scurry to
10512 cover, if we're near the store, it's the store steps, and sit tight until
10513 the bell sounds again. Prayer is over. Sometimes we are all back safely in
10514 room when the bell sounds, and then the Lord's Prayer must be said in
10515 English, while flowers are all taken out of their hair and the siva song
10516 stopped in the middle. But once the bell sounds again, solemnity, never of
10517 a very reliable depth, is sloughed off, the flowers replaced in the girls'
10518 hair, the siva song replaces the hymn, and they begin to dance, by no means
10519 in a puritan fashion. Their supper comes about eight and sometimes I have a
10520 breathing spell, but usually the supper hours don't jibe well enough for
10521 that. They dance for me a great deal, they love it and it is an excellent
10522 index to temperament, as the dance is so individualistic, and the audience
10523 think it is its business to keep up incessant comment.
10524 -- Margaret Mead, from "Coming of Age in Samoa"
10526 There aren't any embarassing questions--only embarassing answers.
10529 Recently one of us was leading a group of thirty Western
10530 businesspeople through Japan to learn about Japanese management techniques.
10531 We took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Osaka, and since the train
10532 stopped for only twenty seconds in Hiroshima, it would have been impossible
10533 to get all the executives and their luggage on the train at the same time.
10534 So we hired a trucking company and crew to transfer the luggage separately.
10535 The crew removed all luggage from each individual's room in Hiroshima and
10536 placed it in his pre-checked room in another chain's hotel in Osaka. Can
10537 you imagine doing that in the United States and ever seeing your luggage
10539 One of the executives, thinking his shoes were too worn, had discarded
10540 them in the wastepaper basket in his Hiroshima hotel room. Imagine his shock
10541 when he entered his room in Osaka and saw his old shoes carefully laid in
10542 the wastepaper basket there. Was the Japanese trucking company politely
10543 saying that these shoes still had life and should yet be thrown away, or was
10544 the company accommodating a crazy foreigner who liked to keep his shoes in
10545 the wastepaper basket? Either way, the company was organized for highly
10546 intelligent service at every level.
10547 -- Stan David and Jim Botkins, from "The Monster Under the Bed: How
10548 Business is Mastering the Opportunity of Knowledge for Profit",
10549 (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
10551 The term 'information' appears to cover too much that seems
10552 distinctive: knowledge, data, information in a narrow sense that some treat
10553 as synonymous with data, news, intelligence, and numerous other colloquial
10554 and specialized denotations and connotations. However, the distinctions
10555 implied by oppositions such as observations/theories, data/knowledge, raw
10556 intelligence/finished intelligence, accounting details/management are
10557 secondary, not fundamental, in characterizing information resources. They
10558 reflect only relative judgments. For instance, one person's knowledge is
10559 often another's raw data. What a vice president for marketing, production,
10560 or finance thinks he knows is just data to the chief executive officer's
10561 staff. What a scientist thinks he knows about the merits of a flu vaccine
10562 or the safety of a nuclear reactor is just data for presidential policy and
10563 politics. Data or knowledge are just types of information content--of
10564 greater or lesser value, of greater or lesser cost.
10565 -- Anthony Oettinger, from "The Information Resources Policy Handbook"
10567 Given the fact that there seems to be a fundamental willingness to
10568 accept the machine as almost human, the issue of what type of relationship
10569 is possible seems to center around what friendship-cues might be
10570 artificially generated. Appearance and voice quality could certainly be
10571 tailored so that the machine would look and sound attractive and friendly.
10572 The software could be written to suggest an interesting and unique
10573 personality, and the conversational style might appear as humorous and
10574 good-natured. The machine would not only impress us with its intelligence
10575 and knowledge of the world, but would also convey the impression that it
10576 was warm and understanding. Its ability to integrate our interests and
10577 attitudes into its own framework and its willingness to be influenced by
10578 our point of view would also enhance our respect for the machine. The fact
10579 that it appeared to take our opinions seriously might be regarded as a
10580 compliment, and it is clear that if we are prepared to accept compliments
10581 from a computer then we are implicitly accepting it as a social agent.
10582 Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more
10583 acceptable as a friend if it simulated the gradual changes that occur when
10584 one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might
10585 also express the endearment that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The
10586 whole process would be accomplished with subtlety to avoid giving an
10587 impression of overfamiliarity or ingratiation, which would be likely to
10588 produce irritation or animosity. After experiencing a wealth of powerful,
10589 well-timed indicators, the user would be likely to accept the computer as
10590 far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend.
10591 -- Neil Frude, from "The Intimate Machine: Close Encounters with
10592 Computers and Robots," 1983.
10594 By this time the stars were moving out of the Hollywood Hotel and
10595 beginning to live in their own private houses with servants, most of whom
10596 were their peers in everything but sex appeal--which pinpoints the reason for
10597 the film capital's mass misbehavior. To place in the limelight a great
10598 number of people who ordinarily would be chambermaids and chauffeurs, give
10599 them unlimited power and instant wealth, is bound to produce a lively and
10603 The four years passed at college were, for his purposes, wasted.
10604 Harvard College was a good school, but at bottom what the boy
10605 disliked most was any school at all. He did not want to be one in a
10606 hundred--one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
10607 only person for whom his education had value, and he wanted the whole
10608 of it. He got barely half of an average.
10609 Long afterwards, when the devious path of life led him back to
10610 teach in his turn what no student naturally cared or needed to know
10611 [medieval history], he diverted some dreary hours of faculty meetings
10612 by looking up his record in the class-lists, and found himself graded
10613 precisely in the middle. In the one branch he most needed --
10614 mathematics--barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
10615 universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and
10616 whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or
10617 the personal favor of the professor. Here his education failed
10618 lamentably. At best he could never have been a mathematician; at
10619 worst he would never have cared to be one; but he needed to read
10620 mathematics, like any other universal language, and he never reached
10622 -- Henry Adams, from "The Education of Henry Adams"
10624 The pedagogical method of observation has for its base the liberty of
10625 the child; and liberty is activity.
10626 Discipline must come through liberty. Here is a great principle which
10627 is difficult for followers of common-school methods to understand. How
10628 shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children? Certainly in our
10629 system, we have a concept of discipline very different from that commonly
10630 accepted. If discipline is founded upon liberty, consider an individual
10631 disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute
10632 and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not
10634 We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and
10635 can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to
10636 follow some rule of life. Such a concept of active discipline is not easy
10637 either to comprehend or to apply. But certainly it contains a great
10638 educational principle, very different from the old-time absolute and
10639 undiscussed coercion to immobility.
10640 -- Maria Montessori, inventor of the "Montessori Method"
10642 A company could conceivably have within it a monastery-style unit
10643 that writes software... a research team organized like an improvisational
10644 jazz combo... a compartmentalized spy-network, with need-to-know rules,
10645 operating within the law, to scout for merger or acquisition
10646 possibilities... and a sales force organized as a highly motivated 'tribe'
10647 complete with its own war songs and emotional membership rituals.
10648 ...(T)he units of a flex-firm may draw information, people, and money
10649 from one another and from outside organizations as needed. They may be next
10650 door to one another or continents apart. Their functions may partly
10651 overlap, like information in a hyper-media data base; for other purposes,
10652 the functions may be logically, geographically, or financially divided.
10653 Some may use many central services provided by headquarters; others may
10654 choose to use only a few.
10655 In turn this requires freer, faster flows of information. This will
10656 mean crisscrossing, up, down, and sideways conduits--neural pathways that
10657 bust through the boxes in the table of organization so that people can trade
10658 the ideas, data, formulae, hints, insights, facts, strategies, whispers,
10659 gesture, and smiles that turn out to be essential to efficiency.
10660 -- Alvin Toffler, from "Powershift"
10662 Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever.
10663 In the old days, we used to -- get this! -- actually CHARGE MONEY for our
10664 newspapers. Ha! What an old-fashioned, low-tech, non-digital concept!
10665 Nowadays all of the modern newspapers spend millions of dollars operating
10666 Web sites where we give away the entire newspaper for free. Sometimes we
10667 run advertisements in the regular newspaper urging our paying customers to
10668 go to our Web sites instead. 'Stop giving us money!' is the shrewd marketing
10669 thrust of these ads. Why do we do this? Because all the other newspapers
10670 are doing it! This is called 'market penetration.'
10673 A highly competitive person has a hard row to hoe. There is no
10674 satisfaction in winning a competition unless it is a stiff and fair one.
10675 Stiff is easy to define; it is stiff if one's own realistic assessment of
10676 one's abilities make the odds long--the longer the odds, the greater
10677 satisfaction on winning. Fair is harder to define, for if one wins a
10678 contest against long odds, there must be a reason. The odds weren't really
10679 long; they only appeared to be so. Isn't it unfair to appear to be an
10680 underdog when one really isn't? Let's start with some obvious distinctions:
10681 A professional gambler needs to win in order to earn his living. Fairness
10682 is not his concern. He tries to be unfair in various ways: Keeping cards up
10683 his sleeve is one way that the rest of us universally deplore; the morality
10684 of concealing his skill to attract dupes is hardly less questionable.
10685 Fairness means at least an honest deal (no hidden cards) and no intentional
10686 concealment of one's abilities.
10687 -- Herbert A. Simon, from "Models of My Life" (Basic Books, 1991)
10689 The United States is trying to promote democracy around the
10690 world and holds itself up as a model. However, it is obvious that
10691 our democracy has been reduced to charisma and money.
10692 Surely intelligent and conscientious citizens can make wise and
10693 informed decisions? I for one cannot... I do not know anyone who
10694 spends more hours than I do in search of information and wisdom, yet
10695 it avails me little. Many people with power spend much of their time
10696 flying around the world, being wined and dined, but that means they
10697 have little time to do their homework.
10698 Is the idea of democracy based on an informed electorate just a dream?
10700 -- Ronald Hilton, founder of WAIS (World Association of
10701 International Studies).
10703 When there is communication without need for communication,
10704 merely so that someone may earn the social and intellectual prestige
10705 of becoming a priest of communication, the quality and communicative
10706 value of the message drop like a plummet... In the arts, the desire
10707 to find new things to say and new ways of saying them is the source
10708 of all life and interest. Yet every day we meet with examples of
10709 painting where, for instance, the artist has bound himself from the
10710 new canons of the abstract, and has displayed no intention to use these
10711 canons to display an interesting and novel form of beauty, to pursue
10712 the uphill fight against the prevailing tendency toward the commonplace
10714 I speak here with feeling which is more intense as far as concerns
10715 the scientific artist than the conventional artist, because it is in
10716 science that I have first chosen to say something. What sometimes
10717 enrages me and always disappoints and grieves me is the preference of
10718 great schools of learning for the derivative as opposed to the original,
10719 for the conventional and thin which can be duplicated in many copies
10720 rather than the new and powerful, and for arid correctness and
10721 limitation of scope and method rather than for universal newness and
10722 beauty, wherever it may be seen.
10723 -- Norbert Wiener, from "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics
10724 and Society" (1950)
10726 Please do not suppose that the only function of puzzles is to entertain.
10727 Puzzles are a way of teaching mathematics. Indeed, they are the best way to
10728 teach it. Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer who taught mathematics
10729 at Cambridge University for twenty years states in strong terms his belief
10730 that mathematics should never be 'taught' at all. Students must learn for
10731 themselves. How? By solving puzzles. The functions of the teacher should
10732 be, first, to select in a wise way the material on which the puzzles are
10733 based, second, to make sure the puzzles are well suited in difficulty to the
10734 sophistication of the student, third, to answer questions, and finally, if
10735 the teacher is capable of it, to give an occasional word of inspiration.
10738 A cat's idea of what is comfortable and what is not
10739 is incomprehensible to a human.
10742 In the sciences, hypothesis always precedes law, which is to say, there is
10743 always a lot of tall guessing before a new fact is established. The
10744 guessers are often quite as important as the fact-finders; in truth, it
10745 would not be difficult to argue that they are more important. New facts are
10746 seldom plucked from the clear sky; they have to be approached and smelled
10747 out by a process of trial and error, in which bold and shrewd guessing is an
10748 integral part. The Greeks were adept at such guessing, and the scientists
10749 of the world have been following the leads they opened for more than two
10751 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy," 1982
10753 I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.
10756 If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face,
10757 you should go home and examine your conscience.
10760 I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything,
10761 I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.
10764 Those sighs of a dog! They go to the heart so much more
10765 deeply than the sighs of our own kind because they are utterly
10766 unintended, regardless of effect, emerging from one who, heaving
10767 them, knows not that they have escaped him!
10770 (Of dogs) I marvel that such small ribs as these can
10771 cage such vast desire to please.
10774 'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
10775 Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;
10776 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
10777 Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
10780 Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed
10781 Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without
10782 Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices. This praise,
10783 which would be unmeaning Flattery, if inscribed over human ashes, is
10784 but a just Tribute to the Memory of BOATSWAIN, a Dog.
10785 -- Inscription on the monument raised for Lord Byron's dog, Boatswain
10787 Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
10790 A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
10793 Living with a dog is easy--like living with an idealist.
10796 The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool
10797 of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,
10798 but he will make a fool of himself too.
10799 -- Samuel Butler (d. 1902), Note-Book
10801 The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to his level
10802 of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.
10805 I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like a conscience.
10808 For the strength of the pack is the wolf,
10809 and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
10812 All of the animals except humans know that the
10813 principal business of life is to enjoy it.
10816 Cowardly dogs bark loudest. -- John Webster
10818 Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. -- James Herriot
10820 A dog's best friend is his illiteracy. -- Ogden Nash
10822 Take a dog for a companion and a stick in your hand. -- English Proverb
10824 A lean dog shames its master. -- Japanese Proverb
10826 The dog was created specially for children.
10827 He is a god of frolic.
10828 -- Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
10830 Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece
10831 of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.
10834 All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers,
10835 is contained in the dog.
10838 The dog has an enviable mind; it remembers the nice things in life
10839 and quickly blots out the nasty.
10840 -- Barbara Woodhouse
10842 If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along
10843 with them as we do with people.
10846 Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.
10849 You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
10850 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
10852 A dog has the soul of a philosopher. -- Plato
10854 The more I see of men, the more I like dogs. -- Madame Anne Maria de Stael
10856 The reason a dog has so many friends is that
10857 he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
10860 We see how he is at once in a world of smells of which
10861 we know nothing, which so occupy and absorb his attention
10862 as to make him practically blind to everything about him
10863 and deaf to all sounds, even his master's voice impatiently
10867 A man may smile and bid you hail
10868 Yet wish you to the devil;
10869 But when a good dog wags his tail,
10870 You know he's on the level.
10871 -- Submitted to www.dog.com by TJ Brown
10873 Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable.
10874 They might be a bit out of shape and a little
10875 worn around the edges, but they fit well.
10878 In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to
10879 train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open
10880 oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.
10883 I'd be happy to have my biography be the stories of my dogs.
10884 To me, to live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness.
10887 Every dog should have a man of his own. There is nothing like a
10888 well-behaved person around the house to spread the blanket for him,
10889 or bring him his supper when he comes home man-tired at night.
10892 Not Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Astor
10893 together could have raised money enough
10894 to buy a quarter share in my little dog...
10895 -- Ernest Thompson Seton
10897 I'd rather have an inch of dog than miles of pedigree. -- Dana Burnet
10899 ...in a healthy dog-owner relationship, praise is virtually
10900 an automatic reaction, an attitude toward the dog, a way of
10901 living with the dog. The most common mistake is to consider
10902 praise as simply a reward.
10903 -- The Monks of New Skete
10905 Dogs need to sniff the ground; it's how they keep abreast of
10906 current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing
10907 all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are
10908 especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.
10911 A dog is not "almost human" and I know of no greater insult to the
10912 canine race than to describe it as such. The dog can do many things
10913 which man cannot do, never could do, and never will do.
10916 imagine yourself lying in the tall purple grass with the sharp blades
10917 rubbing up against your flesh like rusty razors while the dark red
10918 moon drops drips of blood into the oozing green lake down the hill.
10919 tattered fish things leap and whirl in the lake while the tired orange
10920 sun flickers on the verge of going out. the clacking and biting
10921 insects that infest the grass crawl in and out of your body as you lie
10922 there trying to relax while large unseen animals rummage in the forest
10923 causing trees to crash down as they pass. dust blows in thick
10924 whirlwinds making the sooty air impossible to breathe as you hack
10925 chunks of meat up from within, but symbiotic parasites rush to repair
10926 the damage while tickling your insides ferociously.
10930 It all comes from here, the stench and the peril. -- Frodo
10932 I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing
10933 clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion,
10934 freedom of the press, protection against standing armies,
10935 restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force
10936 of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of
10937 fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of
10939 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
10941 A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against
10942 every government on earth, general or particular; and what no
10943 just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.
10944 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers, 12:440
10946 It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen...
10947 should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their
10948 governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in
10949 civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom
10950 of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a
10951 standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of
10952 liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four
10954 -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788
10956 A bill of rights [will] guard liberty against the legislative as
10957 well as the executive branches of the government.
10958 -- Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789
10960 The declaration of rights is, like all other human blessings,
10961 alloyed with some inconveniences and not accomplishing fully its
10962 object. But the good in this instance vastly outweighs the evil.
10963 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789
10965 By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate
10966 freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce
10967 against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions
10968 of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters
10969 against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
10970 -- Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, 1788
10973 You must scratch me there!
10974 Yes, above my tail! Behold,
10978 prickly herbal scent
10979 flips me inside out and back;
10985 Tail of black dog keeps good time.
10986 Pounce! good dog! good dog!
10988 The best exercise for a cat is another cat.
10989 -- Jo and Paul Loeb
10992 In deep sleep hear sound
10993 Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
10994 Will find in morning.
10997 Is not a certain dullness their most visible characteristic?
10998 What is the history of their speculative mind? -- a blank.
10999 What their literature? -- a copy. They have left not a single
11000 discovery in any abstract science; not a single perfect or
11001 well-formed work of high imagination. The Greeks, the perfection
11002 of narrow and accomplished genius, bequeathed to mankind the ideal
11003 forms of self-idolizing art -- the Romans imitated and admired;
11004 the Greeks explained the laws of nature -- the Romans wondered and
11005 despised; the Greeks invented a system of numerals second only to
11006 that now in use -- the Romans counted to the end of their days
11007 with the clumsy apparatus which we still call by their name; the
11008 Greeks made a capital and scientific calendar -- the Romans began
11009 their month when the Pontifex Maximus happened to spy out the new
11010 moon. Throughout Latin literature, this is the perpetual puzzle
11011 -- Why are we free and they slaves? we praetors and they barbers?
11012 Why do the stupid people always win, and the clever people always
11017 The rule for today.
11018 Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
11021 'Well, then,' the Cheshire Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls
11022 when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now, I
11023 growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.
11024 Therefore I'm mad.'
11025 -- Cheshire Cat (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
11029 stalk the birds with care--
11030 twitch my tail and they may scare;
11031 human gets a share.
11036 my flatness is intended,
11037 i have rubber bones.
11042 close to my sensitive tail
11043 may be time to shriek.
11047 fish in pond bigger
11048 than me; goldfish in bowl just
11049 the right size--kerchomp.
11052 Yet gentle will the griffin be,
11053 Most decorous and fat,
11054 And walk up to the Milky Way
11055 And lap it like a cat.
11059 Blur of motion, then--
11060 Silence, me, a paper bag
11065 Returns with gifts of plump birds
11066 Your foot just squashed one.
11068 Every good teacher has his own special art; with some, it is a genius
11069 for a clarity that sometimes is more lucid than the complexities of the
11070 subject justify. Sometimes it is a talent for apothegm or leading
11071 suggestion, a word that evokes a vista or an idea that opens a world. I
11072 cannot now quite remember what Professor Beard's special technique was. He
11073 was clear, he was suggestive, he was witty. But none of these things could
11074 quite account for the hold he had on the smug and the rebels alike, on both
11075 the pre-lawyers and pre-poets. I suspect it was a certain combination of
11076 poetry, philosophy, and honesty in the man himself, a sense he communicated
11077 that politics mattered far beyond the realm commonly called political, and
11078 an insight he conveyed into the life that forms of government furthered or
11079 betrayed. One morning he came into class as usual, stood against the wall,
11080 and half-closing his eyes, said:
11081 "Gentlemen, today we are to discuss the budget system in State
11082 government. I am sure that must seem to you a dull subject. But if you will
11083 tell me, gentlemen, how much per capita a nation spends on its Army, on its
11084 Navy, on education, on public works, I shall be able to tell you, I think,
11085 as much about that nation as if you gave me the works of its poets and
11087 We listened with revised and revived attention to an exposition, full
11088 of figures and detail, of the State budget system. Charles A. Beard showed
11089 us what politics had to do with the life beyond it and which it made
11090 possible. And he taught us, too, the difference between the forms of
11091 government and the living substance of its operations... Nobody who has ever
11092 listened to Beard can disdain the study of politics in favor of the study of
11093 "higher things". He has been too well taught, as tragic world events have
11094 since shown, how government may nourish or destroy "higher things".
11095 -- Irwin Edman, speaking of the historian Charles A. Beard
11097 There is no substitute for a lifetime.
11100 The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life
11101 are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound
11102 historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of
11103 cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to
11104 keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the
11105 technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every
11106 village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important
11107 technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
11108 According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the
11109 decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilization from
11110 the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe. The Roman Empire did
11111 not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough
11112 in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on
11113 horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay
11114 that allowed populations to grow and civilization to flourish among the
11115 forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and
11116 London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.
11117 -- Freeman Dyson, from his 1985 Gifford Lectures
11120 Small brave carnivores
11121 Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
11122 Fear vacuum cleaner
11126 Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
11127 Let me back inside!
11129 If you're a geek at a circus
11130 and the only tool you have is a sledgehammer,
11131 then you'll use it everywhere.
11132 We're Microsoft and
11133 Windows is our sledgehammer.
11136 An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--
11137 hoping it will eat him last.
11138 -- Winston Churchill
11140 Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.
11143 When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting.
11146 Up to his shoulders
11147 In grasses coarse as silk,
11148 The white cat with the yellow eyes
11149 Sits with his paws together,
11150 Tall as a quart of milk.
11153 Life is a gamble, at terrible odds--if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.
11156 What is the most innocent place in any country?
11157 Is it not the insane asylum?
11158 These people drift through life truly innocent,
11159 unable to see into themselves at all.
11162 We live by our genius for hope;
11163 we survive by our talent for dispensing with it.
11166 People change and forget to tell each other.
11169 Professional work of any sort tends to narrow the mind, to limit the point
11170 of view, and to put a hallmark on a man of a most unmistakable kind. On the
11171 one hand are the intense, ardent natures, absorbed in their studies and
11172 quickly losing interest in everything but their profession, while other
11173 faculties and interest 'fust' unused. On the other hand are the bovine
11174 brethren, who think of nothing but the treadmill and the corn. From very
11175 different causes, the one from concentration, the other from apathy, both
11176 are apt to neglect those outside studies that widen the sympathies and help
11177 a man to get the best there is out of life... the medical man, perhaps more
11178 than any other man, needs that higher education of which Plato speaks,
11179 'that education in virtue from youth upwards, which enables a man to pursue
11180 the ideal perfection.' It is not for all, nor can all attain it, but there
11181 is comfort and help in the pursuit, even though the end is never reached.
11184 We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us,
11185 but for ours to amuse them.
11188 Scientific research is solving puzzles. The pleasure to
11189 be got from it is the pleasure of the crossword or jig-saw addict.
11190 First the blank diagram, or the scatter of meaningless pieces; then
11191 an occasional tentative clue or the few pieces of the same colour
11192 that seem to fit together; next a period of frustration, going over
11193 and over the list of clues, or trying piece after piece in the most
11194 unlikely conjunctions; then--ah the sweet joy of the word that
11195 completes a doubtful acrostic, or the section that springs to life
11196 as a tree, or a house or a pot of flowers; finally, the completion
11197 of the pattern, with clue after clue solved in rapid succession, or
11198 the last few pieces tumbling into place. By accepting the challenge,
11199 the tension, the concentration, the frustration, we heighten the
11200 pleasure of the moment or revelation. The more difficult the puzzle,
11201 the greater the tension--and so much greater the delights of solution.
11204 The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.
11208 hmmm... box is stinky.
11209 where are those boots that he has?
11210 they smell close enough.
11213 This one is from my dogs to my cats:
11215 I will sniff your butt
11216 I like your litter box gifts
11220 You can drop humans anywhere and they'll thrive.
11221 Only the rat does as well.
11226 in heart may become a wolf
11227 when the catnip blooms
11230 housecat haiku of realization:
11232 birds flicker past me,
11233 safely in their cage of glass.
11234 wait! who's in the cage?
11238 At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud.
11239 I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest
11240 intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos,
11241 creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence,
11242 forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is
11243 preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more
11244 valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs
11245 of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and
11246 in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is
11247 ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put
11248 shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we
11249 avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I
11250 think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for
11251 convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and
11252 sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain
11253 individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.
11254 -- Kenneth Clark, from "Civilization"
11256 If you want to feel proud of yourself, you need to do things of which
11257 to feel proud. Feelings follow actions.
11260 To learn and from time to time to apply what
11261 one has learned--isn't that pleasure?
11262 -- Confucious, 500 B.C.
11264 top 6 rejected ingredients in ben & jerry's "phish food" flavor:
11266 6. capers and whitefish
11267 5. caramel-covered seaweed nuggets
11269 3. magic mushroom ripple
11272 and the number one rejected ingredient...
11278 top 6 reasons to own a house rabbit:
11280 6. learning to splice electrical wires
11281 5. free compost everywhere in the house
11282 4. having your ankles bitten and scratched during rutting season
11283 3. finding out what night feces are and that special feeling they give
11284 when between your toes
11285 2. having guests ask "what is that incredible stench?"
11287 and the number one reason to own a house rabbit...
11289 1. if all else fails, there's always hasenpfeffer.
11293 My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send
11294 everyone and everything connected with it to hell.
11297 Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
11298 time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
11301 We will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that
11302 we have no sense of humor. A man will admit to being a coward, a liar, a
11303 thief, an adulterer, a poor mechanic, or a bad swimmer, but tell him that
11304 he has a dreadful sense of humor and you might as well have slandered his
11305 mother. Even if he is civilized enough to pretend to make light of your
11306 statement, he will still secretly believe that he has, not only a good
11307 sense of humor, but one superior to most. This is all the more surprising
11308 when you consider that not one person in a million can give you any kind of
11309 intelligent answer as to what humor is or why he or she laughs.
11312 To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write
11313 for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired
11314 people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task
11315 for men who know good writing from bad.
11318 ugh. all thoughts scrambled. now eating them on toast. -- fred t. hamster
11320 I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
11323 Housework can kill you if done right.
11326 All human evil comes from a single cause--
11327 man's inability to sit still in a room.
11330 An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a
11331 cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
11334 School curricula reinforce the impression that logical subjects like math
11335 and science require starting with basics and progressively adding more
11336 sophisticated conclusions and applications. But the very nature of logical
11337 laws make it equally feasible to work backward from conclusions, or
11338 observations, to hypotheses. Deduction and induction are entirely
11340 In reality, scientists and mathematicians do not do their crafts in the
11341 linear, progressive way their subjects are usually taught. Practitioners
11342 commonly start with a flash of insight (the stereotypical light bulb lighting),
11343 a hunch, a dream, a guess, an elaborate hypothesis or postulate, and then work
11344 backward, forward, and around it to try to make it fit with established
11345 knowledge. Physicists or engineers commonly try using complex mathematical
11346 gadgets to solve the problems that interest them without knowing or caring how
11347 the math was logically derived. Experimenters tinker in laboratories and make
11348 surprising discoveries that theoreticians then labor to try to explain
11349 logically. Alternatively, theorists like Einstein come up with wild new
11350 theories like relativity that experiments may have to struggle for decades to
11351 find a way to test and prove. Scientific knowledge does not grow incrementally
11352 down a predictable track. Rather it grows volcanolike, sometimes oozing in
11353 patient rivulets, sometimes erupting in fiery ferment, and occasionally
11354 exploding, blowing away the rock of established truth.
11355 Pedantic, linear teaching rarely conveys the true drama and mystery of the
11356 human quest for knowledge. School plods where human imagination naturally
11358 -- Lewis J. Perelman, from "School's Out"
11360 the people who are the most in need of help are often the
11361 same ones who cannot receive it. for example, those who
11362 believe all human minds are isolated and who have built their
11363 lives on that principle can only rarely come to appreciate the
11364 connections between us. their loneliness and self-imposed
11365 isolation seems to be the normal state of affairs to these
11366 people; little do they realize that if they relaxed their
11367 armored ego barrier, then the thoughts and emotions of others
11368 would start to be perceptible. they desperately cling to the
11369 belief system that IS their problem in such a way that they
11370 cannot see the solution, nor can they even believe that the
11371 solution exists. should these people consciously strive to
11372 relax that barrier, it would dissolve quickly. many just
11373 cannot do that and never will. many can however, and can
11374 relax in the invisible web of human mentation that underlies
11375 all of our consciousnesses like a huge, comfortable and active
11379 All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part
11380 of every organism to live beyond its income.
11383 Attempts to mimic the mind of man are as yet in their infancy.
11384 The road, however, is open, and it conjures up thoughts which are
11385 exciting but also in some ways frightening. What if man eventually
11386 were to produce a mechanical creature, with or without organic
11387 parts, equal or superior to himself in all respects, including
11388 intelligence and creativity? Would it replace man, as the superior
11389 organisms of the earth have replaced or subordinated the less well-
11390 adapted in the long history of evolution?
11391 It is a queasy thought: that we represent, for the first time
11392 in the history of life on the earth, a species capable of bringing
11393 about its own possible replacement. Of course, we have it in our
11394 power to prevent such a regrettable denouement by refusing to build
11395 machines that are too intelligent. But it is tempting to build them
11396 nevertheless. What achievement could be grander than the creation
11397 of an object that surpasses the creator? How could we consummate
11398 the victory of intelligence over nature more gloriously than by
11399 passing on our heritage, in triumph, to a greater intelligence--of
11401 -- Isaac Asimov, in "Asimov's Guide to Science"
11403 Home is the place where,
11404 when you have to go there,
11405 they have to take you in.
11408 The closer that journalism has approached the standing of an
11409 authentic profession, oddly enough, the less attractive its
11410 individual practitioners appear to have become in the public
11411 mind. This irony is traceable in large measure to the
11412 distinguished work of the press in its persistent recording
11413 of the futility and manifold injustices of the Vietnam War and
11414 its disclosures in the Watergate scandal. Those protracted
11415 traumas scarred the national psyche, which in turn found
11416 solace by blaming the press for battening on the troubles it
11417 apparently delighted in reporting. Reporters came to be seen
11418 as arrogant in the conduct of their duties, habitually
11419 adversarial in posture, often insensitive, and unapologetic
11420 about substituting their own right to demand the truth for the
11421 public's right not to be stalked ruthlessly like so much grist
11422 for the milling of tomorrow's headlines. This impression has
11423 been deepened by the coarseness of television news, which is
11424 essentially a headline service trading on its emotional graphic
11425 appeal and dealing so superficially with events and so rarely
11426 with the complex issues behind them that its effect is to
11427 divert rather than to inform; TV remains primarily an
11428 entertainment medium that has not challenged the role of
11429 newspapers as the prime recorders of the community's serious
11430 business. But because we see television correspondents
11431 questioning the President or putting it to the police chief,
11432 they become personalities in their own right, far more imposing
11433 than a faceless byline over a printed story.
11434 -- Richard Kluger, from "The Paper: The Life and Death of the New
11435 York Herald Tribune"
11437 The fat cat on the mat may seem to dream
11438 Of nice mice that suffice for him, or cream.
11439 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
11441 Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very
11442 unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the
11443 best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
11446 A man will never become a philosopher by worrying forever
11447 about the writings of other men, without ever raising his own
11448 eyes to nature's works in the attempt to recognize there the
11449 truths already known and to investigate some of the infinite
11450 number that remain to be discovered.
11453 A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
11456 One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight
11457 of the shore for a very long time.
11460 Today in America--the child of European imperialism--a new revolution
11461 is rising. It is the revolution of our time. It is the only revolution
11462 that involves radical, moral, and practical opposition to the spirit of
11463 nationalism. It is the only revolution that, to that opposition, joins
11464 culture, economic and technological power, and a total affirmation of
11465 liberty for all in the place of archaic prohibitions. It therefore
11466 offers the only escape for mankind today; the acceptance of technological
11467 civilization as a means and not as an end, and--since we cannot be saved
11468 either by the destruction of civilization or by its continuation--the
11469 development of the ability to reshape that civilization without
11471 -- Jean-Francois Revel
11473 There is a great man who makes every man feel small.
11474 But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.
11475 -- G. K. Chesterton
11477 What usually happens in the educational process is that the faculties
11478 are dulled, overloaded, stuffed and paralyzed so that by the time most
11479 people are mature they have lost their innate capabilities.
11480 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
11482 Our memories are card indexes--consulted, and then put back in
11483 disorder, by authorities whom we do not control.
11486 More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency
11487 (without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single
11488 reason--including blind stupidity.
11491 We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of
11492 the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
11495 The best is the enemy of the good.
11498 The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
11501 A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking big money.
11502 -- Senator Everett M. Dirksen
11504 During the last three decades, neuroscientists throughout the world
11505 have probed the nervous system in fascinating detail and have learned a
11506 great deal about the laws of mental life and about how these laws emerge
11507 from the brain. The pace of progress has been exhilarating, but--at the
11508 same time--the findings make many people uncomfortable. It seems somehow
11509 disconcerting to be told that your life, all your hopes, triumphs and
11510 aspirations simply arise from the activity of neurons in your brain. But
11511 far from being humiliating, this idea is ennobling, I think.
11512 Science--cosmology, evolution and especially the brain sciences--is
11513 telling us that we have no privileged position in the universe and that our
11514 sense of having a private nonmaterial soul "watching the world" is really an
11515 illusion (as has long been emphasized by Eastern mystical traditions like
11516 Hinduism and Zen Buddhism). Once you realize that far from being a
11517 spectator, you are in fact part of the eternal ebb and flow of events in the
11518 cosmos, this realization is very liberating. Ultimately this idea also
11519 allows you to cultivate a certain humility--the essence of all authentic
11520 religious experience.
11521 -- V. S. Ramachandran, in "Phantoms in the Brain"
11523 A celebrity is one who is known to many persons
11524 he is glad he doesn't know.
11527 Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest
11528 source of joy, and with death as his greatest source of anxiety.
11529 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
11531 By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man
11532 has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes
11533 in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.
11536 Scientists, who nearly always speak extemporaneously in public
11537 presentations, note that humanists almost always read papers
11538 at professional meetings, and rarely show slides--except for
11539 art historians, who always use two screens simultaneously--even
11540 for the most visual subjects. Why, 'we' ask, do 'they' not
11541 realize that written and spoken English are different languages,
11542 and that very few people can read well in public--a particular
11543 irony since humanists supposedly hold language as their primary
11544 tool of professional competence. But 'they,' on the other hand,
11545 rightly ridicule 'our' tendencies to darken a lecture room even
11546 before we reach the podium and to rely almost entirely upon a
11547 string of pictures thereafter. A stale joke proclaims that if
11548 Galileo had first presented the revolutionary results of Siderius
11549 Nuncius as a modern scientific talk, his opening line could only
11550 have been: 'first slide please.'
11551 -- R. R. Shearer and S. J. Gould, in "Science," 5 Nov 99
11553 Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire,
11554 he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.
11557 Futurology is a fashion. The approach of the end of the current
11558 millennium has stimulated it. But it looks like a fashion in decline. It
11559 seems to have peaked when public interest in the future was enlivened by
11560 debate between scientific perfectibilians and apocalyptic visionaries. The
11561 optimists predicted a world made easy by progress, lives prolonged by
11562 medical wizardry, wealth made universal by the alchemy of economic growth,
11563 society rectified by the egalitarianism of technologically prolonged
11564 leisure. The pessimists foresaw nuclear immolation or population explosion
11565 or a purgative world revolution -- a cosmic struggle reminiscent of the
11566 millennium of Christian prophetic tradition -- which would either save or
11568 No one gets excited by such visions today. Scientific progress has
11569 been, at best, disappointing -- encumbering us with apparently insoluble
11570 social and moral problems, or else, at worst, alarming -- threatening us
11571 with the mastery of artificially intelligent machines or genetically
11572 engineered human mutants. Economic growth has become the bogey of the
11573 ecologically anxious. Meanwhile, world revolution and the nuclear holocaust
11574 have been postponed, and apocalyptic prophecy has resorted to forebodings --
11575 variously unconvincing or uncompelling -- about ecological cataclysms.
11576 Proliferation of nuclear weapons and the discovery that even peaceful
11577 nuclear installations can poison great parts of the world has, in some ways,
11578 made disaster impend more darkly; but lingering extinction and little local
11579 nuclear holocausts seem to lack, in public esteem the glamour of a sudden
11580 and comprehensive armageddon. The future has become depressing rather than
11581 dramatic, and futurology has lost allure.
11582 -- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, in "Millennium: a History of the Last
11583 Thousand Years", 1995.
11585 We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.
11586 -- Jane Austen, in "Pride and Prejudice"
11590 dances with a beam of light,
11593 Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
11596 Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
11597 supposed to be doing at that moment.
11601 He flies without wings,
11602 Fast as a shadow can go.
11603 Black slash on white snow.
11606 Once quick with rat life,
11607 Now just carnage: tail, head, fur.
11611 Willy stalks field mice,
11612 Wild Bill to small buffalo.
11613 Kills them just for show.
11616 Cats are like haiku:
11617 Subtle, delicate, perfect
11620 Once fat with meat.
11622 Rat food and bat food
11623 Supplement cat food.
11625 The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
11628 I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the
11629 Boston telephone directory than by the first two thousand people on the
11630 faculty of Harvard University.
11631 -- William F. Buckley
11633 Civility will always have its critics. In 1997, when New York's
11634 chief judge proposed rules requiring lawyers on opposing sides to be civil
11635 to each other, the prominent divorce lawyer Raoul Felder wrote a caustic
11636 response in the New York Times. "If lawyers truly care about the causes
11637 they represent, they should, on occasion, get hot under the collar, raise
11638 their voices, become pugnacious," he wrote. Conflict, argued Felder, is
11639 what the legal profession is about. Civility, he concluded, "may not always
11640 be the right reaction in an adversarial courtroom."
11641 This argument reminds me of the commentary by Ed Rollins that it
11642 was his job to diminish the reputation of his client's opponent. Nastiness,
11643 in other words, is not merely the option but the responsibility of the
11644 political profession. The legal profession too: "I have never heard a
11645 client complain that his or her lawyer was rude," Felder tells us. In both
11646 cases, law and politics, rudeness is evidently justified on the ground that
11647 rudeness is what the client is paying for.
11648 As any student of civility would, I find this a fascinating notion:
11649 that there are professions for which incivility is a requirement. I suppose
11650 I disbelieve it; or, rather, if there are such professions, I am skeptical
11651 of their morality, because they fail to convey a message that we are, all of
11652 us, not lone drivers but fellow passengers. It may be that law and politics
11653 seem so dismally rude because their principal ethic is merely one of
11654 victory, an ethic materially enriching and emotionally satisfying, but
11655 morally unimportant. If lawyers are paid to be rude and political
11656 consultants to be nasty, and if their incivility is linked to the fact that
11657 they are also paid to win, we should scarcely be surprised that professional
11658 athletes find it comfortable to brawl with fans, spit on umpires, take bites
11659 out of ears, and, in one unfortunate case nicknamed "Assassin," specialize
11660 in injuring fellow football players. After all, the athletes want to win too.
11661 Some etiquette. Some democracy.
11662 -- Stephen L. Carter, in "Civility", 1998
11664 A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.
11667 A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.
11668 -- William Lyon Phelps
11670 Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
11671 -- "Alain" [Emile Chartier]
11673 Newspapers have changed their character during my lifetime. They used
11674 to be the principal carriers of the world's news, but television holds that
11675 position now. Television, however, has serious limitations; it is a visual
11676 medium, and it is dominated by the principle that nothing is news unless you
11677 can take a picture of it. It is here that the newspapers still hold their
11678 own; so much of what goes on in the political world cannot be effectively
11679 photographed; statesmen, in their expensive but uninteresting clothes, make
11680 very poor TV and their prolonged deliberations are dull when we see them on
11681 the box. Politics must be interpreted, and newspapers have become their
11682 untiring interpreters... Intelligence, not perhaps on its highest level
11683 but far beyond the sheer emotionalism of TV, has found its refuge in the
11685 -- Robertson Davies, from "The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading,
11686 Writing, & The World of Books".
11688 To improve communications, work not on the utterer but on the recipient.
11691 Despite the incorporated homicide or suicide called war, despite the
11692 crimes of individuals, the natural conflicts of domestic parties and
11693 national ambitions, I believe, after fifty years of studying history,
11694 that man is physically, mentally, and morally better, on the average,
11695 than at any time in the past; that our poverty, so disgraceful amid our
11696 unprecedented wealth, is not so shameless as the slavery that supported
11697 an enfranchised minority in Periclean Athens or Augustan Rome; that our
11698 marital chaos and moral laxity are no worse than in the England of
11699 Charles II or the France of Louis XV; that more good books are being
11700 published than ever before and more widely read; and that art will soon
11701 rise to a new level of self-discipline and social significance.
11702 I mourn the ugly slums of our cities and the distress of those who
11703 cannot find work for their hands to do; but I see realized around me,
11704 in an unparalleled proportion of our people, such a spread of home
11705 ownership, family income, physical comforts, educational opportunities,
11706 political freedom, and scientific powers as would amaze and gladden our
11707 Founding Fathers if they could return to see what their progeny and
11708 their institutions have done... This time, this moment, is as good as
11709 any that ever was, and is incomparably more wonderful.
11712 I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
11713 Imagination is more important than knowledge.
11714 Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
11717 You do not lead by hitting people over the head.
11718 That's assault, not leadership.
11719 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
11721 When elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt. -- Swahili Saying
11723 Men who know the same things are not long the best company for each other.
11724 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
11726 The gingham dog and the calico cat
11727 Side by side on the table sat;
11728 'Twas half-past eight and (what do you think!)
11729 Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
11732 bob1: I was going to just sublime into the roll
11733 and see what I could get....
11734 fred: slime, you mean? you're not going to evaporate, right?
11735 bob1: Whatever, formally declare I shall be in control
11736 and see if anyone listens...
11737 fred: that's the doctrine of the supine?
11738 bob1: By sublime I meant so slowly that you don't notice.
11739 fred: the lime doctor sublimes merging into the supine
11740 mesmerized accomplished cow-orking accomplices slimefully.
11741 bob1: mmm I see. Anyway I must rejoin the family and stuff.
11742 Perhaps I shall be back later. I must get into work early
11743 tomorrow if I want all this to work.
11744 fred: by the time i spline my spleen in the stream
11745 i will have strummed the strumpet's stoking stork.
11746 bob1: Holy f*ck batman.
11748 There is nothing to be learned from history anymore.
11749 We're in science fiction now.
11752 One of the interesting features of communication is that, broadly
11753 speaking, to be perceived, information must reside in more than one context.
11754 We know what something is by contrast with what it is not. Silence makes
11755 musical notes perceivable; conversation is understood as a contrast of
11756 contexts, speaker and hearer; words, breaks and breaths. In turn, in order
11757 to be meaningful, these contexts of information must be relinked through
11758 some sort of judgment of equivalence or comparability. This occurs at all
11759 levels of scale, and we all do it routinely as part of everyday life.
11760 None of this is new in theories of information and communication: we
11761 have long had models of signals and targets, background, noise and filters,
11762 signals, and quality controls. We are moving this insight here to the level
11763 of social interaction. People often cannot see what they take for granted
11764 until they encounter someone who does not take it for granted.
11765 -- Geoffrey C. Bowker & Susan Leigh Star, from "Sorting Things Out:
11766 Classification and Its Consequences," (MIT Press).
11768 If there is technological advance without social advance, there is,
11769 almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
11770 -- Michael Harrington
11772 Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
11775 When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
11778 Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
11781 He was a very valiant man who first adventured on eating of oysters.
11784 A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional, and are
11785 the portals of discovery.
11788 But this 'long run' is a misleading guide to current affairs.
11789 In the long run we are all dead.
11790 -- John Maynard Keynes
11792 Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove
11793 that they are not idiots.
11796 Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human
11797 intelligence long enough to get money from it.
11800 I don't like money actually, but it quiets my nerves.
11804 Black heart on white fur
11805 Green eyes ... last sight for poor rat,
11806 Plaything of a God.
11809 Black face, cold blue eyes
11810 fish pond, golden fish surprise.
11811 Wet paws ... not water!
11813 spelling offers more
11814 room for controversy than
11815 the world's religions
11819 caffeination in its most
11824 sangha are the three jewels
11825 a buddhist cleaves to
11829 charging into the twenty-first
11833 fred barks, lily hides
11834 two dogs of the same breeding
11837 haikus force structure
11838 on an otherwise very
11843 three celtic names held by three
11847 The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind, in my opinion, is
11848 conversation. I find the use of it more sweet than of any other action of
11849 life; and for that reason it is that, if I were now compelled to choose, I
11850 should sooner, I think, consent to lose my sight, than my hearing and
11851 speech... The study of books is a languishing and feeble motion that heats
11852 not, whereas conversation teaches and exercises at once. If I converse with
11853 an understanding man, and a rough disputant, he presses hard upon me and
11854 pricks me on both sides; his imaginations raise up mine to more than
11855 ordinary pitch; jealousy, glory, and contention, stimulate and raise me up
11856 to something above my self...
11857 -- Michel Montaigne
11861 of meats, kibbles and catnip
11862 will i deign to sniff.
11866 fine fur flies from me
11867 filling all of your clean rooms
11873 to quizzical expression:
11874 "fix outdoors for me!"
11879 bores more cats even than own
11884 Open the door, Man!
11885 I wish to go out ... what's this?
11886 Wet fur? I think not.
11889 Monsoon for felines.
11890 They ground when wet. No static.
11891 Rainy faced disgrace.
11893 Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
11896 Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
11899 We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that
11900 silence can certainly kill.
11901 -- James Orbinski of "Doctors Without Borders", winners of the 1999 Nobel
11904 The masses, by definition, neither should nor can direct their own
11905 personal existence, and still less rule society in general.
11906 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11908 It is precisely because man's vital time is limited, precisely because
11909 he is mortal, that he needs to triumph over distance and delay. For an
11910 immortal being, the motor-car would have no meaning.
11911 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11913 We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of
11914 creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things,
11915 he is not lord of himself... Hence the strange combination of a
11916 sense of power and a sense of insecurity.
11917 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11919 The mass-man is he whose life lacks any purpose, and simply goes drifting
11920 along. Consequently, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous,
11921 he constructs nothing. And it is this type of man who decides in our time...
11922 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11924 In the schools, which were such a source of pride to the last century, it
11925 has been impossible to do more than instruct the masses in the technique
11926 of modern life; it has been found impossible to educate them.
11927 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11929 Like cars over the years, computers are getting easier to use, and in
11930 some respects the changes are analogous to the placement of gauges by idiot
11931 lights. And, like drivers who favor gauges, some computer users belittle the
11932 trend toward easy-to-use systems. These users appear to thrive on
11933 complexity. They are often experts who enjoy getting the most out of their
11934 computers; they view computing as an end rather than a means.
11935 Unlike cars, easy-to-use computers aren't called idiot-proof, they're
11936 called user-friendly. As a marketing achievement, this terminology ranks
11937 with 'Palmetto bugs,' which is a term used in Florida-at the instigation of
11938 some genius in the real estate industry, I'm told-for large, flying
11940 -- John Shore, from "The Sachertorte Algorithm: And Other Antidotes
11941 to Computer Anxiety".
11943 Ads manipulate us into being dissatisfied... We are encouraged to feel
11944 anxious or sorry for ourselves. Advertising teaches us to live on the level
11945 of the pleasure principle. This leads to impulse-control problems and to
11946 feelings of entitlement. "I am the center of the universe and I want what I
11947 want now." This thinking creates citizens who are vulnerable to quick fixes.
11948 It leads to citizens filled with self-pity, which is the flip side of
11950 Advertising teaches that people shouldn't have to suffer, that pain
11951 is unnatural and can be cured. They say that effort is bad and convenience
11952 is good and that products solve complex human problems. Over and over people
11953 hear that their needs for love, security and variety can be met with
11954 products. They may reject the message of any particular ad, but over time
11955 many buy the big message -- buying products is important.
11956 -- Mary Pipher, in "The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families"
11958 I have no use for bodyguards, but I have a very special use for two
11959 highly trained certified public accountants.
11962 Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
11965 Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.
11966 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
11968 Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful
11969 objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill
11970 gives us modern art.
11973 What is this talk of "release?" We do not make software "releases."
11974 Our software "escapes" leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
11975 assurance people in its wake.
11976 -- MoncriefJM@gvl.esys.com, as seen on the on the PerlTK mailing list
11978 It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience. But a
11979 corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.
11980 -- Henry David Thoreau
11984 Cat on the carpet, melting...
11985 Here pussy. Here God!
11989 you don't eat all my buds, cat.
11990 i'll smoke you instead.
11992 The future is made of the same stuff as the present. -- Simone Weil
11994 he's such a tight ass that when he breaks wind all the dogs howl.
11997 See the kitten on the wall,
11998 Sporting with the leaves that fall,
11999 Withered leaves, one, two and three
12000 Falling from the elder tree,
12001 Through the calm and frosty air
12002 Of the morning bright and fair.
12003 -- William Wordsworth
12005 But the Kitten, how she starts,
12006 Crouches, stretches, paws and darts!
12007 -- William Wordsworth
12009 All those who succeed in America -- no matter what their circle of
12010 origin or their sphere of action -- are likely to become involved in the
12011 world of the celebrity... This world has not been built from below, as a
12012 slow and steady linking of local societies and metropolitan 400s. It has
12013 been created from above... With the incorporation of the economy, the
12014 ascendancy of the military establishment, and the centralization of the
12015 enlarged state, there have arisen the national elite, who, in occupying the
12016 command posts of the big hierarchies, have taken the spotlight of publicity
12017 and become subjects of the intensive build-up. At the same time, with the
12018 elaboration of the national means of mass communication, the professional
12019 celebrities of the entertainment world have come fully and continuously into
12020 the national view. As personalities of national glamour, they are at the
12021 focal point of all the means of entertainment and publicity. Both the
12022 metropolitan 400 and the institutional elite must now compete with and
12023 borrow prestige from these professionals in the world of the celebrity.
12024 But what are the celebrities? The celebrities are The Names that
12025 need no further identification. Those who know them so far exceed those of
12026 whom they know as to require no exact computation. Wherever the celebrities
12027 go, they are recognized, and moreover, recognized with some excitement and
12028 awe. Whatever they do has publicity value. More or less continuously, over a
12029 period of time, they are the material for the media of communication and
12030 entertainment. And, when that time ends -- as it must -- and the celebrity
12031 still lives -- as he may -- from time to time it may be asked, "Remember
12032 him?" That is what celebrity means.
12033 -- C. Wright Mills, from "The Power Elite," 1956
12035 I'm not really very good at what I do, but I'm very
12036 popular, because I return my pages.
12037 -- Unidentified computer support technician
12039 Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to
12040 recognize a mistake when you make it again.
12041 -- Franklin P. Jones
12043 Nobody roots for Goliath. -- Wilt Chamberlain
12047 By a bat. Rabid, frothing...
12050 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
12051 and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold
12052 these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
12054 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
12056 We generally think of music as a product of art rather than commerce
12057 or technology. It depends, in fact, on all three. Together, these great
12058 dynamic systems match individual creativity and individual desire. They
12059 thus generate change, variety and an endless array of critics--all
12060 determined that music, like the rest of society, should conform to
12062 That would be a terrible deal. By tolerating music that pleases
12063 others but not ourselves, we preserve a system that has delivered a
12064 historical wonder... We can listen to perfectly performed music to suit
12065 any mood or taste at any time, music that moves us in ways particular to our
12066 individual senses and our individual souls.
12067 -- Virginia Postrel
12069 There are three rules for writing the novel.
12070 Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
12071 -- W. Somerset Maugham
12073 His lack of education is more than compensated for by his
12074 keenly developed moral bankruptcy.
12077 How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world,
12078 given my waist and shirt size?
12081 I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting
12082 the urge to conquer Poland.
12083 -- Woody Allen (Manhattan Murder Mystery)
12086 become unified as one
12090 urgh, mutual friends have we few
12091 of whom hooktown still has purview.
12092 lest we examine too far
12093 i wonder regarding your car--
12094 could it survive a furious country drive?
12095 for to hamster freehold must you arrive.
12096 many entertainments have we here...
12097 movies, a rabbit and beer.
12098 perhaps what you were chasing,
12099 twain's fuzz is constantly abasing.
12100 to extend no further this diatribe,
12101 why don't you drop over, or "arribe"?
12104 If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would
12105 have painted on the Sistine floor.
12108 It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble,
12109 it's what we know that ain't so.
12112 I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
12113 is trying to please everyone.
12116 Today, when man seems to have reached the beginning of a new,
12117 richer, happier human era, his existence and that of the generations to
12118 follow is more threatened than ever. How is this possible?
12119 Man had won his freedom from clerical and secular authorities, he
12120 stood alone with his reason and his conscience as his only judges, but he
12121 was afraid of the newly won freedom; he had achieved 'freedom from' --
12122 without yet having achieved 'freedom to' -- to be himself, to be productive,
12123 to be fully awake. Thus he tried to escape from freedom. His very
12124 achievement, the mastery over nature, opened up the avenue for his escape.
12125 In building the new industrial machine, men became so absorbed in
12126 the new task that it became the paramount goal of his life. His energies,
12127 which once were devoted to the search for God and salvation, were now
12128 directed toward the domination of nature and ever-increasing material
12129 comfort. He ceased to use production as a means for a better life, but
12130 hypostatized it instead to an end in itself, an end to which life was
12131 subordinated. In the process of an ever-increasing size of social
12132 agglomerations, man himself became a part of the machine, rather than its
12133 master. He experienced himself as a commodity, as an investment; his aim
12134 became to be a success, that is, to sell himself as profitably as possible
12135 on the market. His value as a person lies in his salability, not in his
12136 human qualities of love, reason or in his artistic capacities. Happiness
12137 becomes identical with consumption of newer and better commodities, the
12138 drinking in of music, screen plays, fun, sex, liquor and cigarettes. Not
12139 having a sense of self except the one which conformity with the majority can
12140 give, he is insecure, anxious, depending on approval. He is alienated from
12141 himself, worships the product of his own hands, the leaders of his own
12142 making, as if they were above him, rather than made by him. He is in a
12143 sense back where he was before the great human evolution began in the second
12145 -- Erich Fromm, "The Sane Society"
12147 If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity,
12148 and let my efforts be known by their results.
12151 The fox knows many things -- the hedgehog knows one big thing.
12154 I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me.
12155 -- Monica Lewinsky on CNN's Larry King Live discussing her
12156 miraculous Jenny Craig weight-loss.
12158 Both the assembling and the distribution of knowledge in the world
12159 at present are extremely ineffective, and thinkers of the forward-
12160 looking type whose ideas we are now considering, are beginning to
12161 realize that the most hopeful line for the development of our racial
12162 intelligence lies rather in the direction of creating a new world
12163 organ for the collection, indexing, summarizing and release of
12164 knowledge, than in any further tinkering with the highly conservative
12165 and resistant university system, local, national, and traditional in
12166 texture, which already exists.
12167 -- H. G. Wells (1937)
12169 a haiku for object bus overload...
12171 those data bursts have
12172 overturned my info cart--
12173 stranded on the net.
12177 Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,
12178 and more violent. It takes a touch of genius--and a lot
12179 of courage--to move in the opposite direction.
12180 -- E. F. Schumacher
12182 It is amazing how much one can learn from somebody
12183 who is not generally thought of as successful.
12186 Half the world is composed of people who have
12187 something to say and can't, and the other have
12188 nothing to say and keep on saying it.
12191 Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
12192 Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.
12195 His tongue is by turns a sponge, a brush, a comb.
12196 He cleans himself, he smoothes himself,
12197 he knows what is proper.
12200 To turn $100 into $110 is work.
12201 To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.
12204 A problem well stated is a problem half solved.
12205 -- Charles F. Kettering
12207 The spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery
12208 and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world.
12209 -- Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)
12211 fish flavored flappers
12212 squirm happily under tongue,
12213 cloak orgasmic clit.
12215 There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying
12216 to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.
12217 -- Alfred North Whitehead
12219 Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman
12220 giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.
12223 The cat has complete emotional honesty --
12224 an attribute not often found in humans.
12225 -- Ernest Hemingway
12227 no morning coffee...
12228 gray matter is not present,
12229 dial tone in my head.
12233 Synonym for 'penis' used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens
12234 thereof. They say: "We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all
12235 too damned lazy to check the OED." [I'm not. It isn't. --ESR]
12236 This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground
12237 comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead
12238 cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have
12239 confirmed that `choad' is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent
12240 to `f*ck'; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the
12243 The race may not be to the swift nor the victory
12244 to the strong, but that's how you bet.
12247 Basic research is when I'm doing what I don't know I'm doing.
12248 -- Wernher von Braun
12250 For decades, people have warned that pervasive databanks and
12251 surveillance technology are leading inevitably to the death of privacy and
12252 democracy. But these days, many people who hear the word 'privacy' think
12253 about those kooks living off in the woods with their shotguns: these folks
12254 get their mail at post office boxes registered under assumed names, grow
12255 their own food, use cash to buy what they can't grow for themselves, and
12256 constantly worry about being attacked by the federal government-or by space
12257 aliens. If you are not one of these people, you may well ask, "Why should I
12258 worry about my privacy? I have nothing to hide."
12259 The problem with this word 'privacy' is that it falls short of
12260 conveying the really big picture. Privacy isn't just about hiding things.
12261 It's about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity. As we move into the
12262 computerized world of the twenty-first century, privacy will be one of our
12263 most important civil rights. But this right of privacy isn't the right of
12264 people to close their doors and pull down their window shades -- perhaps
12265 because they want to engage in some sort of illicit or illegal activity.
12266 It's the right of people to control what details about their lives stay
12267 inside their own houses and what leaks to the outside...
12268 Today, more than ever before, we are witnessing the daily erosion of
12269 personal privacy and freedom. We're victims of a war on privacy that's being
12270 waged by government eavesdroppers, business marketers, and nosy neighbors...
12271 We know our privacy is under attack. The problem is that we don't know how
12273 -- Simson Garfinkel, in "Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in
12276 A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married
12277 immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the
12278 triumph of hope over experience.
12279 -- James Boswell's "Life of Johnson"
12281 One evening while dozing in my armchair, I was roused
12282 by the sound of the harpsichord. My cat had started
12283 his musical stroll... I had a sheet of paper to hand,
12284 and transcribed his composition.
12285 -- Domenico Scarlatti
12287 Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
12288 everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying
12289 the wrong remedies.
12292 A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.
12295 Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to
12296 any club that will accept me as a member.
12299 Let's find out what everyone is doing,
12300 and then stop everyone from doing it.
12303 I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any
12304 new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method
12305 it can be for creating the illusion of progress while
12306 producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
12307 -- Petronius Arbiter, quoted in Robert Townsend's
12308 "Up the Organization"
12310 With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
12311 the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
12312 finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care
12313 for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
12314 his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and
12315 a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
12318 As we approach a new century and a changing international economic
12319 climate, we think that scientific and technological education should be our
12320 highest priority, and yet these fields, at least the way they are practiced
12321 today, only tangentially affect the heart and soul, where morality and
12322 values are rooted, while music goes right to the heart.
12323 Studying music, one learns about talent, thought, work, expression,
12324 beauty, technique, collaboration, aesthetic judgment, inspiration, taste,
12325 and a host of other elements that shape life in all its aspects. As we
12326 learn to control our fingers, lips, and breath in making music, subliminally
12327 music is shaping us, making us people of sensitivity and judgment.
12328 -- Thomas Moore, in "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life"
12330 How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would
12331 spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
12334 A bad attitude is the worst thing that can happen to
12335 a group of people. It's infectious.
12336 -- Roger Allan Raby
12338 All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost.
12339 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
12341 What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
12342 -- Dean William R. Inge (ed: what a psycho...)
12344 True genius doesn't fulfill expectations, it shatters them.
12347 Let me listen to me and not to them.
12350 If like truth, the lie had but one face, we would be on better terms.
12351 For we would accept as certain the opposite of what the liar would say.
12352 But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.
12355 The truth is multi-faceted; no one person can see all of it and no single
12356 viewpoint can capture all of it. This is why any attempt to record the
12357 nature of reality in one majestic work of science or religion or philosophy
12358 is doomed to fail; that grand catalog is a necessarily-flawed perspective
12359 upon the shimmering mind-blower that is the full totality of truth.
12360 Still, we must try to get our minds around it during our whole lives.
12363 I am a great believer, if you have a meeting, in knowing
12364 where you want to come out before you start the meeting.
12365 Excuse me if that doesn't sound very democratic.
12366 -- Nelson Rockefeller
12368 Lawyers have, as Jonathan Swift observed, "a peculiar cant and
12369 jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand". They take care
12370 to ensure that all legal business, including the drafting of legislation, is
12371 conducted in this language "so that it will take thirty years to decide
12372 whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me
12373 or to a stranger three hundred miles off". This language, condemned by
12374 Jeremy Bentham as "literary garbage", "lawyers' cant", and "flash language",
12375 serves various purposes, none of them in the public interest. It unites
12376 lawyers, distinguishing them from laymen. It makes the law mysterious and
12377 incomprehensible to those laymen, thus ensuring a steady supply of work for
12378 lawyers who are needed to interpret the language they have invented. The
12379 language of the law fosters the illusion that legal problems are remediable
12380 only by the application of the medicine of the specialist. Only a lawyer,
12381 can resolve the complexities of the problem: "Better see a lawyer; don't
12382 trust Whatsisname" (as the memorable Law Society advertisement warned
12383 consumers). Legal language also enshrouds the law, hiding it from the
12384 public it exists to serve. The idiom of the lawyer leads to public ignorance
12385 of the content of the law (which paradoxically refuses to recognize that
12386 ignorance of the law should be a defence), to uninformed criticism and to
12387 unmerited praise. It provokes the indifference of too many laymen towards
12388 the law and the contempt of so many litigants for a legal system they do not
12390 -- David Pannick, barrister and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
12392 It usually takes me more than three weeks
12393 to prepare a good impromptu speech.
12396 Hollywood films, in general, either want to tell us a truth we
12397 already know or a falsehood we want to believe in.
12400 The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
12403 Men of Athens, fellow citizens, this is not a trial of Socrates, but
12404 of ideas, and of Athens. You are not prosecuting me for any unlawful or
12405 impious act against our city or its altars. No evidence of any such sort
12406 has been brought against me. You are not prosecuting me for anything I did,
12407 but for what I have said and taught. You are threatening me with death
12408 because you do not like my views and my teaching. This is a prosecution of
12409 ideas and that is something new in our city's history. In this sense,
12410 Athens is in the dock, not Socrates. Each of you, as my judges, is a
12412 Let me be frank. I do not believe in your so-called freedom of
12413 speech, but you do. I believe the opinions of ordinary men are only beliefs
12414 without substance, pale shadows of reality, not to be taken seriously, and
12415 only likely to lead a city astray. I think it absurd to encourage the free
12416 utterance of unfounded or irrational opinions, or to base civic policy on a
12417 count of heads, like cabbages. Hence I do not believe in democracy. But
12418 you do. This is your test, not mine. How can you boast of your free speech
12419 if you suppress mine?
12420 The test of truly free speech is not whether what is said or taught
12421 conforms to any rule or ruler, few or many. Even under the worst dictator,
12422 it is not forbidden to agree with him. It is the freedom to disagree that
12423 is freedom of speech. This has been the Athenian rule until now, the pride
12424 of our city, the glory on which your orators dwell. Will you turn your back
12425 on it now? Ideas are not as fragile as men. They cannot be made to drink
12426 hemlock. My ideas--and my example--will survive me. But the good name of
12427 Athens will wear a stain forever, if you violate its traditions by
12428 convicting me. The shame will be yours, not mine.
12429 -- I. F. Stone, suggesting a defense for Socrates
12431 I do not seek. I find.
12434 The one thing that is certain is that anyone who uses the phrase
12435 "outside the box" is as deeply inside the box as a person can be.
12438 I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel
12439 when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
12442 Many of my friends are under the impression that I write these humorous
12443 nothings in idle moments, when the wearied brain is unable to perform the
12444 serious labors of the economist. My own experience is exactly the other way.
12445 The writing of solid, instructive stuff, fortified by facts and figures, is
12446 easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the
12447 folklore of Central China, or a statistical inquiry into the declining
12448 population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own
12449 mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be
12450 achieved in fortunate moments, few and far between. Personally, I would sooner
12451 have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.
12454 It's easier to find a travel companion than to get rid of one.
12457 God must love the rich or he wouldn't have divided
12458 so much among so few of them.
12461 I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.
12462 They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a
12463 figure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Their
12464 idiosyncrasies have had more chance to develop in the limited circle
12465 of their activity, and since they have never been in the public eye
12466 it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal.
12467 They display their oddities because it has never struck them that
12468 they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that
12469 we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are
12470 from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To write about them is
12471 a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has
12472 attended their efforts shows that such beings are too exceptional to
12473 form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real.
12474 The ordinary is the writer's richer field. Its unexpectedness, its
12475 singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The
12476 great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is
12477 a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never
12478 come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my
12479 part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert island with a
12480 veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
12481 -- W. Somerset Maugham, from "The Summing Up"
12483 Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts
12484 when you have forgotten your aim.
12485 -- George Santayana
12487 The importance of people as creators and carriers of knowledge is forcing
12488 organizations to realize that knowledge lies less in its databases than in
12489 its people. It's been said, for example, that if NASA wanted to go to the
12490 moon again, it would have to start from scratch, having lost not the data,
12491 but the human expertise that took it there last time. Similarly, Tom
12492 Davenport and Larry Prusake argue that when Ford wanted to build on the
12493 success of the Taurus, the company found that the essence of that success
12494 had been lost with the loss of the people that created it. Their knowledge
12495 was not stored in information technologies. It left when they left.
12496 -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
12498 Either we live by accident and die by accident,
12499 or we live by plan and die by plan.
12502 Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.
12503 -- William Butler Yeats
12505 ...the act of producing a letter, even one which is never mailed,
12506 necessitates a form of creative concentration which can improve our
12507 lives. Copies of our own letters are useful for our records and
12508 memories. If their recipients think them worth saving, they can have
12509 value and effect far beyond that of the spoken word. In friendship,
12510 the letter is not only a message but a gift, a physical symbol of
12511 esteem and affection. In business or politics, the letter can not
12512 only express the concerns of the moment but remain as a document of
12513 such concerns, available for prolonged scrutiny by more than one
12514 reader. Moreover, while speakers and listeners in a debate are
12515 vulnerable to emotion and subject to fallacy, the well-written letter
12516 remains calm and crisp and is subject to nothing except superior reason.
12517 It can convince the open-minded, goad the weak-hearted, give our
12518 opponents an exact index of the level and intensity of our commitment,
12519 and be quoted by those who agree with us. But perhaps most importantly,
12520 our letters are the proof and body of our concern for life in its detail
12521 and our conviction that this concern should be shared with others.
12522 -- Robert Grudin, from "Time and the Art of Living"
12524 Mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a
12525 person's car is the only place where he can be alone and think.
12526 -- Marshall McLuhan
12528 You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch
12529 on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between.
12532 Once, as promised, bots start interacting with one another,
12533 understanding bot behavior may become impossible. Anyone who has
12534 had to call a help line with a problem about the way an operating
12535 system from one vendor and program from another are working together--
12536 or failing to work--knows how hard it is to get anyone to take
12537 responsibility for software interactions. Support staff rapidly
12538 renounce all knowledge of (and usually interest in) problems that
12539 arise from interactions because there are just too many possibilities.
12540 So it's easy to imagine sophisticated programmers, let alone ordinary
12541 users, being unable to unravel how even a small group of bots reached
12542 a particular state autonomously. The challenge will be unfathomable
12543 if, as one research group has it, we can "anticipate a scenario in
12544 which billions of intelligent agents will roam the virtual world,
12545 handling all levels of simple to complex negotiations and transactions.
12546 If human agents are confused with digital ones, if human action is
12547 taken as mere information processing, and if the social complexities of
12548 negotiation, delegation, and representation are reduced to "when x, do y,"
12549 bots will end up with autonomy without accountability. Their owners, by
12550 contrast, may have accountability without control.
12551 -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
12553 Life does not consist mainly--or even largely--of facts and
12554 happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that
12555 is forever blowing through one's head.
12558 Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side?
12559 And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
12560 -- Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
12562 Every other country scorns American materialism while striving in
12563 every big and little way to match it. Envy obviously has something to do
12564 with it, but there is a true basis for this debate, and it is whether
12565 America is in its ascendance or its decline.
12566 I myself think I recognize here several of the symptoms that Edward
12567 Gibbons maintained were signs of the decline of Rome, and which arose not
12568 from external enemies but from inside the country itself. A mounting love
12569 of show and luxury. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.
12570 An obsession with sex. Freakishness in the arts masquerading as
12571 originality, and enthusiasm pretending to creativeness...
12572 There is, too, the general desire to live off the state, whether it
12573 is a junkie on welfare or an airline subsidized by the government: in a
12574 word, the notion that Washington -- Big Daddy -- will provide. And, most
12575 disturbing of all, a developing moral numbness to vulgarity, violence, and
12576 the assault on the simplest human decencies.
12577 Yet the original institutions of this country still have great
12578 vitality: the Republic can be kept, but only if we care to keep it. Much of
12579 the turmoil in America springs from the energy of people who are trying to
12580 apply those institutions to forgotten minorities who have awakened after a
12582 As I see it, in this country -- a land of the most persistent
12583 idealism and the blandest cynicism -- the race is on between its decadence
12584 and its vitality. There are the woes, which we share with the world, that
12585 you can see from your window: overpopulation; the pollution of the
12586 atmosphere, the cities and the rivers; the destruction of nature. I find it
12587 impossible to believe that a nation that produced such dogged and ingenious
12588 humans as Jefferson and Eli Whitney, John Deere and Ford, Kettering and
12589 Oppenheimer and Edison and Franklin, is going to sit back and let the worst
12590 happen. There is now a possibility, at least, that nuclear energy can help
12591 us to cure incurable diseases, to preserve our food indefinitely, and
12592 through breeder reactors, which renew more power in the act of spending it,
12593 can actually clean the cities and, let us pray, the oceans. And that would
12594 take us over a historical watershed that none of us has ever conceived.
12597 There are some enterprises in which a careful
12598 disorderliness is the true method.
12601 The dollar bills the customer gets from the tellers in four banks
12602 are the same. What is different are the tellers.
12605 I grew up in the last days of the British Empire. My childhood fell
12606 in that era when the words 'imperialism' and 'the West' had not yet acquired
12607 the connotations they have today -- they had not yet become, that is, mere
12608 synonyms for 'racism,' 'oppression,' and 'exploitation'.
12609 Or, at any rate, they had not yet become so among the intellectual,
12610 professional, and governing classes of Egypt. In Cairo it was entirely
12611 ordinary, among those classes, to grow up speaking English or French or
12612 both, and quite ordinary to attend an English or French school. It was taken
12613 for granted among the people who raised us that there was unquestionably
12614 much to admire in and learn from the civilization of Europe and the great
12615 strides that Europe had made in human advancement. No matter that the
12616 European powers were politically oppressive and indeed blatantly unjust; nor
12617 did it seem to matter that the very generation which raised us were
12618 themselves locked in struggle with the British for Egypt's political
12619 independence. There seemed to be no contradiction for them between pursuing
12620 independence from the European powers and deeply admiring European
12621 institutions, particularly democracy, and Europe's tremendous scientific
12623 -- Leila Ahmed, from "A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--
12626 the only possible mental bases for racism must ultimately be ignorance
12627 or stupidity or both. it's only a little-minded weak person that has to
12628 feel superior to another person just because of their skin color or
12629 nationality. but i try not to in turn feel superior to racists; i find
12630 only sadness for them instead. by imagining them trapped inside such an
12631 awful and constraining mental prison, my compassion is evoked for these
12634 Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind.
12635 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
12637 One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat
12638 in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. His response was
12639 a question: "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," Alice
12640 answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
12643 It's not true that life is one damn thing after another--
12644 it's one damn thing over and over.
12645 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
12647 Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood. If your stomach
12648 disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts. Keep
12649 the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move. Go
12650 very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The
12651 social life ain't restful. Avoid running at all times. Don't
12652 look back. Something may be gaining on you.
12653 -- Leroy "Satchel" Paige, from his autobiography,
12654 "How To Stay Young."
12656 Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different.
12657 They all may become different. They all may collapse together.
12658 -- George Santayana
12665 Begins to live that day.
12668 Thinking about it the other day, I realized that some of my unhappiest moments
12669 have been in organizations. Somehow it seems to be quite respectable to do
12670 things in organizations that you would never do in private life. I have had
12671 people insult me to my face in front of colleagues. I have had my feelings
12672 rammed down my throat on the pretext that it would do me good and have been
12673 required to do things which I didn't agree with because the organization wished
12674 it... In my worst moments I have thought that organizations were places
12675 designed to be run by sadists and staffed by masochists....
12678 The best organizations to be in, it seems, are the busiest ones as long
12679 as they are busy for someone else. The worst are those that are obsessed
12680 with their own innards... The healthiest are those which exist for others,
12681 not for themselves. Show me a business or a school or a church that is
12682 preoccupied with its customers or clients, determined to do its best for them
12683 and not just to survive for the sake of surviving, and I'll bet you that they
12684 don't have time for too many committees, for forms, for politicking or for
12685 nitpicking about mistakes. Those are the organizations which are fun to be
12686 in, which give you room to be yourself, to express yourself, to grow.
12689 The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
12692 Life is the process of finding out, too late, everything
12693 that should have been obvious at the time.
12694 -- John D. MacDonald
12696 If work was a good thing the rich would have it all
12697 and not let you do it.
12700 Any law that takes hold of a man's daily life cannot prevail
12701 in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are
12702 actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative
12703 are the laws which protect life.
12704 -- Henry Ward Beecher
12706 The graveyard is full of indispensable men.
12707 -- Charles de Gaulle
12709 I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary
12710 priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
12711 "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know."
12712 "Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
12715 The day came when Grandmother couldn't keep all her stuff in the two
12716 tiny rooms to which she was finally reduced. So she packed everything
12717 she didn't need into enormous shopping bags and took off for the bank
12718 in the center of the city where she kept her account, by then down to
12719 a few pennies. Her husband had started the bank and had been its
12720 chairman until he died, and she was still treated with the consideration
12721 due his widow. But when she appeared with her shopping bags and asked
12722 to have the contents put on her account, the manager balked. "We can't
12723 put things on an account," he said, "only money."
12724 "That's mean and ungrateful of you," said Grandmother, "you only do
12725 this to me because I am a stupid old woman."
12726 And she promptly closed her account and drew out the balance. Then
12727 she went down the street to the nearest branch of the same bank, reopened
12728 her account there, and never said a word about her shopping bags.
12729 "Grandmother," we'd say, "if you thought the bank was unfriendly why
12730 did you reopen your account at another branch?"
12731 "It's a good bank," she said; "after all, my late husband founded it."
12732 "Then why not demand that the manager at the new branch take your
12734 "I never banked there before. He didn't owe me anything."
12735 -- Peter Drucker, "Adventures of a Bystander"
12737 Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
12740 Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
12743 Writing about music is like dancing about architecture--
12744 it's a really stupid thing to want to do.
12745 -- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled
12746 "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine
12747 No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.
12749 The pressures for upscale consumption, and the work schedules
12750 that go along with it, created millions of exhausted, stressed-
12751 out people who started wondering if the cycle of work and spend
12752 was really worth it. And some concluded that it wasn't. So
12753 they started downshifting, reducing their hours of work and, in
12754 the process, earning and spending less money. Downshifters are
12755 opting out of excessive consumerism, choosing to have more
12756 leisure and balance in their schedules, a slower pace of life,
12757 more time with their kids, more meaningful work, and daily lives
12758 that line up squarely with their deepest values. These are not
12759 just fast-track yuppies leaving $200,000 jobs in Manhattan to
12760 settle in Montana, although there are plenty of those.
12761 Downshifters can be found at all income levels, from the
12762 comfortable suburbanites whose homes are paid for, to those who
12763 are counting every penny, resigned to the fact that they'll never
12764 own a home. Their jobs were leaving them drained, depressed, or
12765 wondering what life is all about. Now they may not have as much
12766 money, but they are spending every day answering that all-
12767 important question.
12770 The right to be let alone--the most comprehensive of rights and
12771 the right most valued by civilized men.
12772 -- Louis D. Brandeis
12774 The need to reach better mutual understanding through dialogue
12775 is strong in all sectors of society, but in none more than the
12776 business community. The growth of technology, the increase in
12777 the number of knowledge workers, and the blurring of boundaries
12778 of all kinds are transforming relationships at all levels of
12779 business. The traditional top-down style of leadership in a
12780 fortress-type company semi-isolated from others is increasingly
12781 out of vogue. It is being replaced by what I have come to
12782 think of as "relational leadership," where the defining task of
12783 leaders is developing webs of relationships with others rather
12784 than handing down visions, strategies, and plans as if they
12785 were commandments from the mountaintop.
12786 -- Daniel Yankelovich, "The Magic of Dialogue"
12788 Life is one long process of getting tired.
12791 Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can
12792 recalled and perhaps remedied.
12795 Fortunately, many teachers intuitively know that the best way to
12796 achieve their goals is to enlist students' interest on their side.
12797 They do this by being sensitive to students' goals and desires, and
12798 they are thus able to articulate the pedagogical goals as meaningful
12799 challenges. They empower students to take control of their learning;
12800 they provide clear feedback to the students' efforts without
12801 threatening their egos and without making them self-conscious. They
12802 help students concentrate and get immersed in the symbolic world of
12803 the subject matter. As a result, good teachers still turn out
12804 children who enjoy learning, and who will continue to face the world
12805 with curiosity and interest.
12806 It is to be hoped that with time the realization that children
12807 are not miniature computing machines will take root in educational
12808 circles, and more attention will be paid to motivational issues.
12809 Unless this comes to pass, the current problems we are having with
12810 education are not likely to go away.
12811 -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from "Creativity: Flow and Psychology
12812 of Discovery and Invention"
12814 The more human beings proceed by plan the more effectively they may
12815 be hit by accident.
12816 -- Friedrich Duerrenmatt
12818 We never see what's under our feet;
12819 we're too busy trying to see
12820 what's in the stars.
12823 Paradoxes have played a dramatic role in intellectual history,
12824 often foreshadowing revolutionary developments in science,
12825 mathematics, and logic. Whenever, in any discipline, we discover
12826 a problem that cannot be solved within the conceptual framework
12827 that supposedly should apply, we experience shock. The shock may
12828 compel us to discard the old framework and adopt a new one. It
12829 is to this process of intellectual molting that we owe the birth
12830 of many of the major ideas in mathematics and science. Zeno's
12831 paradox of Achilles and the tortoise gave birth to the idea of
12832 convergent infinite series. 'Antinomies' (internal contradictions
12833 in mathematical logic) eventually blossomed into Godel's theorem.
12834 The paradoxical result of the Michelson-Morley experiment on the
12835 speed of light set the stage for the theory of relativity. The
12836 discovery of wave-particle duality of light forced a reexamination
12837 of deterministic causality, the very foundation of scientific
12838 philosophy, and led to quantum mechanics.
12841 Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the
12842 greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
12843 -- Charles Caleb Colton
12845 More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
12846 One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.
12847 The other, to total extinction.
12848 Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
12851 Some books are undeservedly forgotten;
12852 none are undeservedly remembered.
12855 Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce
12856 life early and the human race come to an end.
12859 Why is autobiography the most popular form of nonfiction
12860 for modern readers? Why are so many people moved to write their
12861 life stories today? And what is it about the genre that makes
12862 it appeal to readers not just in the Western world, but also in
12863 non-Western cultures, like those of Japan and India or the many
12864 cultures of Africa?...
12865 What makes the reading of autobiography so appealing is the
12866 chance it offers to see how this man or that woman whose public
12867 self interests us has negotiated the problem of self-awareness
12868 and has broken the internalized code a culture supplies about
12869 how life should be experienced. Most of us, unless faced with
12870 emotional illness, don't give our inner life scripts a fraction
12871 of the attention we give to the plots of movies or TV specials
12872 about some person of prominence. Yet the need to examine our
12873 inherited scripts is just beneath the surface of consciousness,
12874 so that while we think we are reading a gripping story, what
12875 really grips us is the inner reflection on our own lives the
12876 autobiographer sets in motion.
12879 Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules.
12880 Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.
12883 The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working
12884 the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop
12885 until you get into the office.
12888 We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any
12889 in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the
12890 difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know
12891 anything and can't read.
12894 If you start to think about your physical or moral condition,
12895 you usually find that you are sick.
12896 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
12898 A modest man is usually admired--if people ever hear of him.
12899 -- Edgar Watson Howe
12901 Modern housekeeping, despite its bad press, is among the most
12902 thoroughly pleasant, significant, and least alienated forms of work
12903 that many of us will encounter even if we are blessed with work
12904 outside the home that we like. Once, it was so physically onerous
12905 and arduous that it not infrequently contributed to a woman's total
12906 physical breakdown. Today, laundry, cleaning, and other household
12907 chores are by and large physically light or moderate work that doctors
12908 often recommend to people for their health, as evidence shows that
12909 housework is good for weight control and healthy hearts.
12910 Seen from the outside, housework can look like a Sisyphean task
12911 that gives you no sense of reward or completion. Yet housekeeping
12912 actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than
12913 almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines
12914 brings satisfaction when it is completed. These routines echo the
12915 rhythm of life, and the housekeeping rhythm is the rhythm of the body.
12916 You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness,
12917 freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you
12918 yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits.
12919 -- Cheryl Mendelson
12921 I'll tell you what it's like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing
12922 Mount Everest. It's very difficult. Lives are lost along the way.
12923 You struggle and struggle and finally you get up there. And guess
12924 what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice.
12927 Never ask a person what to do, always tell him or her.
12928 If it's the wrong thing to do, or if there is a better way,
12929 they'll come back and tell you. But if you don't tell them
12930 what to do, they won't do anything but make a study.
12931 -- Eugenia Schwartzwald
12933 War, it seems to me, after a lifetime of reading about the subject,
12934 mingling with men of war, visiting the sites of war and observing its
12935 effects, may well be ceasing to commend itself to human beings as a
12936 desirable or productive, let alone rational, means of reconciling their
12937 discontents. This is not mere idealism. Mankind does have the capacity,
12938 over time, to correlate the costs and benefits of large and universal
12940 Throughout much of the time for which we have a record of human
12941 behaviour, mankind can clearly be seen to have judged that war's benefits
12942 outweighed its costs, or appeared to do so when a putative balance was
12943 struck. Now the computation works in the opposite direction. Costs
12944 clearly exceed benefits. Some of these costs are material. The
12945 superinflationary expense of weapon procurement distorts the budgets even
12946 of the richest states, while poor states deny themselves the chance of
12947 economic emancipation when they seek to make themselves militarily
12949 The human costs of actually going to war are even higher. Rich
12950 states, as between themselves, recognize that they are not to be borne.
12951 Poor states which fall into war with rich states are overwhelmed and
12952 humiliated. Poor states which fight each other, or are drawn into civil
12953 war, destroy their own well being, and even the structures which make
12954 recovery from the experience of war possible. War truly has become a
12955 scourge, as was disease throughout most of human history. The scourge
12956 of disease has, almost within living memory, been very largely defeated
12957 and, though it is true that disease had no friends as war has had friends,
12958 war now demands a friendship which can only be paid in false coin.
12959 A world political economy which makes no room for war demands, it
12960 must be recognized, a new culture of human relations. As most cultures of
12961 which we have knowledge were transfused by the warrior spirit, such a
12962 cultural transformation demands a break with the past for which there are
12963 no precedents. There is no precedent, however, for the menace with which
12964 future war now confronts the world.
12965 -- John Keegan, "A History of Warfare"
12967 Creditors are a superstitious sect,
12968 great observers of set days and times.
12969 -- Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack"
12971 Despite the abundant evidence that compassion is a basic
12972 human trait, the view has long prevailed that human beings are
12973 either heartless or brutal toward most of their fellows. Every
12974 compendium of familiar quotations has an abundance of statements
12975 like "The greatest enemy to man is man" (Robert Burton) but
12976 almost none like "Precious is man to man" (Thomas Carlyle).
12977 Altruism research attests that kindness is as integral to human
12978 nature as cruelty, yet in the news and in the historical record
12979 cruel acts vastly outnumber kind ones.
12980 Why are we keenly aware of the despicable in us but largely
12981 insensible of the admirable? Not, I suggest, because the
12982 despicable is common and the admirable rare but the very reverse.
12983 Prosocial behavior of all sorts, including altruism, is so normal
12984 and expected that we scarcely notice it but are struck by its
12985 absence or opposite. We see nothing unusual in a passerby's
12986 helping a fallen elderly person to his feet but are surprised and
12987 disturbed if the passerby ignores him. We expect people to be
12988 kind and helpful to a stranger in distress; we are startled and
12989 troubled when they look away and hurry past. Cruelty is
12990 attention-getting, kindness unremarkable, and so we agree with
12991 Seneca that "man delights to ruin man" and with William James that
12992 "of all the beasts of prey... [man is] the only one that preys
12993 systematically on its own species".
12994 -- Morton Hunt, "The Compassionate Beast"
12996 Life is all memory, except for the one present moment
12997 that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going.
12998 -- Tennessee Williams
13000 There are serious reasons members of my generation are feeling a high
13001 level of anxiety and unhappiness these days, but it is interesting to look
13002 at how we "know" this: the polls. I used to like polls because I like vox
13003 pop, and polls seemed a good way to get a broad sampling. But now I think
13004 the vox has popped--the voice has cracked from too many command performances.
13005 Polls are contributing to a strange new volatility in public opinion...
13006 The dramatic rises and drops are fueled in part by mass media and their
13007 famous steady drumbeat of what's not working, from an increase in reported
13008 child abuse to a fall in savings. When this tendency is not prompted by
13009 ideology it is legitimate: good news isn't news. But the volatility is also
13010 driven by the polls themselves. People think they have to have an answer
13011 when they are questioned by pollsters, and they think the answer has to be
13012 "intelligent" and "not naive". This has the effect of hardening opinions
13013 that haven't even been formed yet. Poll questions do not invite subtlety or
13014 response. This dispels ambiguity, when a lot of thoughts and opinions are
13016 And we are polled too often. We are constantly having our temperature
13017 taken, like a hypochondriac who is looking for the reassurance no man can
13018 have, i.e., that he will not die... Nations that use polls as daily
13019 temperature readings inevitably give inauthentic readings, and wind up not
13020 reassured but demoralized.
13023 The chief object of education is
13024 not to learn things but to unlearn things.
13025 -- G. K. Chesterton
13027 When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
13030 He will kill mice and he will be kind to babies...
13031 but when the moon gets up and the night comes, he is
13032 the Cat that Walks by Himself.
13035 Everyone is a prisoner of his own prejudices.
13036 No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.
13037 -- Edward R. Murrow
13039 I am the least difficult of men.
13040 All I want is boundless love.
13043 If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.
13044 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
13046 Let's face it, life is mainly wasted time.
13049 Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
13052 Time spent with cats is never wasted.
13055 Most of us find ourselves at one time or another in a toy shop,
13056 looking for a gift for a child. Those of us who have not been in such
13057 stores since our youth can easily be bewildered, especially if we were
13058 born before the 1960s. Our favorite toys or games--fire engines,
13059 Tinkertoys, or baby dolls--have disappeared or are hidden in row after
13060 row of heroic fighters, fashion dolls, and exotic stuffed animals. The
13061 more practical of us enter the store with a list of items desired by
13062 the child--this season's action figure, the newest Barbie, or the
13063 latest video game. Veteran toy shoppers may enjoy the inevitable
13064 transformations as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give way to Mighty
13065 Morphin Power Rangers and Locket Surprise Barbie to Tropic Splash
13066 Barbie. But equally we may be appalled to think about the dozens of
13067 Ninja Turtles that an older boy just had to have a year earlier but
13068 that were then shunned by a younger brother who just had to have Power
13069 Rangers. Why don't kids pass down their toys as we remember giving our
13070 building blocks and dollhouses to our younger brothers and sisters? It
13071 is easy to wonder whether each year's must-have toys are really for
13072 children's play or whether their ever-changing forms represent other
13074 There have been disturbing changes in the making of playthings in
13075 the last few decades. Since the late 1960s many old toy companies,
13076 venerated for manufacturing toys passed from one generation to the
13077 next, have disappeared...
13078 A tradition of manufacturing boys' construction and science sets
13079 promised parents that their children would be preparing to join the
13080 adult world of engineering, industry, and science... The old kitchen
13081 play sets, dollhouses, and baby dolls that were to teach girls the arts
13082 of housekeeping and childcare are also less in evidence today. Toys
13083 that seem to prepare children for adult life have become harder to
13085 The ever-expanding toy industry reflects a general American
13086 commitment to unrestrained markets and to constant change, a commitment
13087 at least a century old. Americans have long admired the new and have
13088 enriched those who produce it. For decades American parents have
13089 enjoyed sharing the world of consumption with their offspring. At
13090 first they did so knowing that they ultimately mediated between toys
13091 and their children. When the floodgates were opened and torrents of
13092 toys were presented directly to kids, parents found themselves merely
13093 providers of funds to buy toys.
13094 -- Gary Cross, "Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American
13097 Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must
13098 do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
13101 If you assign people duties without granting
13102 them any rights, you must pay them well.
13103 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13105 It is far easier to write ten passable effective sonnets,
13106 good enough to take in the not too inquiring critic,
13107 than one effective advertisement that will take in a few
13108 thousand of the uncritical buying public.
13111 tail end of the day
13112 work escapes my fat fingers
13113 like greasy wieners
13116 Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent.
13117 Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success.
13118 -- Thomas Alva Edison
13120 Our lives are suspended like our planet in gimbals of duality,
13121 half sunlight and half shadow. If we plead with nature, it is
13122 in vain; she is wonderfully indifferent to our fate, and it is
13123 her custom to try everything and to be ruthless with incompetence.
13124 Ninety-nine percent of all the species that have lived on Earth
13125 have died away, and no stars will wink out in tribute if we in
13126 our folly soon join them.
13129 It is characteristic of the present time always to be conscious
13130 of the medium. It is almost bound to end in madness, like a man
13131 who whenever he looked at the sun and the stars was conscious of
13132 the world going round.
13135 The vanity of man revolts from the serene indifference of the cat.
13138 There are two means of refuge from the
13139 miseries of life: music and cats.
13140 -- Albert Schweitzer
13142 Open source should be about giving away things voluntarily.
13143 When you force someone to give you something, it's no longer
13144 giving, it's stealing. Persons of leisurely moral growth
13145 often confuse giving with taking.
13148 Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical
13149 pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power
13150 chooses to prohibit.
13153 People are more violently opposed to fur than
13154 leather because it's safer to harass rich women
13155 than motorcycle gangs.
13158 A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't
13159 change the subject.
13160 -- Winston Churchill
13162 Do not criticize your government when out of the
13163 country. Never cease to do so when at home.
13164 -- Winston Churchill
13166 Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.
13167 -- Winston Churchill
13169 Golf is a game whose sole aim is to hit a very small
13170 ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons
13171 singularly ill designed for that purpose.
13172 -- Winston Churchill
13174 If it is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
13175 -- Winston Churchill
13177 In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
13178 -- Winston Churchill
13180 Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free
13181 to say anything they like, but if anyone says anything
13182 back, that is an outrage.
13183 -- Winston Churchill
13185 I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is
13186 prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another
13188 -- Winston Churchill
13190 If you destroy a free market you create a black market.
13191 -- Winston Churchill
13193 If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy
13194 all respect for the law.
13195 -- Winston Churchill
13197 Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at
13199 -- Winston Churchill
13201 It is a socialist ideal that making profits is a vice.
13202 I consider the real vice is making losses.
13203 -- Winston Churchill
13205 If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.
13206 -- Benjamin Franklin
13208 The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
13209 -- Gerard Manley Hopkins
13211 The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.
13214 Expertise, it may be argued, sacrifices the insight of common sense
13215 to intensity of experience. It breeds an inability to accept new views from
13216 the very depth of its preoccupation with its won conclusions. It too often
13217 fails to see round its subject. It sees its results out of perspective by
13218 making them the centre of relevance to which all other results must be
13219 related. Too often, also, it lacks humility; and this breeds in its
13220 possessors a failure in proportion which makes them fail to see the obvious
13221 which is before their very noses. It has, also, a certain caste-spirit about
13222 it, so that experts tend to neglect all evidence which does not come from
13223 those who belong to their own ranks.
13224 Above all, perhaps, and this most urgently when human problems are
13225 concerned, the expert fails to see that every judgment he makes not purely
13226 factual in nature brings with it a scheme of values which has no special
13227 validity about it. He tends to confuse the importance of his facts with the
13228 importance of what he proposes to do about them.
13229 -- Harold J. Laski, "The Limitations of the Expert"
13231 If women are to do the same work as men,
13232 we must teach them the same things.
13235 Dogs may fawn on all and some
13237 You, a friend of loftier mind,
13238 Answer friends alone in kind;
13239 Just your foot upon my hand
13240 Softly bids it understand.
13241 -- Algernon Charles Swinburne
13243 The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
13246 The machine does not isolate man from the great problems
13247 of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.
13248 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
13250 Today in USA Today, experts were quoted as saying that the breakup of
13251 Microsoft would result in shoddy products and missed deadlines...
13253 And Microsoft is worrying about being able to do business as usual.
13255 The justice department has released its recommendations on
13256 names for the two parts of Microsoft, post split:
13258 MICROS~1 and MICROS~2
13260 I think we should partition Microsoft into an OS company
13261 (called "C:") and an apps company ("D:"). Then we should
13262 blow away both partitions....
13265 Microsoft has argued in court that the US government's plan
13266 to break up the company is "defective in numerous respects,
13267 making the document vague and ambiguous."
13269 In which respect it's much like Microsoft's documentation.
13271 Immediately after the announcement by Judge Penfield of splitting
13272 the company in two, Microsoft sued Micro.Com Specialists, LLC, and
13273 Software Research, Inc. (owners of www.soft.com) for infringement
13274 of copyrights and cyber-squatting.
13276 your brain will enlarge as necessary. just don't get angry or
13277 confused or scared or sad, if possible... you'll be amazed at
13278 what that blob of cells is capable of.
13281 If you like laws and sausage, you should
13282 never watch either being made.
13283 -- Otto von Bismarck
13285 The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself
13286 would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.
13287 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
13289 A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only
13290 advise his clients to plant vines.
13291 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
13293 He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
13294 -- Zsa Zsa Gabor, speaking of her ex-husband
13296 There is really no such thing as bad weather,
13297 only different kinds of good weather.
13300 She's not a babe. She's a sophisticated real-time computer system.
13301 -- Spokesman for Ananova, a virtual news anchor
13303 The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
13306 I am easily satisfied with the very best.
13307 -- Winston Churchill
13309 Uncertainty and expectations are the joys of life.
13310 Security is an insipid thing, and the overtaking and
13311 possessing of a wish, discovers the folly of the chase.
13312 -- William Congreve
13314 Sleep is simply not dispensable, regardless of the attempts in
13315 today's society to treat it as if it were simply unproductive 'downtime'.
13316 The desire to get more sleep is not a sign of laziness, nor does it
13317 represent a lack of ambition. The need for sleep is real...
13318 When we try to sleep less than the 8-hour minimum, things start to
13319 deteriorate. First of all, the effects of less than 8 hours of sleep a
13320 night seem to accumulate as a sleep debt. If you lose 2 hours today and 2
13321 hours tomorrow, on the third day your efficiency is as low as if you had
13322 lost 4 hours in one night. This is the way our sleep debt builds up.
13323 Eventually, if the sleep debt becomes large enough, we become slow, clumsy,
13324 stupid, and, possibly, dead. This is not an exaggeration. Remember, the
13325 national death rate by accidents jumps 6 percent as a result of simply
13326 losing 1 hour of sleep as we shift to daylight savings time in the spring...
13327 Perhaps someday society will act to do something about sleepiness.
13328 It may even come to pass that someday the person who drives or goes to work
13329 while sleepy will be viewed as being as reprehensible, dangerous, or even
13330 criminally negligent as the person who drives or goes to work while drunk.
13331 If so, perhaps the rest of us can all sleep a little bit more soundly.
13334 You haven't lived until you've lived with a cat.
13337 When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do--lose.
13338 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
13340 It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
13341 Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an
13342 artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body.
13343 -- Thomas H. Huxley
13345 If someone asks you, "Where do you live?" you are likely to answer
13346 with the name of a neighborhood, or a nearby geographic landmark. But if you
13347 give the question a sharper focus and ask yourself "And do I really live
13348 there?" then the answer becomes more vexing. Most of us can't claim to
13349 really live in the neighborhoods where we sleep. Few of us have the time to
13350 take part in the life of the community, and in many cases there is no
13351 community life to take part in. To varying degrees many of us can say of
13352 our neighborhoods what Gertrude Stein said of Oakland: "There is no _there_
13354 Bodenstandigkeit is German philosopher Martin Heidegger's term for
13355 the sense of being rooted in a place. It is this connection to a place that
13356 grounds us in Being, Heidegger claimed, and even if you don't buy into the
13357 existential mumbo-jumbo, it's not hard to understand the underlying insight:
13358 People who have no rootedness to a place are tumbleweeds, blown about on the
13359 currents of the zeitgeist. You have to be somebody, from somewhere, to know
13363 You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
13366 When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you
13367 must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket
13368 and sell you your own watch.
13371 What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a
13372 better answer than that which the experience of the past has already
13373 discovered--which consists, I believe, in gymnastic for the body and
13374 music for the mind.
13377 The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football.
13378 A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
13379 -- Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback
13381 Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making
13382 someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good
13386 I was determined to know beans.
13387 -- Henry David Thoreau
13389 Today, the notion of a star-spangled melting pot seems quaint,
13390 of another age. Increasingly, America is a fractured landscape,
13391 its people partitioned into dozens of cultural enclaves, its
13392 ideals reflected through differing prisms of experience. And
13393 this fracturing is likely to continue as the self-concept of
13394 America shifts from a majority white-minority black nation to
13395 a pluralistic society of many ethnic and racial groups. At the
13396 close of what's been called the American Century, during which
13397 the nation emerged as the dominant world power in commerce and
13398 politics, old myths are dying hard and new ones are just being
13399 forged. In this clustered world, the national identity is
13400 changing, and most of us don't even know it. Forget the melting
13401 pot. America today would be better characterized as a salad bar.
13402 -- Michael J. Weiss
13404 Personally, I'm always ready to learn,
13405 although I do not always like being taught.
13406 -- Winston Churchill
13408 The Constitution only gives people the right to
13409 pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
13412 Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when
13413 you fall down an open manhole and die.
13416 As a general rule, the most successful man in
13417 life is the man who has the best information.
13418 -- Benjamin Disraeli
13420 It is one of the blessings of old friends that
13421 you can afford to be stupid with them.
13422 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
13424 A child of five would understand this.
13425 Send someone to fetch a child of five.
13428 Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.
13431 I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns
13432 on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
13435 I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
13438 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.
13439 But this wasn't it.
13442 Those are my principles, and if you don't like
13443 them... well, I have others.
13446 When I picked up your book I was so convulsed with laughter
13447 that I had to set it down, but one day I intend to read it.
13450 Some people claim that marriage interferes with romance.
13451 There's no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance,
13452 your wife is bound to interfere.
13455 God has made the cat to give man the
13456 pleasure of caressing the tiger.
13459 We are not without accomplishment. We have
13460 managed to distribute poverty equally.
13461 -- Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese Foreign
13463 Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be
13464 always cast. In the pool where you least expect
13465 it, will be a fish.
13468 If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is
13469 because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music
13470 which he hears, however measured or far away.
13471 -- Henry David Thoreau
13473 The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can
13474 be true and untrue at the same time.
13475 -- Arthur Schopenhauer
13477 God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
13480 People often applaud an imitation and then sneer at the real thing.
13483 A thought which does not result
13484 in an action is nothing much,
13485 and an action which does not proceed
13486 from a thought is nothing at all.
13487 -- Georges Bernanos
13491 Security holes are only software bugs when
13492 one of the software's requirements is security.
13496 do outlook, internet explorer and, indeed, windows
13497 itself have 'bugs'? because that would indicate
13498 that microsoft has a requirement of security...
13499 it seems more likely that any security problems are just
13500 a by-product of the microsoft swiss cheese development
13501 methodology(tm)... if it doesn't stink and have a lot
13502 of holes, then it's not from microsoft.
13505 The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work
13506 supremely well, without attending to appearance.
13509 Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs
13510 into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.
13513 Daydreaming does not enjoy tremendous prestige in our culture,
13514 which tends to regard it as unproductive thought. Writers
13515 perhaps appreciate its importance better than most, since a
13516 fair amount of what they call work consists of little more
13517 than daydreaming edited. Yet anyone who reads for pleasure
13518 should prize it too, for what is reading a good book but a
13519 daydream at second hand? Unlike any other form of thought,
13520 daydreaming is its own reward. For regardless of the result
13521 (if any), the very process of daydreaming is pleasurable.
13522 And, I would guess, is probably a psychological necessity.
13523 For isn't it in our daydreams that we acquire some sense of
13524 what we are about? Where we try on futures and practice our
13525 voices before committing ourselves to words or deeds?
13526 Daydreaming is where we go to cultivate the self, or, more
13527 likely, selves, out of the view and earshot of other people.
13528 Without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the
13529 size and shape of the estimation of others.
13532 Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe,
13533 a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride,
13534 and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently
13535 regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are
13536 entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and
13537 vagaries of the crowd.
13538 -- Dame Edith Sitwell
13540 There are times when I think that the ideal library is
13541 composed solely of reference books. They are like
13542 understanding friends--always ready to change the subject
13543 when you have had enough of this or that.
13546 Mothers, fathers, aren't supposed to change, any more than
13547 they are supposed to leave, or die. They must not do that.
13550 The greatest obstacle to discovery is not
13551 ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge.
13552 -- Daniel J. Boorstin
13554 Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing.
13555 Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees.
13558 All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
13559 -- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
13561 Creative minds have always been known
13562 to survive any kind of bad training.
13565 Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
13566 -- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower
13568 I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry.
13569 That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
13570 -- David Bissonette
13572 I married the first man I ever kissed.
13573 When I tell my children that they just about throw up.
13576 The trouble with some women is they get all excited
13577 about nothing--and then they marry him.
13580 Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people
13581 who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm.
13582 But the harm does not interest them.
13585 When you're finished changing, you're finished.
13586 -- Benjamin Franklin
13588 It is time we start searching for the fountain of age, time that
13589 we stop denying our growing older and look at the actuality of our
13590 own experience, and that of other women and men who have gone
13591 beyond denial to a new place in their sixties, seventies, eighties.
13592 It is time to look at age on its own terms, and put names on its
13593 values and strengths as they are actually experienced, breaking
13594 through the definition of age solely as deterioration or decline
13595 from youth. Only then will we see that the problem is not age
13596 itself, to be denied or warded off as long as possible, that the
13597 problem is not those increasing numbers of people living beyond
13598 sixty-five, to be segregated from the useful, valuable, pleasurable
13599 activities of society so that the rest of us can keep our illusion
13600 of staying forever young. Nor is the basic political problem the
13601 burden on society of those forced into deterioration, second
13602 childhood, even senility. The problem is not how we can stay young
13603 forever, personally--or avoid facing society's problems politically
13604 by shifting them onto age. The problem is, first of all, how to
13605 break through the cocoon of our illusory youth and risk a new stage
13606 in life, where there are not prescribed role models to follow, no
13607 guidepost, no rigid rules or visible rewards, to step out into the
13608 true existential unknown of these new years of life now open to us,
13609 and to find our own terms for living it.
13612 When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third
13613 of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and
13614 two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
13617 Blessed are they who have nothing to say
13618 and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
13619 -- James Russell Lowell
13621 Personal computers are less able to sense human presence
13622 than are modern toilets or outdoor floodlights that have simple
13623 motion sensors. Your inexpensive auto-focus camera has more
13624 intelligence about what is in front of it than any terminal or
13626 When you lift your hands from your computer keyboard, it
13627 does not know whether the pause is reflective, a nature break,
13628 or an interruption for lunch. It cannot tell the difference
13629 between talking to you alone or in front of six other people.
13630 It does not know if you are in your night-or party clothes or
13631 no clothes at all. For all it knows, you could have your back
13632 to it while it was showing you something important, or you
13633 could be out of earshot altogether while it was speaking to you.
13634 We think today solely from the perspective of what would
13635 make it easier for a person to use a computer. It may be time
13636 to ask what will make it easier for computers to deal with
13637 humans. For example, how can you possibly hold a conversation
13638 with people if you don't even know they are there? You can't
13639 see them, and you don't know how many there are. Are they
13640 smiling? Are they even paying attention? We talk longingly
13641 about human-computer interactions and conversational systems,
13642 and yet we are fully prepared to leave one participant in this
13643 dialogue totally in the dark. It is time to make computers see
13645 -- Nicholas Negroponte
13647 The energy produced by the breaking down of the
13648 atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who
13649 expects a source of power from the transformation
13650 of these atoms is talking moonshine.
13651 -- Ernest Rutherford
13653 Finance is the art of passing currency from
13654 hand to hand until it finally disappears.
13655 -- Robert W. Sarnoff
13657 The scientific community speaks about its work in a cool
13658 and disinterested manner. To present an exciting profile
13659 would be unprofessional. Any excess of emotion would suggest
13660 a lack of neutrality and therefore a tendency to read what
13661 they want in the facts rather than reporting what they see.
13662 Scientific objectivity must therefore appear to be boring.
13663 Scientists are well aware that their work is neither
13664 boring nor objective. If it were, very few discoveries would
13666 Social science, being falsely empirical, is triply
13667 obsessed by the obligation to present itself as the objective
13668 interpretation of observed reality. Since the more or less
13669 hard edges of scientific inquiry are not involved, social
13670 scientists are free to be more categorical about truth,
13671 reality and what they call facts. They therefore seek to be
13672 more boring than scientists.
13673 -- John Ralston Saul
13675 Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.
13676 -- William M. Thackeray
13678 A genius is someone who can do anything except make a living.
13681 If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him,
13682 you may say with confidence that he is a good man.
13683 -- Fyodor Dostoevski
13685 Fortune befriends the bold.
13688 Success in almost any field depends more on energy
13689 and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains
13690 why we have so many stupid leaders.
13693 Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
13696 I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
13699 Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
13700 Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
13702 It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic,
13703 and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved.
13706 Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you're on a dead horse, the best
13707 strategy is to dismount. Of course, there are other strategies. You
13708 can change riders. You can get a committee to study the dead horse.
13709 You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can
13710 declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness
13711 several dead horses together. But after you've tried all these things,
13712 you're still going to have to dismount.
13715 You think it's a conspiracy by the networks to put bad shows on TV.
13716 But the shows are bad because that's what people want. It's not like
13717 Windows users don't have any power; I think they are happy with
13718 Windows, and that's an incredibly depressing thought.
13721 Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see
13722 and listen to what they don't want to hear.
13725 Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting
13726 pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to
13727 babble and backtrack nervously.
13730 Florence Nightingale, on her kitten's reaction to an older cat:
13732 "The little one stands her ground, and when the old enemy comes near
13733 enough kisses his nose and makes the peace. That is the lesson of
13734 life: to kiss one's enemy's nose always standing one's ground."
13736 In the game known as Broken Telephone (or Chinese Whispers) a child
13737 whispers a phrase into the ear of a second child, who whispers it into
13738 the ear of a third child, and so one. Distortions accumulate, and when
13739 the last child announces the phrase, it is comically different from the
13740 original. The game works because each child does not merely degrade the
13741 phrase, which would culminate in a mumble, but reanalyzes it, making a
13742 best guess about the words the preceding child had in mind.
13743 All languages change through the centuries. We do not speak like
13744 Shakespeare (1564-1616), who did not speak like Chaucer (1343-1400), who
13745 did not speak like the author of Beowulf (around 750-800). As the
13746 changes take place, people feel the ground eroding under their feet and
13747 in every era have predicted the imminent demise of the language. Yet
13748 the twelve hundred years of changes since Beowulf have not left us
13749 grunting like Tarzan, and that is because language change is a game of
13751 A generation of speakers uses their lexicon and grammar to produce
13752 sentences. The younger generation listens to the sentences and tries to
13753 infer the lexicon and grammar, the remarkable feat we call language
13754 acquisition. The transmission of a lexicon and grammar in language
13755 acquisition is fairly high in fidelity -- you probably can communicate
13756 well with your parents and your children -- but it is never perfect.
13757 Words rise and fall in popularity, as the needs of daily life change, and
13758 also as the hip try to sound different from the dweebs and graybeards.
13759 Speakers swallow or warp some sounds to save effort, and enunciate or
13760 shift others to make themselves understood. Immigrants or conquerors
13761 with regional or foreign accents may swamp the locals and change the pool
13762 of speech available to children.
13763 Children, for their part, do not mimic sentences like parrots but try
13764 to make sense of them in terms of underlying words and rules. They may
13765 hear a mumbled consonant as no consonant at all, or a drawn-out or
13766 mispronounced vowel as a different vowel. They may fail to discern the
13767 rationale for a rule and simply memorize its outputs as a list. Or they
13768 may latch on to some habitual way of ordering words and hypothesize a new
13769 rule to make sense of it. The language of their generation will have
13770 changed, though it need not have deteriorated. Then the process is
13771 repeated with their children. Each change may be small, but as changes
13772 accumulate over centuries they reshape the language just as erosion and
13773 sedimentation imperceptibly sculpt the earth.
13776 Ideas won't keep: something must be done about them.
13777 -- Alfred North Whitehead
13779 Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual
13780 mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
13781 -- Alfred North Whitehead
13783 Ninety-Ninety Rule n.
13784 "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the
13785 development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the
13786 other 90% of the development time." Attributed to Tom Cargill of
13787 Bell Labs, and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985
13788 "Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" column in "Communications of
13790 It was there called the "Rule of Credibility", a name which
13791 seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include
13792 the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas
13793 Hartree: "The time from now until the completion of the project
13794 tends to become constant."
13796 Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
13799 No matter how bad things get
13800 you got to go on living,
13801 even if it kills you.
13804 A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
13805 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
13807 Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it,
13808 people, to express their regret, will go and leave a lot of
13809 money to the very people who will be the first to throw stones
13810 at the next person who has anything to say and finds a difficulty
13811 in getting a hearing.
13814 I praise loudly, I blame softly.
13815 -- Catherine II of Russia
13817 Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
13818 That is the song that never ends.
13821 There are few more doleful sounds than the
13822 laughter of a man without humour.
13825 Children are the first to lose their innocence,
13826 artists the second: idiots never.
13829 What is the good of being an island,
13830 if you are not a volcanic island?
13833 Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you
13834 have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
13837 Most human beings have to spend their lives in utter vulnerability.
13838 All are murderable and torturable, and survive only through the restraint
13839 shown by more powerful neighbors. All are born unequal, in terms of
13840 capacity or strength. All are born to the inherent frailty of the human
13841 condition, naked and helpless, vulnerable all through life to the will of
13842 others, limited by ignorance, limited by physical weakness, limited by
13843 fear, limited by the phobias that fear engenders.
13844 For nearly three thousand years now, the political and social genius
13845 of what we can permissibly call 'Western man' has struggled with these
13846 brute facts of our unsatisfactory existence. Ever since the Hebrews
13847 discovered personal moral responsibility and the Greeks discovered the
13848 autonomy of the citizen, the effort has been made--with setbacks and
13849 defeats, with dark ages and interregnums and any number of irrelevant
13850 adventures on the side-to create a social order in which weak, fallible,
13851 obstinate, silly, magnificent man can maintain his dignity and exercise his
13852 free and responsible choice.
13855 Let us work without theorizing. It's the only way to
13856 make life endurable.
13859 At many human faults a cat
13860 Will never take offense:
13861 Two things though they cannot stand:
13862 The wretched Door, the horrid Fence.
13865 I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
13868 [Chess is] as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
13869 as you can find outside an advertising agency.
13870 -- Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) U.S. crime-fiction writer
13872 Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are
13873 doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.
13874 -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1960) Irish playwright, critic
13876 Every moment in life is precious; that's why I play chess.
13877 -- Joseph Siroker, coffee house chess player and guru
13879 I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody
13880 to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.
13883 A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can
13884 prove that you don't need it.
13887 Giving money and power to government is like
13888 giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
13891 The very moral person usually has quite good manners because good
13892 manners are usually some sort of basic consideration.
13893 -- Louis Auchincloss
13895 It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose,
13896 a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
13899 On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], "Pray, Mr.
13900 Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
13901 come out?" I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of
13902 ideas that could provoke such a question.
13905 Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
13908 The man who can drive himself further once the
13909 effort gets painful is the man who will win.
13912 You grow up on the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.
13915 I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is
13916 because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.
13919 When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
13922 With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half,
13923 and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
13924 -- Otto Von Bismarck
13926 Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
13929 I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character
13930 we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.
13933 There are no small parts, only small actors.
13936 Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes'
13937 without having asked any clear question.
13940 Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it
13941 ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the
13942 wisdom we've learned and create something.
13945 Life at university, with its intellectual and inconclusive discussions
13946 at a postgraduate level is on the whole a bad training for the real world.
13947 Only men of very strong character surmount this handicap.
13950 The First Daily Sin is imitation. How can the network evening
13951 news programs be so similar? We're in a commercial, highly competitive
13952 struggle for viewers, and yet our solution for standing out in the
13953 marketplace is--do just what the competition is doing. CBS research shows
13954 that half the viewers of any given evening news broadcast--on CBS, NBC, or
13955 ABC--only watch that particular program one night a week. The implication
13956 is obvious: To these viewers, it doesn't make much of a difference which
13957 one they watch--or whether they watch at all.
13958 The Second Daily Sin is predictability. How often are you surprised
13959 by something you see on the news?
13960 The Third Daily Sin is artificiality. If you stop and really
13961 listen to how a typical television reporter tells a story, you'll hear how
13962 artificial it sounds. Even words--'pontiff' comes quickly to mind--that you
13963 never hear in real life. Nobody talks that way--except for us.
13964 The Fourth Daily Sin is laziness. The people I work with put in
13965 long hours and are very devoted to their jobs. They're certainly not lazy
13966 in the conventional sense. But I think we've all become lazy in our
13967 thinking, in our reluctance to dig out original stories and come up with
13968 new ways to tell them.
13969 The Fifth Daily Sin is oversimplification. Our audience is smarter
13970 and more thoughtful than a lot of us think. The people out there in America
13971 know that life is not as simple as what they see on the news: a world of
13972 heroes and villains, winners and losers, exploiters and victims. Yet that's
13973 what we show them, night after night.
13974 The Sixth Daily Sin is hype. Can you remember the last 'story
13975 you'll never forget?' How about the one before that? I can't. Over the
13976 years we've exaggerated so much that we've eroded our own ability to convey
13977 what's truly significant.
13978 The Seventh Daily Sin is cynicism. I think we're cynical about the
13979 audience and cynical about our ability to make a difference in peoples'
13980 lives. Journalists today are held in low esteem, but that doesn't have to
13981 be. Our viewers and listeners are also hungry for honest information, for
13982 help in coping with a bewildering world. We have an enormous opportunity to
13983 win our good name back--and insure our own survival in the bargain.
13984 -- Andrew Heyward, President of CBS News
13986 Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
13987 -- Benjamin Disraeli
13989 Dr. Laura eats the Bible, live
13990 ------------------------------
13991 Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
13992 people who call in to her radio show. Paramount Television Group is
13993 currently producing a "Dr. Laura" television show. She has become a
13994 convert to Judaism, and now she is Ba'al T'shuvah.
13995 Recently, she made some statements about homosexuals, based on
13996 biblical edicts. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura that
13997 was posted on the internet.
14002 Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.
14003 I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that
14004 knowledge with as many people as I can.
14005 When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example,
14006 I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
14007 abomination. End of debate.
14008 Now I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the
14009 specific laws and how to best follow them.
14010 a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates
14011 a pleasing odour for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbours.
14012 They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
14013 b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
14014 Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
14016 c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
14017 her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev.15:19-24). The problem is, how
14018 do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
14019 d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
14020 female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend
14021 of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
14022 you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
14023 e) I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
14024 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
14025 to kill him myself?
14026 f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
14027 Abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.
14028 I don't agree. Can you settle this?
14029 g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
14030 have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.
14031 Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
14032 h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
14033 around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
14034 19:27. How should they die?
14035 i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
14036 me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
14037 j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
14038 different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments
14039 made of two different kinds of thread (cotton / polyester blend). He
14040 also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we
14041 go to the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them?
14042 (Lev. 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family
14043 affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
14044 I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
14045 you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
14046 eternal and unchanging.
14047 Your devoted disciple and adoring fan,
14050 Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect
14051 when taken in too large quantities.
14054 It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
14057 It is theory that decides what can be observed.
14060 It would be too pat, perhaps, to say that modern people, men and
14061 women, expect the unexpected. But they certainly expect, or are inured
14062 to, constant change... Unquestionably, people sense constant movement,
14063 change, alteration, and 'progress'. Even clothes are supposed to change
14064 from year to year: there is this year's fashion, and last year's fashion,
14065 and the fashions of the year before.
14066 Then there is the idea of 'news,' that is, of something novel
14067 happening every day, something worth reporting. Millions of people wake up
14068 in the morning and watch the news on television; they may also listen to
14069 radio news throughout the day and later catch the evening television news.
14070 It would be unthinkable to read in the newspapers or to hear on television
14071 that 'nothing much happened today.' There is always news, always something
14072 going on, always change. Some days bring major headlines; other days are
14073 quieter. But there is never no news: the message we get every day is that
14074 things are never exactly the same.
14075 -- Lawrence M. Friedman, from "The Horizontal Society"
14077 Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices
14078 call to us on every hand, but our ears are stopped with wisdom.
14081 I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier
14082 to answer questions. I can't answer your question.
14083 -- Presidential candidate GW Bush, in response to a question about
14084 whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the
14085 first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2000
14087 Notice the difference between what happens when a man
14088 says to himself, "I have failed three times," and what
14089 happens when he says, "I am a failure."
14092 If you always do what interests you,
14093 at least one person is pleased.
14094 -- Katharine Hepburn
14096 I cannot imagine a pleasant retired life of peace
14097 and meditation without a cat in the house.
14098 -- Paul Von Hindenberg
14100 Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of
14101 are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the
14102 past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping.
14105 It is cheering to see that the rats are
14106 still around--the ship is not sinking.
14109 Always keep faith in the mind of clear light and be safe!
14112 Until now, in the Western world, leisure was the exclusive
14113 possession of a privileged class, which took upon itself the task of
14114 playing on behalf of the whole overworked society. For all the injustices
14115 which this entailed, it can be argued that this inequality in the
14116 distribution of leisure gave the minority that enjoyed it a certain
14117 responsibility for the quality of its amusements.
14118 Today our machines have turned leisure into an almost universal
14119 and obligatory state, one which many of us are finding enervating and even
14120 painful. To live free of the burden of grinding toil is the oldest of
14121 man's dreams. Yet no sooner has he rid himself of the accursed necessity
14122 of earning his living by the sweat of his brow, then he is confronted by a
14123 huge and alarming vacuum which -- if he is not to go mad -- must be quickly
14124 and entirely filled. With this new and abundant leisure come certain
14125 inescapable demands not to squander unimaginatively the resources that
14126 industrialization has opened for us. Many of us-consciously seldom, but
14127 unconsciously often-find this challenge so disturbing that we flee back to
14128 artificially strenuous work or even to war in order to escape the
14129 perplexities of choice presented to abundant leisure.
14130 This is a problem which you, as members of the Mass Audience, will
14131 be sharing with hundreds of millions of your fellow citizens the world over.
14134 If you want to write, keep cats.
14137 It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
14138 Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial
14139 organization upon the natural organization of the body.
14140 -- Thomas H. Huxley
14142 If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.
14145 Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of
14146 a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
14149 The surest way to forfeit the esteem of a cat is to
14150 treat him as an inferior being.
14153 When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.
14156 Don't tell me how hard you work.
14157 Tell me how much you get done.
14160 The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came.
14161 -- James Russell Lowell
14163 Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
14166 A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has
14167 cheated some woman out of a divorce.
14170 Serocki's Stricture: Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
14172 The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines.
14173 They gave him love and he invented marriage.
14175 When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane,
14176 most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear
14177 that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition
14178 continuously until death do them part.
14179 -- George Bernard Shaw
14181 Marriage is nature's way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.
14183 If you're upset and wonder what your wife does with
14184 all the grocery money, stand sideways and look at yourself.
14186 I don't worry about terrorism;
14187 I was married for two years.
14190 Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding,
14191 economical and a good cook. Unfortunately, the law allows
14194 Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or
14195 manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they
14196 will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.
14197 -- John Stuart Mill
14199 Most of America's millionaires are first-generation rich. How is
14200 it possible for people from modest backgrounds to become millionaires in
14201 one generation? Why is it that so many people with similar socioeconomic
14202 backgrounds never accumulate even modest amounts of wealth?
14203 Most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own
14204 abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their
14205 parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy.
14206 Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy
14207 produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent. Have you
14208 always thought that most millionaires are born with silver spoons in their
14209 mouths? If so, consider the following facts that our research uncovered
14210 about American millionaires:
14211 * Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a
14212 trust fund or an estate.
14213 * Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.
14214 * More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.
14215 * Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000
14216 or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
14217 * Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the
14218 ownership of a family business.
14219 * Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents
14220 or other relatives.
14221 * Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance
14223 America continues to hold great prospects for those who wish to
14224 accumulate wealth in one generation. In fact, America has always been a
14225 land of opportunity for those who believe in the fluid nature of our
14226 nation's social system and economy.
14227 -- from the book "The Millionaire Next Door"
14229 In Rome, Athens, and Sparta, honor alone was the reward for the
14230 greatest of services. A wreath of oak-leaves or laurel, a statue or public
14231 congratulations was an immense reward for winning a battle or capturing a town.
14232 In these cities, a man who had accomplished some great feat was
14233 sufficiently rewarded by the accomplishment itself. He could not meet any
14234 of his fellow-citizens without feeling the pleasure of having done
14235 something for them; he could calculate the extent of his services by the
14236 number of his countrymen. Everybody is capable of doing good to one man,
14237 but it is god-like to contribute to the happiness of an entire society."
14240 I'll let you in on a secret. George Bush is not going to
14241 be the next president of the United States. Get over it,
14242 folks. It's not going to happen.
14243 -- Michael Moore, 9/21/2000, quoted by Eun-Kyung Kim (AP)
14245 As I considered the premise put forth in the meeting room: that
14246 the shortest road to wisdom and peace with the world is the one that turns
14247 inward, away from direct sensory contact with other creatures. I will not
14248 assert that meditation, psychotherapy, and philosophical introspection are
14249 unproductive, but I simply can't accept that inward is the only or best way
14250 for everyone to turn. The more disciplined practitioners of contemplative
14251 traditions can turn inward and still get beyond the self, but many others
14252 simply become swamped by self-indulgence. There are far too many people
14253 living in our society who forget daily that other creatures--five kingdoms'
14254 worth of them--are cohabiting the planet with us.
14255 Over half a century ago, Robinson Jeffers suggested that it may be
14256 just as valid to turn outward: "The whole human race spends too much
14257 emotion on itself. The happiest and freest man is the scientist
14258 investigating nature or the artist admiring it, the person who is
14259 interested in things that are not human. Or if he is interested in human
14260 beings, let him regard them objectively as a small part of the great music."
14261 -- Gary Paul Nabhan
14263 SWM 33, black belt kama sutra, seeking wonder woman. bring me your
14264 inhibitions and i will shatter them, you sweet thing. no violence.
14265 no caustics. sin is the word of restriction, so come pet my crowley.
14266 aleister can cook; aunt jemima treatment for all.
14268 Chance favors only the prepared mind.
14271 I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
14272 I lift my eyes and all is born again.
14275 Books do furnish a room.
14278 For the benefit of the two or three other people in this society
14279 who don't know what 'Cats' is about, here's the answer: It's about a bunch
14280 of cats. The cats jump around in a postnuclear junkyard for some two and a
14281 half hours, bumping and grinding to that curiously Mesozoic pop music for
14282 which Andrew Lloyd Webber is famous--the kind of full-tilt truckin' that
14283 sounds like the theme from 'The Mod Squad.' There's an Elvis impersonator
14284 cat, and a cat that looks like Cyndi Lauper, and a cat that looks like
14285 Phyllis Diller. All the other cast members look like Jon Bon Jovi with two
14286 weeks of facial growth.
14287 Sure, 'Cats' is allegedly based upon the works of T. S. Eliot, but
14288 from what I could tell, the show had about as much to do with the author of
14289 'The Waste Land' as those old Steve Reeves movies had to do with Euripides.
14290 'Cats' is what 'Grease' would look like if all the cast members dressed up
14291 like KISS. To give you an idea of how bad 'Cats' is, think of a musical
14292 where you're actually glad to hear 'Memory' reprised a third time because
14293 all the other songs are so awful. Think of a musical where the songs are so
14294 bad that 'Memory' starts to sound like 'Ol' Man River' by comparison.
14295 That's how bad 'Cats' is.
14298 Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else--and failing.
14299 -- Raymond Radiguet
14301 green sandwich glowing bright, thou droppest mushrooms
14302 on my tights, i slackly drool and whine and moan, for i
14303 will soon give you a better, more acidic home.
14305 By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become
14306 happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
14309 The life of the creative man is lead, directed, and controlled by
14310 boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
14313 The new generation of software must be designed from day one to be pirated.
14314 -- CinemaElectric CEO Jim Robinson
14316 thought is the only antidote to stupidity,
14317 but stupid people don't realize they need it.
14320 i don't have to speak
14321 in haiku at all times since
14325 What is more interesting in this world than our fellow human
14326 beings and other living creatures? Why do we know so few of what must be
14327 out there? What kind of philistines are we? Yet we can make a more
14328 practical point than this. We need to interact with other species whether
14329 we want to or not. They are our food and our environment: homes, scenery,
14330 soil, even the oxygen in the air is provided by courtesy of plants and
14331 photosynthesizing bacteria. We need actively to exploit our fellow
14332 creatures to survive. This is not an option: we have to exploit them unless
14333 we prefer to die. Therefore purely for selfish reasons (as well as for
14334 reasons that we may hope are less selfish) we also need to conserve them.
14335 Besides, even if we learnt to do without our fellow creatures--perhaps
14336 found some inexhaustible supply of food on some distant planet--they would
14337 not necessarily ignore us. We are flesh, too, for all our conceit, and many
14338 are more than happy to feed upon us. To contain, exploit, or conserve our
14339 fellow creatures we need to keep tabs on them.
14342 Nature's technology occurs on the surface of the same planet as
14343 that of human culture, so it endures the same physical and chemical
14344 limitations and must use the same materials. But nature copes and invents
14345 in a way fundamentally different from what we do. At the very least, the
14346 rate at which she alters herself is glacial by our cultural standard.
14347 The very shapes of the two technologies differ dramatically. Just
14348 look around you. Right angles are everywhere: the edges of this page, desk
14349 corners, street corners, floor corners, shelves, doors, boxes, bricks, and
14350 on and on. Then look at field, park, or forest. Where are the right angles?
14351 Absent? No, but rare, which raises questions. Why so few right angles in
14352 nature? Why do civilizations find them so serviceable?
14353 Natural and human technologies differ extensively and pervasively.
14354 We build dry and stiff structures; nature mostly makes hers wet and
14355 flexible. We build of metals; nature never does. Our hinges mainly slide;
14356 hers mostly bend. We do wonders with wheels and rotary motion; nature makes
14357 fully competent boats, aircraft, and terrestrial vehicles that lack them
14358 entirely. Our engines expand or spin; hers contract or slide. We fabricate
14359 large devices directly; nature's large things are cunning proliferations of
14361 -- Steven Vogel's, from "Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds
14362 of Nature and People"
14364 If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.
14367 I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
14368 world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already
14369 finished, and he sat down.
14370 -- Edward O. Wilson
14372 yahoo throws a shoe;
14373 trouble in digital zone
14374 e-log drops out chute
14377 Take care not to step on the foot of a learned idiot.
14378 His bite is incurable.
14381 A great sailor can sail even with a torn canvas. -- Seneca
14383 What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists?
14384 In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
14387 Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution
14388 introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what
14389 we can learn from her... 'doing it nature's way' has the potential to
14390 change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal
14391 ourselves, store information, and conduct business.
14392 In a biomimetic world, we would manufacture the way animals and
14393 plants do, using sun and simple compounds to produce totally biodegradable
14394 fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals. Our farms, modeled on prairies,
14395 would be self-fertilizing and pest-resistant. To find new drugs or crops,
14396 we would consult animals and insects that have used plants for millions of
14397 years to keep themselves healthy and nourished. Even computing would take
14398 its cue from nature, with software that "evolves" solutions, and hardware
14399 that uses the lock-and-key paradigm to compute by touch.
14400 In each case, nature would provide the models: solar cells copied
14401 from leaves, steely fibers woven spider-style, shatterproof ceramics drawn
14402 from mother-of-pearl, cancer cures compliments of chimpanzees, perennial
14403 grains inspired by tallgrass, computers that signal like cells, and a
14404 closed-loop economy that takes its lessons from redwoods, coral reefs, and
14405 oak-hickory forests.
14406 The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world, and
14407 more important, what lasts. After 3.8 billion years of research and
14408 development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to
14409 survival. The more our world looks and functions like this natural world,
14410 the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours, but not
14412 -- Janine M. Benyus
14414 It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep,
14415 than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
14419 my eye, i must cry out at
14420 your nail gouge like lye.
14423 What one knows is, in youth, of little moment;
14424 they know enough who know how to learn.
14427 One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
14430 A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation
14431 with the bricks that others throw at him or her.
14434 Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get
14435 from them the reward they are able to give.
14436 -- Compton MacKenzie
14438 The other night when I went into a restaurant in Santa Monica,
14439 there was one president--Clinton. When I ordered a pizza there
14440 was another one--Gore. When I paid the bill there was a third
14441 president--Bush, and when I walked out onto Ocean Boulevard there
14442 was no president because Bill is now the husband of a senator from
14444 Today I am witnessing the spectacle of a hyper-technological
14445 America which is sitting on the ruins of its electoral system
14446 waiting for absentee ballots in the mail.
14447 -- Bepe Severgnini, columnist for Milan's Corriere della Sera
14449 do you think it would hurt very much to swallow a whole egg, in shell?
14450 would it be better to boil it first so it's hard or to leave it runny?
14451 i'm wondering which way would be most likely to keep the shell from
14452 breaking before it exits the body...
14454 I will do everything in my power to restrict abortions.
14455 -- George W. Bush, Dallas Morning News, October 22, 1994
14457 I saw the report that children in Texas are going hungry. Where?
14458 You'd think the governor would have heard if there are pockets of
14460 -- George W. Bush, whose state ranks 2nd in total number of children
14461 living in poverty, to Austin American Statesman, 12/18/99
14463 "Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
14464 -- Bush mocking what Karla Faye Tucker said on Larry King when asked,
14465 "What would you say to Governor Bush?" prior to her execution by
14466 lethal injection as reported by Talk magazine, September 1999
14468 An atmosphere of adolescence, a lack of gravitas--a carelessness, even a
14469 recklessness, perhaps born of things having gone a bit too easily so far.
14470 -- George Will, August 11, 1999, referring to Talk magazine's
14471 interview with Bush
14473 Sitting down and reading a 500-page book on
14474 public policy or philosophy or something.
14475 -- GW Bush was asked to name something he isn't
14476 good at by Talk magazine, September 1999 issue
14478 Bush should not advertise any allergy to serious things. A critical
14479 mass of lightness in a candidate causes the public mind to snap closed,
14480 with the judgement, "Not ready for prime time."
14481 -- George Will, August 11, 1999
14483 Bush is taking a political party on his ride. He and it will care if
14484 on Nov. 7, 2000, people think of Gore or Bradley as an unexciting but
14485 serious professor and of him as an amiable fraternity boy, but a boy.
14486 -- George Will, August 11, 1999
14488 What I'm against is quotas. I'm against hard quotas, quotas that
14489 basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate,
14490 quotas, I think, vulcanize society.
14491 -- George W. Bush (Austin American-Statesman 3/23/99)
14493 Son, I love your strategy: Don't let them get to know you.
14496 If George is elected President, it would destroy my faith
14497 in the office because he is such an ordinary guy.
14498 -- David Rosen, Midland geologist & former neighbor of GW Bush
14500 He's this week's pet rock.
14501 -- unknown, regarding GW Bush
14503 There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site,
14504 and this guy is just a garbage man.
14505 -- GW Bush, commenting on the website www.gwbush.com
14507 The Bush network is the only genuine network in the
14508 Republican Party. It is the Establishment.
14509 -- Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
14511 "I will look at each piece of legislation when
14512 it makes it to my desk," and "I will review that
14513 when it makes it to my desk."
14514 -- GW Bush, refusing to comment on anything
14515 before it's absolutely unavoidable
14517 Reporters noticed four Latino men sitting at the Plaza, looking bored,
14518 wearing matching shirts from Buena Vista Farms. Buena Vista, it turns
14519 out, is a horse ranch run by Gerald Parsky, Bush's California chairman.
14520 The four men said they were brought to the event and were being paid
14521 their regular wages for attending.
14522 -- Salon Magazine reporting on a Bush fundraiser in California
14524 Asked how he would define "compassionate conservatism," Bush replied:
14525 "Making sure every child can read, making sure that we encourage
14526 faith-based organizations... when it comes to helping neighbors in
14527 need, making sure that our neighborhoods are safe, making sure that
14528 the state of Texas recognizes that people from all walks of life have
14529 got a shot at the Texas dream but, most importantly, making sure that
14530 government is not the answer to people's problems."
14531 This may be the only time a candidate promised not to solve any problems
14532 (with the possible exception of Utah Phillips, who ran on the "Sloth &
14533 Indolence" platform.)
14534 -- from georgebush2000.com
14536 I'd demand a recount.
14537 -- William F. Buckley, in the early '60s, in response to a
14538 reporter's question asking him what he would do if he
14539 were to win in his race for the office of Mayor of New York
14541 Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.
14542 Half never voted for President.
14543 One hopes it is the same half.
14546 Start every day off with a smile and get it over with. -- W. C. Fields
14548 Every man wishes to be wise,
14549 and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.
14552 Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this.
14555 When issues of public policy are discussed in the outward form
14556 of an argument, often the conclusions reached are predetermined by
14557 the assumptions and definitions inherent in a particular vision of
14558 social processes. Different visions, of course, have different
14559 assumptions, so it is not uncommon for people who follow different
14560 visions to find themselves in opposition to one another across a
14561 vast spectrum of unrelated issues, in such disparate fields as law,
14562 foreign policy, the environment, racial policy, military defense,
14563 education, and many others. To a remarkable extent, however,
14564 empirical evidence is neither sought beforehand nor consulted after
14565 a policy has been instituted. Facts may be marshaled for a position
14566 already taken, but that is very different from systematically
14567 testing opposing theories by evidence. Momentous questions are
14568 dealt with essentially as conflicts of vision.
14569 -- Thomas Sowell, from "The Vision of the Anointed"
14571 An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the
14572 blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.
14573 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Back to Methuselah," 1921
14575 If a person is obviously mentally disabled, such as having Down's
14576 syndrome or Alzheimer's, decent people respond with sympathy and
14577 understanding; and so why, if people merely have low IQs, are they
14578 treated with ridicule and contempt?
14581 Always go to other people's funerals,
14582 otherwise they won't come to yours.
14585 Animals are such agreeable friends--
14586 they ask no questions,
14587 they pass no criticisms.
14590 All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
14595 Willy flies without wings,
14596 Fast as a shadow can go.
14597 Black slash on white snow.
14599 Black face, cold blue eyes
14600 fish pond, golden fish surprise.
14601 Wet paws ... cold water!
14603 Black heart on white fur
14604 Green eyes ... last sight for poor mouse,
14605 Punctured by Willy.
14607 Willy stalks field mice.
14608 Wild Bill to small buffalo.
14609 Kills them just for show.
14611 Cat slays Two in Dawn
14612 Homicide. Gruesome Remains
14613 Left On Welcome Mat.
14618 Pete's eyes spit light;
14619 Blue diamond icicles,
14622 Sharp nose, fast heart, mouse
14623 Scrounges by the sewer. Pete
14624 Pounces, sharp claws out.
14626 Once quick with mouse life,
14627 Now just carnage: tail, fur, skull.
14631 Or goldfish or cardinal
14632 who loves our Petey.
14634 They hate Pete there,
14635 Crouched on the mossy rocks,
14636 Prospecting for gold.
14641 Louis wants to play.
14642 Its asthma, Lou! My asthma
14643 Tears us apart, m'boy.
14645 Louis -- scared by deer --
14646 spent all July and August
14649 We don't let Louis out.
14650 He is too dumb even for inside.
14651 Eyes blue oceans of space.
14653 Hot air fluffs Louis.
14654 Willy warms the newspapers.
14655 Pete? Purrs in her arms.
14658 dharma farm glistens
14659 like an earthy gem; yaks romp
14660 on verdant old hills.
14663 Noir comme le diable, [ Black as the devil,
14664 chaud comme l'enfer, [ hot as hell,
14665 pur comme un ange, [ pure as an angel,
14666 doux comme l'amour. [ sweet as love.
14667 -- Talleyrand, 18th century French diplomat, describing his concept
14668 of a good cup of coffee
14670 Coffee has two virtues. It is wet and it is warm. -- Dutch proverb
14672 Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold, it brings
14673 to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.
14674 -- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, In Praise of Coffee, 1587
14676 Another head--and a black alpaca jacket and a
14677 serviette this time--to tell us coffee is ready.
14678 Not before it is time, too.
14679 -- D. H. Lawrence, from "Sea and Sardinia"
14681 Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco,
14682 and he will endure any privation,
14683 suffer any hardship, but let him be without
14684 these two necessaries of the woods, and he
14685 becomes irresolute and murmuring.
14686 -- U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849
14688 Coffee is real good when you drink it it gives you time to think.
14689 It's a lot more than just a drink; it's something happening.
14690 Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a
14691 location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time,
14692 but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be
14693 yourself, and have a second cup.
14696 Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore,
14697 Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore.
14698 Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip,
14699 Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip.
14702 A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as ink
14703 and very good in illness, especially of the stomach. This they
14704 drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody,
14705 without any fear or regard, out of clay or China cups, as hot as
14706 they can, sipping it a little at a time.
14707 -- German physician and botanist Leonhard Rauwolf in 1582
14709 The little campfires, rapidly increasing to hundreds in number,
14710 would shoot up along the hills and plains, and as if by magic,
14711 acres of territory would be illuminous with them. Soon they
14712 would be surrounded by the soldiers, who made it an inevitable
14713 rule to cook their coffee first.
14714 -- John D. Bilings, a Union veteran, in his book, Hardtack and Coffee
14716 Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass
14717 all four essential food groups:
14718 alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
14721 Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me.
14722 Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and
14723 a pain that is not without very great pleasure.
14724 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
14726 I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.
14727 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
14729 The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity
14730 as sugar or coffee. And I pay more for that ability than for
14731 any other under the sun.
14732 -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
14734 If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee;
14735 it is the intelligent beverage.
14738 Wine is for aging, not coffee.
14739 -- Ken Hutchinson, Starsky and Hutch
14741 I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
14744 After a few months' acquaintance with European "coffee" one's mind
14745 weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich
14746 beverage of home, with it's clotted layer of yellow cream on top of
14747 it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed.
14748 -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
14750 The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the
14751 cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot
14752 be expected to reproduce.
14753 -- Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.
14755 It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means
14756 it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make
14757 it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you
14758 ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be
14759 strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.
14760 -- Malcolm X, 196, Message to the Grass Roots
14762 Make my coffee like I like my men: hot, black, and strong.
14763 -- Willona Wood, Good Times
14765 Never drink black coffee at lunch;
14766 it will keep you awake in the afternoon.
14767 -- Jilly Cooper, 1970, "How to Survive from Nine to Five"
14769 Resolve to free yourselves from the slavery
14770 of the tea and coffee and other slop-kettle.
14771 -- William Cobbett, 1829, "Advise to Young Men"
14773 Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid,
14774 strichnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time.
14775 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Society and Solitude: Old Age"
14777 Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body
14778 what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.
14779 -- Isak Dinesen, 1934
14781 Coffee: we can get it anywhere, and get as loaded
14782 as we like on it, until such teeth-chattering,
14783 eye-bulging, nonsense-gibbering time as we may be
14784 classified unable to operate heavy machinery.
14785 -- Joan Frank, 1991
14787 Many people are like instant coffee:
14788 the minute they get in hot water they dissolve.
14789 -- Anonymous, from Toronto Globe and Mail; July 10, 1993
14791 The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion
14792 and given more promise to hope.
14795 The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional
14796 to the quantity of coffee he drank.
14797 -- Sir James MacKintosh, 18th century philosopher
14799 If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all.
14800 -- David Letterman Esquire Interview Fall '94
14802 Ah! How sweet coffee tastes!
14803 Lovelier than a thousand kisses,
14804 sweeter far than muscatel wine!
14805 -- From J. S. Bach's "Coffee Cantata," 1732
14807 You make good coffee... You're a slob,
14808 but you make good coffee.
14809 -- Cher, in "Moonstruck"
14811 See how special you are? I serve you coffee in the parlor.
14812 -- Anthony Quinn to Sophia Loren in "The Black Orchid"
14814 The first cup is for the guest,
14815 the second for enjoyment,
14816 the third for the sword.
14817 -- Arabic proverb about coffee
14819 The vacuum pot is truly the CD player of coffeemakers;
14820 all you taste is the coffee.
14821 -- Corby Kummer, food expert
14823 People are kind of like zombies in Hong Kong nowadays.
14824 You don't see that glow anymore. In terms of colour
14825 Hong Kong looks a bit grey. To counter that, I think
14826 we should give out free espresso samples to give people
14827 more caffeine; triple espresso with Irish cream syrup,
14828 iced! People just need to get a bit more wired.
14829 -- David Wu, Actor and Channel V VJ, quoted in Post Magazine 29 August 99
14831 a small fish is this
14832 with so many other big
14833 tasks still to complete
14835 For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem
14836 to be much use being anything else.
14837 -- Winston Churchill
14839 One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one
14840 is constantly making exciting discoveries.
14843 Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
14846 There are two means of refuge from the
14847 miseries of life: music and cats.
14848 -- Albert Schweitzer
14850 Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
14851 but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
14854 A clever man commits no minor blunders.
14855 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
14857 my fingers have slipped;
14858 keyboard greasy from pizza
14862 One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that,
14863 in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
14864 and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are
14865 not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
14868 Fine things books, but perhaps the moment has come to stop taking them
14869 so seriously. Who was it that said people who are always reading never
14870 discover anything? I'm not sure if that is true, but I do know that
14871 reading and thinking are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes
14872 reading supplies the most cunning of all means of avoiding thought. It
14873 would be good once in awhile to try thinking without the stimulus of
14874 books, to become not an out of-the-box -- never, please, that -- but at
14875 least an out-of-the-book thinker. Books may furnish a room, but there
14876 surely are other things quite as suitable for furnishing a mind. Time,
14877 I think, for me to attempt to find out what these might be.
14880 Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
14881 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
14883 You can observe a lot by just watching. -- Yogi Berra
14885 No wonder Al Gore thinks he is president--this is a most confusing time.
14886 The leading rap singer is white, the world's best golfer is black, and
14887 Bill Clinton just got back from Vietnam.
14888 -- Paul Harvey, Early December 2000
14890 The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
14891 discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but "That's funny...".
14894 Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
14895 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
14897 Dr. Seuss takes a look at election recounts:
14898 I cannot count them in a box.
14899 I cannot count them with a fox.
14900 I cannot count them by computer.
14901 I will not with a Roto-Rooter.
14902 I cannot count them card-by-card.
14903 I will not 'cause it's way too hard.
14904 I cannot count them on my fingers.
14905 I will not while suspicion lingers.
14906 I'll leave the country in a jam--
14907 I won't count ballots, Sam-I-Am.
14909 For some years, we have been surprised and distressed by the
14910 intellectual trends in certain precincts of American academia.
14911 Vast sectors of the humanities and the social sciences seem to
14912 have adopted a philosophy that we shall call, for want of a better
14913 term, "postmodernism": an intellectual current characterized by
14914 the more-or-less explicit rejection of the rationalist tradition
14915 of the Enlightenment, by theoretical discourses disconnected from
14916 any empirical test, and by a cognitive and cultural relativism
14917 that regards science as nothing more than a 'narration,' a 'myth'
14918 or a social construction among many others.
14919 To respond to this phenomenon, one of us (Sokal) decided to try
14920 an unorthodox (and admittedly uncontrolled), experiment: submit to
14921 a fashionable American cultural-studies journal, "Social Text," a
14922 parody of the type of work that has proliferated in recent years,
14923 to see whether they would publish it. The article, entitled
14924 "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics
14925 of Quantum Gravity", is chock-full of absurdities and blatant
14926 non-sequiturs. In addition, it asserts an extreme form of cognitive
14927 relativism: after mocking the old-fashioned "dogma" that "there
14928 exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any
14929 individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole", it
14930 proclaims categorically that "physical `reality', no less than
14931 social `reality', is at bottom a social and linguistic construct".
14932 By a series of stunning leaps of logic, it arrives at the conclusion
14933 that "the [Pi] of Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be
14934 constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable
14935 historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centered,
14936 disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point that can
14937 no longer be defined by geometry alone". The rest is in the same vein.
14938 And yet, the article was accepted and published. Worse, it was
14939 published in a special issue of 'Social Text' devoted to rebutting the
14940 criticisms leveled against postmodernism and social constructivism by
14941 several distinguished scientists. For the editors of 'Social Text,'
14942 it was hard to imagine a more radical way of shooting themselves in
14944 -- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, "Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern
14945 Intellectuals' Abuse of Science."
14947 May you live all the days of your life.
14950 We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication
14951 below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its
14952 faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
14953 'I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
14954 Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me
14955 the truth, is there a Santa Claus?' -- Virginia O'Hanlon
14956 Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by
14957 the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see.
14958 They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
14959 minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are
14960 little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in
14961 his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured
14962 by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
14963 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
14964 He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and
14965 you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
14966 Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would
14967 be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike
14968 faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We
14969 should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light
14970 with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
14971 Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
14972 You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
14973 Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus
14974 coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no
14975 sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are
14976 those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
14977 dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not
14978 there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and
14979 unseeable in the world.
14980 You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
14981 but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man,
14982 nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could
14983 tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain
14984 and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?
14985 Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
14986 No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand
14987 years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
14988 continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
14989 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
14990 -- The editorial "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," first printed
14991 in the New York Sun in 1897.
14993 Most Internet appliances that I've seen are simply dumbed-down
14994 PCs, and some analysts call any damn thing that can access the
14995 Internet--other than a PC--an Internet appliance, even if it's
14996 your cell phone or a wireless PDA. That leads to some huge
14997 market projections, which are pretty much meaningless as a
14998 single figure. I think the idea of Internet appliances as a
14999 unique market is a pipe dream, with a lot of people sucking
15001 -- Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a market
15004 Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
15007 Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?
15010 She played with her cat, and it was a wonder to watch the white hand
15011 and the white paw frolic in the shade of night.
15014 Just because something doesn't do what you planned
15015 it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
15016 -- Thomas Alva Edison
15018 Spare no expense to make everything as economical as possible.
15022 drools on oval office desk
15023 while country expires
15024 -- about the dubya years
15026 brave new president
15027 laughs as he pulls death switch for
15029 -- about the dubya years
15031 they call me a shrub
15032 but i shrug and ask daddy
15033 for black ops killing
15034 -- about the dubya years
15037 moron ever known on earth:
15038 gee dubya bee, dude.
15039 -- about the dubya years
15042 means "we do it my way" and
15044 -- about the dubya years
15046 smiling lies, dumb looks,
15047 idea-free, insults all,
15049 -- about the dubya years
15051 my feeling is that humans are both divine and full of sh*t.
15052 most people are drowning in their own mental diarrhea.
15054 solution? a sewer pipe for the mind, perhaps. or at least to
15055 realize that the contagion is part of us and has to be purified
15056 from within. there is no external enemy to kill or persecute;
15057 all evil deeds and words and thoughts are our own property.
15058 no one else can take them away for you; you must "dispose of
15059 properly". clean these damaged mental constituents using your
15060 will to heal your consciousness.
15062 If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
15063 change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
15064 planet with a different reality system.
15067 Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns;
15068 he should be drawn and quoted.
15071 A day without rebooting is like a day without Microsoft. -- fred t. hamster
15073 I've met many thinkers and many cats,
15074 but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.
15077 People living and working in a business system cannot change it.
15078 Their perspectives are foreshortened, their information gathering and
15079 measurement systems reinforce the past, and their incentives encourage
15080 continuity. Archimedes proclaimed, 'Give me where to stand, and I will move
15081 the earth.' But where should those who might change a business system be
15083 The answer is that every organization needs two business systems.
15084 Borrowing a term from linguistics, we shall call them the 'surface system'
15085 and the 'deep system.' The surface system is comprised of the organized
15086 tasks of the business processes, with their attendant jobs, structures,
15087 systems, and values. But this surface system is in periodic need of major
15088 change. Accomplishing that change is the job of the deep system.
15089 The deep system creates no customer value; it makes no products and
15090 delivers no services. It doesn't process orders, develop new products, or
15091 create value for customers. Rather it monitors, governs, adjusts, and
15092 reforms the surface system that does create customer value. A company's
15093 deep system bears the responsibility for detecting external changes,
15094 determining what those changes mean, and intervening to modify or transform
15095 the surface system accordingly. The deep system, working beneath the
15096 surface, embodies the capacity to change.
15097 The deep system continually hurls challenges: Is this still the
15098 right way or the best way to do things? If not, what is? The deep system
15099 ensures that the appropriate internal change--moderate or radical--takes
15100 place, shaping and reshaping the organization to take account of, and
15101 whenever possible take advantage of, ongoing external change.
15104 There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to
15105 conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the
15106 introduction of a new order of things.
15107 -- Nicolas Machiavelli
15109 Only those who take leisurely what the people of the world are busy
15110 about can be busy about what the people of the world take leisurely.
15113 I am opposed to millionaires, but it would
15114 be dangerous to offer me the position.
15117 Never eat more than you can lift. -- the muppet Miss Piggy
15120 politics are poison, but
15121 it has to be said...
15123 dubya bush will lead
15124 to lower expectations
15128 Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile
15129 becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles
15130 whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world,
15131 you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community
15132 of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.
15133 Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any
15134 meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again
15135 you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It's quite
15137 You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no
15138 special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants;
15139 you exist in tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of
15140 exasperation, 'far removed from the seats of strife,' as the early
15141 explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required
15142 of you is a willingness to trudge.
15143 There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going
15144 anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same
15145 place: in the woods. It's where you were yesterday, where you will
15146 be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in
15147 the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every
15148 glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your
15149 route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it
15150 would hardly matter.
15151 -- Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the
15152 Appalachian Trail."
15154 You can't cheat an honest man. -- W. C. Fields
15156 Most conversations are simply monologues
15157 delivered in the presence of a witness.
15160 There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
15161 at a typewriter and open a vein.
15164 Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence
15165 should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary
15166 sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no
15167 unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
15168 -- William Strunk Jr.
15170 The small and elite group of scientists who create most of the
15171 flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are
15172 called 'flavorists.' They draw on a number of disciplines in their
15173 work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A
15174 flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility.
15175 Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in
15176 tiny amounts--a process governed by scientific principles but
15177 demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and
15178 microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is
15179 to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one
15180 flavor company's literature, to ensure 'consumer likeability.' The
15181 flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the
15182 dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and
15183 ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the
15184 chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist
15185 compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound
15186 will have a 'top note' that is often followed by a 'dry-down' and a
15187 'leveling-off,' with different chemicals responsible for each stage.
15188 The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the
15189 flavoring combination. 'A little odor goes a long way,' one
15191 In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will
15192 find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's
15193 'mouthfeel'--the unique combination of textures and chemical
15194 interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can
15195 be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches,
15196 emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be
15197 precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much
15198 harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a
15199 french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic
15200 research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and
15201 deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated
15202 devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture
15203 Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of
15204 Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from
15205 as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth.
15206 It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food--bounce,
15207 creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess,
15208 lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness,
15209 softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
15210 -- Eric Schlosser, from "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good",
15211 Atlantic Monthly, 2001.
15213 We haven't failed. We now know a thousand things that
15214 won't work, so we are much closer to finding what will.
15217 If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans, I bet you'd find that
15218 only two of them could tell you their blood types, but every last one of them
15219 would know the them song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies'.
15222 The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is
15223 non-interference with their own particular ways of being
15224 happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by
15225 violence with ours.
15228 My dad was the town drunk. Usually that's not so bad, but New York City?
15231 Ninety percent of the politicians give the other
15232 ten percent a bad name.
15235 You can imagine my embarrassment when I killed the wrong guy.
15238 We must abandon the prevalent belief in the
15239 superior wisdom of the ignorant.
15242 If the primary effect of the media in the late twentieth century was
15243 to turn nearly everything that passed across their screens into
15244 entertainment, the secondary and ultimately more significant effect was
15245 to force nearly everything to turn itself into entertainment in order to
15246 attract media attention. Daniel Boorstin had coined the term 'pseudo-
15247 event' to describe events that had been concocted by public relations
15248 practitioners to get attention from the press. Movie premieres,
15249 publishing parties, press conferences, balloon crossings, sponsored
15250 sporting contests, award ceremonies, demonstrations and hunger strikes,
15251 to name just a few examples, all were synthetic, manufactured pseudo-
15252 events that wouldn't have existed if someone hadn't been seeking
15253 publicity and if the media hadn't been seeking something to fill their
15254 pages and airwaves, preferably something entertaining.
15255 But the idea of pseudo-events almost seemed quaint by the late
15256 twentieth century. Most people realized that the object of virtually
15257 everyone in public life of any sort was to attract the media and that
15258 everyone from the top movie stars to the parents of septuplets now had
15259 to have a press agent to promote them. What most people were also coming
15260 to realize, if only by virtue of how much the media had grown, was that
15261 pseudo-events had proliferated to such an extent that one could hardly
15262 call them events anymore because there were no longer any seams between
15263 them and the rest of life, no way of separating the pseudo from the
15264 so-called authentic. Almost everything in life had appropriated the
15265 techniques of public relations to gain access to the media, so that it
15266 wasn't the pseudo-event one was talking about anymore when one cited the
15267 cleverness of PR men and women: it was pseudo-life.
15268 Yet not even pseudo-life did full justice to the modern condition.
15269 That's because the media were not just passively recording the public
15270 performances and manipulations of others, even when life was nothing but
15271 manipulations. Having invited these performances in the first place,
15272 the media justified covering them because they were receiving media
15273 attention, which is every bit as convoluted as it sounds. The result
15274 was to make of modern society one giant Heisenberg effect, in which the
15275 media were not really reporting what people did; they were reporting
15276 what people did to get media attention. In other words, as life was
15277 increasingly being lived for the media, so the media were increasingly
15278 covering themselves and their impact on life.
15279 -- Neal Gabler, in "Life, the Movie"
15281 So little time, so little to do.
15284 Consistency requires you to be as ignorant
15285 today as you were a year ago.
15286 -- Bernard Berenson
15288 Who becomes a CPO? Stephanie Perrin, the chief privacy officer of
15289 Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge Systems, explains: "Obviously, we're
15290 not going to just pick somebody from the legal department," because
15291 privacy is more than a matter of just following the law. "You have
15292 to have a fundamental commitment to--dare I say it?--morality.
15293 Privacy is not just good business. We are framing the information
15294 age, and it is important to take that job seriously. We really do
15295 look at privacy as a human right, and not just a luxury item for
15296 spoiled North Americans. We're talking about the global information
15299 The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
15302 He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
15305 No easy problems ever come to the president of the United States.
15306 If they are easy to solve, someone else has solved them.
15307 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
15309 Your presence in the class is disruptive and affects the other students!
15310 -- A teacher's complaint to the teenage Albert Einstein
15312 When you're in a world of experts and so-called professionals, the
15313 common sense of the people is marginalized.
15314 I'll give you an example. We're talking about building a building
15315 not too far from where I live, in this warehouse district. It's an old,
15316 totally undistinguished warehouse in what has been designated a historic
15317 district. So we're working up the Environmental Impact Report, and you hire
15318 a consultant. The consultant is this young lady who says, 'The developer
15319 wants to tear this whole warehouse down and build an eight-story building,
15320 and that would have a negative impact on the historic warehouse district.'
15321 I say, 'Wait a minute. Why? It's an eight-story building. What's
15322 different? Why do you say it's negative? Why isn't it positive? It will
15323 bring more people -- there are not enough people down here.'
15324 'No,' she said, 'in my professional judgment...' And that is given
15325 weight by the courts. Her opinion could have more sway than the city
15326 council, the manager, the mayor, and all the people of Oakland put together.
15327 That's amazing. That's what I call 'expertise versus common sense.'
15328 What do they call those guys in Russia: the nomenklatura? The class of
15329 folks who run things. I think that's an important issue: reclaiming the
15330 power of ordinary people to control their lives. Every time we turn around,
15331 we've got some kind of a state or federal rule or regulation.
15332 'In my professional judgment...' That whole academic discipline was
15333 probably created less than 25 years ago, and that lore -- I call it lore;
15334 these are like stories you tell around the campfire -- is then raised to
15335 the level of legal significance with greater authority than the vote of the
15336 people and the elected representatives. The people have lost their
15337 democratic right to make a decision over the shape of their lives, and you
15338 can find that happening on a lot of issues more controversial than historic
15342 Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
15345 Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
15348 Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps
15349 the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of
15350 arts and of sciences.
15353 You make men love their government and their country by giving them the
15354 kind of government and the kind of country that inspire respect and love;
15355 a country that is free and unafraid, that lets the discontented talk in
15356 order to learn the causes of their discontent and end those causes, that
15357 refuses to impel men to spy on their neighbors, that protects its citizens
15358 vigorously from harmful acts while it leaves the remedies for objectionable
15359 ideas to counterargument and time.
15360 -- Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
15362 Kites rise highest against the wind--not with it.
15363 -- Winston Churchill
15365 Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every
15366 man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.
15367 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
15369 A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with
15370 pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
15373 Technology is often defined as the creation of tools to gain control
15374 over the environment. However, this definition is not entirely sufficient.
15375 Humans are not alone in their use or even creation of tools. Orangutans in
15376 Sumatra's Suaq Balimbing swamp make tools out of long sticks to break open
15377 termite nests. Crows fashion tools from sticks and leaves. The leaf-cutter
15378 ant mixes dry leaves with its saliva to create a paste. Crocodiles use tree
15379 roots to anchor dead prey.
15380 What is uniquely human is the application of knowledge--recorded
15381 knowledge--to the fashioning of tools. The knowledge base represents the
15382 genetic code for the evolving technology. And as technology has evolved,
15383 the means for recording this knowledge base has also evolved, from the oral
15384 traditions of antiquity to the written design logs of nineteenth-century
15385 craftsmen to the computer-assisted design databases of the 1990s.
15386 Technology also implies a transcendence of the materials used to
15387 comprise it. When the elements of an invention are assembled in just the
15388 right way, they produce an enchanting effect that goes beyond the mere
15389 parts. When Alexander Graham Bell accidentally wire-connected two moving
15390 drums and solenoids (metal cores wrapped in wire) in 1875, the result
15391 transcended the materials he was working with. For the first time, a human
15392 voice was transported, magically it seemed, to a remote location. Most
15393 assemblages are just that: random assemblies. But when materials--and in
15394 the case of modern technology, information--are assembled in just the
15395 right way, transcendence occurs. The assembled object becomes far greater
15396 than the sum of its parts.
15399 All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
15402 The foresight of the astronomer who predicts with complete precision
15403 the state of the solar system many years in advance is absolutely the
15404 same in kind as that of the savage who predicts the next sunrise.
15405 The only difference lies in the extent of their knowledge.
15408 Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens
15409 the conscience like individual responsibility.
15410 -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
15412 The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
15413 later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
15414 accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
15415 style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
15416 step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
15417 this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
15418 difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
15419 study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
15420 certainly reached.'
15421 Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his laboratory
15422 but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have originated
15423 as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph companies, with
15424 their associated branch offices, formed America's first high-technology
15425 system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union had over twelve
15426 thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably helped inspire
15427 the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged verse about
15428 the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in 1945, a
15429 moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator that the
15430 Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the original
15431 logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least seventy-
15433 -- Edward Tenner, from "Why Things Bite Back"
15435 Look back, and smile on perils past.
15436 -- Sir Walter Scott
15438 I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
15444 -- William Butler Yeats' auto-epitath
15446 The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
15447 later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
15448 accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
15449 style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
15450 step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
15451 this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
15452 difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
15453 study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
15454 certainly reached.'
15455 Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his
15456 laboratory but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have
15457 originated as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph
15458 companies, with their associated branch offices, formed America's first
15459 high-technology system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union
15460 had over twelve thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably
15461 helped inspire the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged
15462 verse about the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in
15463 1945, a moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator
15464 that the Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the
15465 original logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least
15466 seventy-five years.
15467 -- Edward Tenner, "Why Things Bite Back"
15469 But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not
15470 very transparent, that hide behind the--that don't let people in to take a
15471 look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes.
15472 The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger,
15473 try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll
15474 defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans.
15475 -- George W. Bush, Media roundtable, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2001
15477 The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
15480 It wasn't until late in life that I discovered
15481 how easy it is to say "I don't know".
15482 -- W. Somerset Maugham
15484 It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a
15485 pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
15488 He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
15489 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
15491 Failure is not an option.
15494 The year 1950 was the last full cry of urban America, at least on
15495 the surface. It was the year many of the cities visited in this book
15496 reached their historic peaks in population. Everybody was working, in folk
15497 memory, and in fact. Armies clad in overalls poured out of plants at
15498 quitting time or watched as the next shift filed in. Houses cost a couple
15499 of thousand bucks, or in high-cost cities some fifteen thousand. The
15500 mortgage was often less than a hundred a month. The teeming ethnic ghettos
15501 of the early century had given way to a more comfortable life, with
15502 religion and ethnicity, race and class still used as organizing principles
15503 for the neighborhood. The rough edges of the immigrant 'greenhorns' were
15504 worn smooth, and a confident younger generation now entered a fuller,
15505 richer American life. Grandma and Grandpa had their accents and old ways
15506 intact, and still mumbled sayings in the language your parents used when
15507 they didn't want you to understand. You could still find Il Progresso,
15508 Freiheit, Norske Tidende, and Polish Daily Zgoda on the newsstands, but the
15509 neighborhoods themselves were no longer alien places. It was the ghetto,
15510 yes, but made benign by assimilation.
15511 It was this world that the first surge tide into the suburbs left
15512 behind. They were people for whom the city had done its work, making
15513 Americans out of families from Dublin to Donetsk. America had given the
15514 urban young educations, and expectations. For many, those expectations had
15515 been nurtured through world war and economic depression. Something better
15516 was needed for the baby boomers.
15517 Today we look back on it all in hurt and wonder. How did this
15518 happen? Where did that good life go? When an accidental detour or a missed
15519 expressway exit brings us into contact with the world we left behind, we
15520 can still place all the blame firmly and squarely elsewhere. The shuttered
15521 factories and collapsing row houses, the vacant storefronts and rutted
15522 streets are regarded with the same awe reserved for the scenes of natural
15523 disasters. We look out on a world that somehow, in the American collective
15524 memory, destroyed itself.
15525 -- Ray Suarez, PBS journalist
15527 The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our
15528 enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
15529 -- G. K. Chesterton
15531 Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
15534 If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
15535 -- Tallulah Bankhead
15537 Kids don't watch when they are stimulated and look away when
15538 they are bored. They watch when they understand and look away
15539 when they are confused.
15540 -- Malcolm Gladwell
15542 We especially need imagination in science. It is not all
15543 mathematics, nor all logic, it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
15546 The masons have a "temple of living stones".
15547 Well, I have a temple of stoned living.
15548 Except that the temple is my parents' basement.
15550 Pain is just another form of information.
15553 The traditional image of Asian countries--and the one I held before
15554 we moved there--was of overwhelmingly poor societies: city dwellers
15555 starving in the streets and farmers slaving to raise barely enough rice
15556 to feed a family, while a tiny clique of well-connected magnates lived
15557 behind barbed-wire fences in ornate mansions. Today, those scenes can
15558 still be found in parts of East Asia. But for the most part, the Asian
15559 countries are building a huge middle class, in which most people have
15560 about as much as everybody else.
15561 Japan has been the model; when Japan became a rich country, it did
15562 so in ways that spread the wealth broadly and evenly. In opinion polls
15563 today, more than 90 percent of the Japanese people describe themselves
15564 as 'middle class.' In the other 'high-performing Asian economies' the
15565 economic boom has also been broadly distributed...
15566 You can legitimately question whether equal distribution of a
15567 nation's wealth is a sign of social success. The American dream, in
15568 economic terms, at least, has generally been the dream of enormous
15569 success--not of making as much money as everybody else but rather of
15570 getting really rich. And that dream has been one of the key reasons
15571 for the dynamism and resiliency of the United States over the decades.
15572 On the other hand, the egalitarian distribution of wealth, and the
15573 resulting sense that everybody is getting a relatively fair shake, is
15574 surely one of the reasons that Asian countries have civil and stable
15576 -- T. R. Reid, "Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East
15577 Teaches Us About Living in the West"
15579 Who will underrate the influence of loose popular
15580 literature in debauching the popular mind?
15583 There are so many ways of earning a living and most of them are failures.
15586 Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.
15589 Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
15592 Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.
15593 Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
15596 This idea of breaking the world into pieces and then explaining
15597 the pieces in terms of smaller pieces is called reductionism. It
15598 would be perfectly justified to consider Murray Gell-Mann, the father
15599 of the quark, to be the century's arch-reductionist. But very early
15600 on, long before mushy notions of holism became trendy, Gell-Mann
15601 appreciated an important truth: While you can reduce downward, that
15602 doesn't automatically mean you can explain upward. People can be
15603 divided into cells, cells into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms
15604 into electrons and nuclei, nuclei into subatomic particles, and those
15605 into still tinier things called quarks. But, true as that may be,
15606 there is nothing written in the laws of subatomic physics that can be
15607 used to explain higher-level phenomena like human behavior. There is
15608 no way that one can start with quarks and predict that cellular life
15609 would emerge and evolve over the eons to produce physicists. Reducing
15610 downward is vastly easier than explaining upward--a truth that bears
15612 -- George Johnson, "Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the
15613 Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics"
15615 Perhaps no mightier conflict of mind occurs ever again in a lifetime
15616 than that first decision to unseat one's own tooth.
15619 The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the
15620 old ones that ramify, for those brought up as most of us have
15621 been, into every corner of our minds.
15622 -- John Maynard Keynes
15624 In the centuries preceding the introduction of the printing press,
15625 those who held power reinforced it by uses of language that mystified the
15626 powerless and kept them subservient. Even more so in today's world, power
15627 is inextricably tied to the use of language, and today's priesthood of
15628 professionals in many fields employs jargon-fueled mystification. That is a
15629 political use of language that deliberately excludes the 'powerless' lay
15630 audience from participation. The doctor whose technical terms confuse, no
15631 less than the politician whose equivocations obfuscate, the lawyer whose
15632 terms intimidate, and the accountant whose explanations obscure, is taking
15633 advantage of audiences through what are called 'gatekeeper' uses of
15634 language. They include euphemisms, jargon and other devices designed to
15635 prevent rather than augment the free flow of knowledge.
15636 Lawyers have been particularly egregious in this practice.
15637 Gatekeeper language also frequently masks what physicians do especially in
15638 circumstances that can be fraught with emotion. A relative of a cancer
15639 patient, seeking straight and hard informational answers to questions --
15640 how bad is the situation, how much time does she have left, is there any
15641 hope -- was informed by her doctor that his relative's cancer was
15642 'treatable' and her prognosis was 'guarded...'
15643 The philosopher Jrgen Habermas provides an insight into the
15644 political nature of gatekeeper uses of language through his identification
15645 of the 'scientization of the public sphere,' a process now occurring in
15646 many societies. In this trend, elites effectively disqualify members of the
15647 public from being able to participate in policy discussions by insisting
15648 that only specialists can really understand what is going on. When
15649 politicians come to believe that only they can understand what is going on
15650 in the high councils of government, and that their job is to translate it
15651 for us and to protect themselves in the process, the language they aim at
15652 the electorate takes on more and more aspects of purposeful deceit.
15653 -- Tom Shachtman, "The Inarticulate Society"
15655 If you think you are too small to make a difference,
15656 try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.
15659 It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations,
15660 if you live near him.
15661 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
15663 Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers
15664 is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
15667 Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
15668 -- John S. MacDonald
15670 authority does not exist.
15671 we are all equally feeble when compared
15672 with the profundity of the universe.
15675 Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
15676 -- Heywood Hale Broun
15678 Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information
15679 about life to last him the rest of his days.
15680 -- Flannery O'Connor
15682 Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food:
15683 frequently there must be a beverage.
15686 We live with strangers. Those we love most, with whom we share
15687 a shelter, a table, a bed, remain mysterious. Wherever lives overlap
15688 and flow together, there are depths of unknowing. Parents and children,
15689 partners, siblings, and friends repeatedly surprise us, revealing the
15690 need to learn where we are most at home. We even surprise ourselves
15691 in our own becoming, moving through the cycles of our lives. There is
15692 strangeness hidden in the familiar.
15693 At the same time there is familiarity hidden in the strange. We can
15694 look with curiosity and respect at the faces of men and women we have
15695 never met. Learning to recognize these strangers with whom we share an
15696 increasingly crowded and interdependent world, we can imagine ourselves
15697 joined in a single family, perhaps by a marriage between adventurous
15699 Strangers marry strangers, whether they have been playmates for
15700 years or never meet before the wedding day. They continue to surprise
15701 each other through the evolutions of love and the growth of affection.
15702 Lovers, gay and straight, begin in strangeness and often, for the zest
15703 of it, find ways to increase their differences.
15704 Children arrive like aliens from outer space, their needs and
15705 feelings inaccessible, sharing no common language, yet for all their
15706 strangeness we greet them with love. Traditionally, the strangeness of
15707 infants has been understood as temporary, the strangeness of incomplete
15708 beings who are expected to become predictable and comprehensible. This
15709 expectation has eased the transition from generation to generation, the
15710 passing on of knowledge and responsibility, on which every human society
15711 depends. Yet the gap between parent and child, like the gap between
15712 partners, is not left behind with the passage of time. Today, in a
15713 world of rapid change, it is increasing, shifting into new rhythms still
15715 -- Mary Catherine Bateson, in "Full Circles, Overlapping Lives:
15716 Culture and Generation in Transition"
15718 Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
15721 At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future,
15722 tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
15723 -- Maurice Maeterlink
15725 Before you run in double harness, look well to the other horse.
15728 There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.
15731 The overly sure belief that one knows the truth,
15732 but that this truth doesn't need to be tested or verified,
15733 is the root of all human errors.
15736 Any fool can make a rule and every fool will mind it.
15737 -- Henry David Thoreau
15739 How many cares one loses
15741 not to be something
15745 If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do.
15748 Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
15751 If a thing can not go on forever, it will come to an end.
15754 Nothing ever gets anywhere.
15755 The earth keeps turning round and round and gets nowhere.
15756 The moment is the only thing that counts.
15759 Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow;
15760 don't walk behind me, I may not lead;
15761 walk beside me, and just be my friend.
15764 Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
15765 blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
15768 The following is a poem made up entirely of quotations from George
15769 W. Bush. The quotes have been arranged, for aesthetic reasons only,
15770 by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.
15772 MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
15775 I think we all agree, the past is over.
15776 This is still a dangerous world.
15777 It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
15778 and potential mental losses.
15780 Rarely is the question asked
15781 Is our children learning?
15782 Will the highways of the internet
15784 How many hands have I shaked?
15786 They misunderestimate me.
15787 I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
15789 I know that the human being
15790 and the fish can coexist.
15792 Families is where our nation finds hope,
15793 where our wings take dream.
15795 Put food on your family!
15796 Knock down the tollbooth!
15799 Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!
15804 When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard", I am always
15805 tempted to ask: "Compared to what?"
15808 What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough
15809 to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over
15810 the rim of every cup.
15813 Hard is the herte that loveth nought in May.
15814 -- Geoffrey Chaucer
15816 Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
15817 -- G. K. Chesterton
15819 {{ your mental acuity sharpens, your self image improves, your breath
15820 becomes minty fresh, the problems in your life all seem simpler and you
15821 feel you can deal with them each separately and conquer them one by one,
15822 your hair grows back in all the right places and stops growing in your
15823 ears and other inappropriate places, when i snap my fingers, you will
15824 feel wholly refreshed and renewed... }}
15830 If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem.
15831 If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.
15834 The Hutterites (who came out of the same tradition as the Amish
15835 and the Mennonites) have a strict policy that every time a colony
15836 approaches 150, they split it in two and start a new one. "Keeping
15837 things under 150 just seems to be the best and most efficient way to
15838 manage a group of people," Bill Gross, one of the leaders of a
15839 Hutterite colony outside Spokane told me. "When things get larger
15840 than that, people become strangers to one another."
15841 The Hutterites, obviously, didn't get this idea from contemporary
15842 evolutionary psychology. They've been following the 150 rule for
15843 centuries... At 150, the Hutterites believe, something happens--
15844 something indefinable but very real--that somehow changes the nature
15845 of community overnight. "In smaller groups people are a lot closer.
15846 They're knit together, which is very important if you want to be
15847 effective and successful at community life," Gross said. "If you
15848 get too large, you don't have enough work in common. You don't have
15849 enough things in common, and then you start to become strangers and
15850 that close-knit fellowship starts to get lost."
15851 Gross spoke from experience. He had been in Hutterite colonies
15852 that had come near to that magic number and seen first-hand how
15853 things had changed. "What happens when you get that big is that the
15854 group starts, just on its own, to form a sort of clan." He made a
15855 gesture with his hands, as if to demonstrate division. "You get two
15856 or three groups within the larger group. That is something you
15857 really try to prevent, and when it happens it is a good time to
15859 -- Malcolm Gladwell, "The Tipping Point"
15861 If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open
15862 minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really
15863 desire the things they failed to obtain.
15866 Middle age is when you're sitting at home on Saturday night
15867 and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
15870 The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
15873 I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result
15874 is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the
15875 power is a value. Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist
15876 temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something
15877 that you will never forget." And then he said, "To every man is
15878 given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates
15880 And so it is with science. In a way it is a key to the gates of
15881 heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have
15882 any instructions as to which is which gate. Shall we throw away the
15883 key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we
15884 struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?
15885 That is, of course, a very serious question, but I think that we
15886 cannot deny the value of the key to the gates of heaven.
15887 All the major problems of the relations between society and
15888 science lie in this same area. When the scientist is told that he
15889 must be more responsible for his effects on society, it is the
15890 applications of science that are referred to. If you work to develop
15891 nuclear energy you must realize also that it can be used harmfully.
15892 Therefore, you would expect that, in a discussion of this kind by a
15893 scientist, this would be the most important topic. But I will not
15894 talk about it further. I think that to say these are scientific
15895 problems is an exaggeration. They are far more humanitarian problems.
15896 The fact that how to work the power is clear, but how to control it is
15897 not, is something not so scientific and is not something that the
15898 scientist knows so much about.
15899 -- Richard P. Feynman, "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen
15902 If once a man indulges himself in Murder, very soon he comes to think
15903 little of Robbing, and from Robbing he comes next to Drinking and
15904 Sabbath-breaking, and from that to Incivility and Procrastination.
15905 -- Thomas De Quincey
15907 These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
15908 but minds alive on the shelves.
15911 Let us not look back in anger,
15912 nor forward in fear,
15913 but around in awareness.
15916 Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with
15917 the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for
15918 the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy.
15921 A nation in which grown men say things like "I am not a happy camper"
15922 at momentous junctures is manifestly not the Shining City on the Hill
15923 that our forefathers dreamed about.
15926 Among the devices that we use to impose order upon a complicated
15927 (but by no means unstructured) world, classification--or the division
15928 of items into categories based on perceived similarities--must rank
15929 as the most general and most pervasive of all. And no strategy of
15930 classification cuts deeper--while providing such an even balance of
15931 benefits and difficulties--than our propensity for division by two,
15933 Some basic attributes of surrounding nature do exist as complem-
15934 entary pairings--two large lights in the sky representing day and
15935 night; two sexes that must couple their opposing parts to produce a
15936 continuity of generations--so we might argue that dichotomization
15937 amounts to little more than good observation of the external world.
15938 But far more often than not, dichotomization leads to misleading or
15939 even dangerous oversimplification. People and beliefs are not either
15940 good or evil (with the second category ripe for burning); and
15941 organisms are not either plant or animal, vertebrate or invertebrate,
15942 human or beast. We seem so driven to division by two, even in
15943 clearly inappropriate circumstances, that I must agree with several
15944 schools of thought (most notably Claude Levi-Strauss and the French
15945 structuralists) in viewing dichotomization more as an inherent
15946 mechanism of the brain's operation than as a valid perception of
15948 -- Stephen Jay Gould
15950 Crude classifications and false generalizations
15951 are the curse of the organized life.
15954 Whosoever shall not fall by the sword or by famine,
15955 shall fall by pestilence, so why bother shaving?
15958 Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human
15959 enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice
15960 than they are compelled to do by their situation.
15963 It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
15966 The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
15967 is for good men to do nothing.
15970 If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of
15971 Western civilization would presumably flunk it.
15974 It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
15975 -- Diogenes Laertes
15977 The human race has reached a critical time in its social evolution
15978 when it has no choice but to make peace with its biological origins and
15979 to learn how to live once again as a member and partner of the natural
15980 community rather than as its dominator and destroyer. In other words,
15981 we must rediscover how to live as our savage ancestors once lived--in
15982 nature, rather apart from it, much less above it. We must, that is,
15983 invent the civilized analogue of the hunter-gatherer way of life, the
15984 only sustainable mode of human existence the planet has ever known.
15985 Suggesting that we live in a much simpler and more natural way does not
15986 imply a return to the Stone Age or anything like it: we have many
15987 possibilities open to us that were not available to our forebears, for
15988 we have been enormously enriched and enlightened by the long experience
15989 of civilization (or at least so one hopes). Nevertheless, how such a
15990 profound transformation of civilization toward a more experienced and
15991 wiser savagery can be achieved is obviously an immensely difficult
15992 question, because it will clearly entail radical changes in every aspect
15993 of our way of life.
15994 Just how radical is suggested by one of the most poignant and
15995 pointed critiques of modern civilization ever uttered. Breaking into
15996 a filmed interview on the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, an
15997 anonymous Kayapo Indian woman shouted, "We don't want your dams. Your
15998 mothers did not hold you enough. You are all orphans." It is perhaps
15999 too simple to say that the good society is one in which your mother--
16000 and by extension your father, your community, and indeed your entire way
16001 of life--holds you enough, so that you grow up feeling that the world is
16002 a good place and that life is intrinsically satisfying just as it is and
16003 that there is thus no need to make it more satisfying by accumulating
16004 endless wealth and power at others' expense. But this at least points
16005 in the right direction: to become more experienced and wiser savages, to
16006 meet the real political challenge of the twenty-first century, we shall
16007 have to create cultures so rich and nurturing that we would have no need
16008 to pursue happiness; we could simply enjoy it.
16009 -- William Ophuls, in "Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of
16010 the Enlightenment and the Challenge of the New Millennium."
16012 The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.
16015 In Washington, it's dog eat dog.
16016 In academia, it's exactly the opposite.
16019 I have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.
16020 -- James A. Garfield
16022 There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget
16023 something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance,
16024 therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
16025 -- Arthur Conan Doyle
16027 The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
16030 I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired
16031 at nine o'clock every morning.
16034 It is no secret that organized crime in America takes in over forty
16035 billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially
16036 when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.
16039 It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
16040 -- W. Edwards Deming
16042 A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done
16043 by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
16046 Those who desire to give up Freedom
16047 in order to gain Security, will not have,
16048 nor do they deserve, either one.
16049 -- Thomas Jefferson
16051 There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.
16052 You can't do any business from there.
16053 -- Colonel (Harlan) Sanders
16055 To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.
16058 There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion.
16059 There are only intersecting monologues.
16062 You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
16065 Memory's malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgressions
16066 or 'sins.' Just like the ancient seven deadly sins, the memory sins occur
16067 frequently in everyday life and can have serious consequences for all of us.
16068 Transience, absent-mindedness, and blocking are sins of omission: we fail to
16069 bring to mind a desired fact, event, or idea. Transience refers to a weakening
16070 or loss of memory over time. It's probably not difficult for you to remember
16071 now what you have been doing for the past several hours. But if I ask you
16072 about the same activities six weeks, six months, or six years from now, chances
16073 are you'll remember less and less.
16074 Absent-mindedness involves a breakdown at the interface between attention
16075 and memory. Absent-minded memory errors--misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or
16076 forgetting a lunch appointment--typically occur because we are preoccupied with
16077 distracting issues or concerns, and don't focus attention on what we need to
16079 The third sin, blocking, entails a thwarted search for information that we
16080 may be desperately trying to retrieve. We've all failed to produce a name to
16081 accompany a familiar face. This frustrating experience happens even though we
16082 are attending carefully to the task at hand, and even though the desired name
16083 has not faded from our minds--as we become acutely aware when we unexpectedly
16084 retrieve the blocked name hours or days later.
16085 In contrast to these three sins of omission, the next four sins of
16086 misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence are all sins of
16087 commission: some form of memory is present, but it is either incorrect or
16088 unwanted. The sin of misattribution involves assigning a memory to the wrong
16089 source: mistaking fantasy for reality, or incorrectly remembering that a friend
16090 told you a bit of trivia that you actually read about in a newspaper.
16091 Misattribution is far more common than most people realize, and has potentially
16092 profound implications in legal settings. The related sin of suggestibility
16093 refers to memories that are implanted as a result of leading questions,
16094 comments, or suggestions when a person is trying to call up a past experience.
16095 The sin of bias reflects the powerful influences of our current knowledge
16096 and beliefs on how we remember our pasts. We often edit or entirely rewrite
16097 our previous experiences--unknowingly and unconsciously--in light of what we
16098 now know or believe. The result can be a skewed rendering of a specific
16099 incident, or even of an extended period in our lives, which says more about how
16100 we feel now than about what happened then.
16101 The seventh sin -- persistence -- entails repeated recall of disturbing
16102 information or events that we would prefer to banish from our minds altogether:
16103 remembering what we cannot forget, even though we wish that we could. Recall
16104 the last time that you suddenly awoke at 3:00 a.m., unable to keep out of your
16105 mind a painful blunder on the job or a disappointing result on an important
16106 exam. In more extreme cases of serious depression or traumatic experience,
16107 persistence can be disabling and even life-threatening.
16108 -- Daniel Schacter, "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets
16111 When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were
16112 failures. I didn't want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.
16113 -- George Bernard Shaw
16115 People demand freedom of speech as a compensation
16116 for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
16117 -- Soeren Kierkegaard
16119 Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
16120 Live the life you have imagined.
16121 -- Henry David Thoreau
16123 Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness
16124 on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
16125 -- G. K. Chesterton
16127 Being willing to accept that the past--
16128 even the priceless, irreplaceable past--
16129 will be largely lost is a sign of mental health.
16132 We are what we repeatedly do.
16133 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
16136 Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. -- Voltaire
16138 It requires wisdom to understand wisdom:
16139 the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
16142 What difference does it make how much you have?
16143 What you do not have amounts to much more.
16146 We now all live in a society marked by increasing, not decreasing,
16147 interconnection and mutual reliance. Each of our lives is affected by
16148 more people than ever before. We generally need the cooperation of
16149 more people than ever to accomplish even those goals we set for
16150 ourselves. This insight needs no elaborate demonstration; one is
16151 reminded of it with every smoggy breath we take, and every time we step
16152 on an airplane and ponder how our life depends on the competent,
16153 attentive behavior of dozens of strangers, from the pilot to the air
16154 traffic controller to the ground mechanic who was supposed to inspect
16155 the extent of the metal fatigue on the wings. Technology increases the
16156 links that tie people together, voluntarily or not, and the complexity
16157 of our economic system and the organizations we work for multiplies
16159 To exercise control over what happens to you as an individual, you
16160 must be involved with others in a process that decides what happens to
16161 you and your fellow citizens collectively. We can no longer separate
16162 the quality of personal life from the quality of social life. To
16163 preserve private space, we must also preserve the commons.
16164 That is one reason why even in a society so seduced by and attached
16165 to autonomy, many people are now getting fed up with what can only be
16166 called acts of vandalism against the public space. Threatening,
16167 disrespectful, wanton, and manifestly selfish acts--from the warfare of
16168 crack dealers and gangs to the shameless greed of the S&L thieves and
16169 the destruction of our very environment by the industrial polluters--
16170 are poisonous to everyone, not just those directly harmed. Of course,
16171 we pay for such things as taxpayers and as consumers, but that is not
16172 the most important cost. All of us are morally impoverished by these
16173 assaults on the quality and integrity of our common life.
16174 -- Willard Gaylin and Bruce Jennings, "The Perversion of Autonomy:
16175 The Proper Uses of Coercion and Constraints in a Liberal Society"
16177 Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common
16178 belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
16179 -- W. Somerset Maugham
16181 Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
16184 The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--
16185 loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
16188 If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
16191 Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
16194 The wicked leader is one whom the people despise.
16195 The good leader is one whom the people revere.
16196 The great leader is one about whom the people say,
16197 "We did it ourselves."
16200 Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
16203 Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
16206 No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one
16207 concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
16208 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
16210 Every exit is an entry somewhere.
16213 Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us
16214 nothing but the shape of the spoon.
16217 We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers
16218 connect us with our fellow men.
16221 There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
16222 -- Bertrand Russell
16224 If this is coffee, please bring me some tea,
16225 but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
16228 All men who have turned out worth anything have had
16229 the chief hand in their own education.
16230 -- Sir Walter Scott
16232 Few things can help an individual more
16233 than to place responsibility on him,
16234 and to let him know that you trust him.
16235 -- Booker T. Washington
16237 The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much
16238 better with a word processor," I replied, "They used to
16239 say the same thing about drugs."
16242 The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
16243 When teachers themselves are taught to learn.
16244 -- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright, poet
16246 Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
16249 Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time.
16250 Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become
16254 To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.
16255 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
16257 the best part about killing software bugs is that
16258 there's no goo nor exoskeleton fragments left behind.
16260 Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares
16261 about doing it right, or doing it better.
16264 Great spirits have always encountered
16265 violent opposition from mediocre minds.
16268 There's a fine line between genius and
16269 insanity. I have erased this line.
16272 Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's
16273 original, you will have to ram it down their throats.
16276 Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
16277 or we know where we can find information upon it.
16280 Historically, consumer acceptance of new technologies has been
16281 slow and cumbersome, delaying anticipated profits by decades.
16282 Indeed, consumer acceptance of any innovation is typically slow,
16283 despite extraordinary benefits and convenience.
16284 When cake mixes were first created, they required consumers to
16285 only add water--a major behavioral shift. Consumers felt a cake
16286 made with such a mix could not possibly be as good as a homemade
16287 cake. So cake mix formulas were revised to require the addition of
16288 an egg and milk. The new mixes met with great success, because the
16289 behavior shift required of consumers was minor. Eventually some
16290 consumers became comfortable adding only water (some never will).
16293 An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even
16294 how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what
16295 you know and what you don't.
16298 A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.
16301 All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
16302 players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one
16303 man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
16304 -- Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
16306 Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
16307 -- James Bryant Conant
16309 I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this
16310 government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
16311 We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before
16312 us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
16313 You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea,
16314 and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given
16315 us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the
16316 dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
16317 You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.
16318 Victory at all costs--Victory in spite of all terrors--Victory, however
16319 long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
16320 Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
16321 survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for
16322 the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward
16324 I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause
16325 will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this
16326 juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then,
16327 let us go forward together with our united strength."
16328 -- Winston Churchill, first speech to Parliament, May 13, 1940
16330 Be it religion, love under all its forms, literature, or art,
16331 there is not a single spiritual force that does not become an
16332 object of commercial exploitation.
16335 History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
16336 -- James Joyce from "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
16338 Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon,
16339 but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!
16340 -- John Parker, leader of the "Minutemen", April 19, 1775
16342 These are the times that try men's souls.
16345 Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a day which will live in infamy--the
16346 United states of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
16347 naval and air forces of the empire of Japan... The attack yesterday
16348 on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and
16349 military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives
16350 have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported
16351 torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu... Japan
16352 has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the
16353 Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.
16354 The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and
16355 well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our
16357 As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all
16358 measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation
16359 remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long
16360 it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American
16361 people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
16362 I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the
16363 people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the
16364 uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery
16365 shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no
16366 blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests
16367 are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the
16368 unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable
16369 triumph. So help us God.
16370 -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
16372 Our strength grows out of our weakness.
16373 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
16375 The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
16376 I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
16377 I shall use my time.
16380 What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
16381 it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
16384 it's hard not to blame microsoft for the new worm. they point at
16385 their feeble little patch (which actually doesn't stop all the
16386 types of attack nimda uses), but why aren't their operating systems
16387 automatically getting the patch if it's critical? also, why are
16388 there so many huge gaping holes in the first place? they'll never
16389 stop plugging them... it's like a dyke made out of sponges.
16392 after i got my millionth annoying spam today, i decided that there must
16393 be something to it after all. perhaps i can write spam all day while
16394 wearing only underpants and make money by magic too. clearly no one has
16395 shut off the spammers' internet connections yet, so they survive somehow.
16396 subsistence-level living based on a life of evil, here i come!
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16423 Courage is grace under pressure. -- Ernest Hemingway
16425 To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years.
16426 To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
16427 -- Winston Churchill
16429 I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that
16430 gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.
16433 The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are
16434 worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all
16435 attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy
16436 ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of
16437 treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
16438 It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation,
16439 enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by
16440 violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of
16441 false and designing men.
16442 Of the latter we are in most danger at present; let us therefore be aware
16443 of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to
16444 maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the
16446 Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made,
16447 which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever,
16448 calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
16449 Let us remember that 'if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty,
16450 we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very serious
16451 consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn
16452 may be the miserable sharers in the event.
16453 -- Samuel Adams, tasty American Patriot
16455 The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is
16456 before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out
16460 I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself
16461 I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore,
16462 and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble
16463 or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of
16464 truth lay all undiscovered before me.
16467 As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been
16468 used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.
16471 Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
16472 -- George Bernard Shaw
16474 When fanatics are on top, there is no limit to oppression.
16477 Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
16478 Willing is not enough; we must do.
16479 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
16481 tkelele ekki eekkle cthulhu hurf hurf hurf *plat*
16482 -- H. P. Lovecraft's "cat" ejecting a hairball
16484 If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.
16485 -- Reinhold Niebuhr
16487 Computer Science is no more about computers
16488 than astronomy is about telescopes.
16489 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra
16491 What we become depends on what we read after all of the
16492 professors have finished with us. The greatest university
16493 of all is a collection of books.
16496 The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in
16497 higher esteem those that think alike than those who think differently.
16498 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
16500 The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
16504 crucial in these turbulent
16505 final days of earth...
16507 president shrub does
16508 wonders for sagging garment
16509 industry's profits.
16513 christian values? hate the bombs,
16514 but love the bombers?
16516 Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
16519 Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly,
16520 I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it.
16521 -- Theodore Roosevelt
16523 Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve
16524 greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
16525 -- William Shakespeare
16528 then he frittered it away
16532 Half this game is ninety percent mental.
16535 Action may not always bring happiness;
16536 but there is no happiness without action.
16537 -- Benjamin Disraeli
16539 The world is faced with a transcendent conflict between those who love life
16540 and those who love death both for themselves and their enemies.
16541 -- Charles Krauthammer
16543 doomed bovines eat sand
16544 scrape on cactus in AZ
16545 then chowed on and gone
16548 To find out what one is fitted to do,
16549 and to secure an opportunity to do it,
16550 is the key to happiness.
16553 I have never understood Brahms. I believe he was
16554 burning the midnight oil trying to be complicated.
16555 -- Albert Einstein, in a conversation with Peter G. Neumann
16557 Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
16560 It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to
16561 entertain a thought without accepting it.
16564 The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing
16565 by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.
16569 a brick; microsoft sinking
16570 fast as cement shoes
16572 Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction.
16573 Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.
16574 -- G. K. Chesterton
16576 We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
16577 -- Thomas Alva Edison
16579 Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet
16580 of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
16583 Any activity becomes creative when the doer
16584 cares about doing it right, or doing it better.
16587 Experience with technology teaches us that once a technology makes
16588 something possible, it gets applied, whether for good or bad.
16589 -- Donald A. Norman
16591 The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in
16592 other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
16595 Without education we are in a horrible and deadly
16596 danger of taking educated people seriously.
16597 -- G. K. Chesterton
16599 When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
16602 Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only
16603 the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
16606 Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness
16607 that some things are really important, others not; and that the two
16608 kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
16609 -- Christopher Morley
16611 Nobody ever died of laughter.
16614 Mein Herr looked so thoroughly bewildered that I thought it best
16615 to change the subject. "What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I
16617 "That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein
16618 Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What
16619 do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"
16620 "About six inches to the mile."
16621 "Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six
16622 yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And
16623 then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the
16624 country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"
16625 "Have you used it much?" I enquired.
16626 "It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers
16627 objected; they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out
16628 the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and
16629 I assure you it does nearly as well."
16630 -- Lewis Carroll, "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded"
16632 The fly has an autonomous system that avoids being swatted. It has
16633 the ability to see and navigate and make decisions on millisecond time
16634 scales. We've never been able to make artificial vision systems that
16635 come within orders of magnitude of that, with all the computation we
16639 The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending,
16640 we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;
16641 We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
16642 -- William Wordsworth
16644 You return and again take the proper course, guided by what?
16645 By the picture in mind of the place you are headed for.
16648 The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who
16649 are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
16652 Xtianity the Easy Way
16653 ---------------------
16655 jesus heal my head,
16656 so i won't drop dead;
16657 god better get me real happy,
16658 'cause he's my celestial pappy.
16660 yo god, i'll just lie around here at home,
16661 you fill my pockets with money while i moan.
16662 it'll make me real religious,
16663 if you ain't fictitious...
16665 being a zealot is a lot of hassle,
16666 and with my faith i must wrassle.
16667 'til jesus gets my brain repaired,
16668 to humans my butt remains bared.
16670 surmounting one's lot is for others,
16671 who have energy unsmothered,
16672 by wacky notions of invisible spirits,
16673 that reward and punish holy twits.
16675 heaven better live up to my imagination,
16676 and to its oft repeated reputation;
16677 the next life better not suck, holy dad,
16678 'cause this one on earth you f*cked pretty bad.
16681 When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so
16682 long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see
16683 the ones which open for us.
16684 -- Alexander Graham Bell
16686 The mind is its own place and
16687 in itself can make a heaven
16688 of hell, a hell of heaven.
16691 Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
16692 Willing is not enough; we must do.
16693 -- Johann von Goethe
16695 I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.
16696 -- Charlie Brown, in Charles Schultz's cartoon "Peanuts"
16698 It is hard to say exactly when the monumentalization of the trivial became
16699 a way of life in America. It may have been when the National Football League
16700 started according contests between large men in skintight pants the sort of
16701 solemn designations formerly reserved for armed global conflicts.
16702 -- Michael Kelly, in "The Atlantic Monthly"
16704 When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.
16705 When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour.
16709 We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
16710 so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
16713 The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
16716 Unless one's predictions are confirmed more often than a random
16717 guesser's, we should be suspicious of their quality, however
16718 cogent they may have seemed when made.
16719 -- Richard A. Posner
16721 It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a
16722 sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
16723 in all times and situations. They presented him with the words,
16724 "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening
16725 in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
16728 Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
16729 Small people always do that, but the really great make you
16730 feel that you, too, can become great.
16733 The belief that microsoft has done it all right this time with Windows-XP
16734 is just like... the suspension of disbelief that allows people to think
16735 it's perfectly normal to see kids flying around on brooms in the Harry
16736 Potter movie while they're in the darkened movie theater. It's time to
16737 turn on the lights in your mental theater...
16740 We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love--
16741 first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.
16744 The majority of important television commercials take the form of
16745 religious parables organized around a coherent theology. Like all religious
16746 parables, they put forward a concept of sin, intimations of the way to
16747 redemption, and a vision of Heaven. They also suggest what are the roots of
16748 evil and what are the obligations of the holy.
16749 Consider, for example, the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar. This
16750 is to television scripture what the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to the
16751 Bible, which is to say it is an archetype containing most of the elements of
16752 form and content that recur in the genre.
16753 The narrative structure of the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar is,
16754 indeed, comfortably traditional. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an
16755 end. A married couple is depicted in some relaxed setting--a restaurant, say--
16756 in which they are enjoying each other's company and generally having a
16757 wonderful time. But then a waitress approaches their table, notices that the
16758 man has a dirty collar, stares at it boldly, sneers with cold contempt, and
16759 announces to all within hearing the nature of his transgression. The man is
16760 humiliated and glares at his wife with scorn, for she is the source of his
16761 shame. She, in turn, assumes an expression of self-loathing mixed with a
16762 touch of self-pity...
16763 The parable continues by showing the wife at home using a detergent
16764 that never fails to eliminate dirt around the collars of men's shirts...
16765 In television-commercial parables, the root cause of evil is
16766 "Technological Innocence", a failure to know the particulars of the
16767 beneficent accomplishments of industrial progress...
16768 Technological innocence refers not only to ignorance of detergents,
16769 drugs, sanitary napkins, cars, salves, and foodstuffs, but also to
16770 ignorance of technical machinery such as savings banks and transportation
16772 -- Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age
16775 Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
16776 blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
16777 Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a
16778 spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
16779 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
16781 I don't know much about being a millionaire,
16782 but I'll bet I'd be darling at it.
16785 term: Microflaccidity
16786 definition: An addiction to Microsoft products accompanied by a decrease in IQ.
16788 Poetry is what gets lost in translation.
16791 Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey "people". People
16792 say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war.... Each
16793 instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense
16797 [Hollywood is] a place where they shoot too many films and not enough actors.
16800 Money sometimes makes fools of important persons,
16801 but also makes important persons of fools.
16804 I made my money by selling too soon.
16807 Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
16808 -- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beauve
16810 False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often
16811 endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm,
16812 for everyone takes a salutory pleasure in proving their falseness.
16815 I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.
16818 I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from
16819 listening carefully. Most people never listen.
16820 -- Ernest Hemingway
16822 Ten point list of lessons learned
16823 from the high-tech industry failures during 2001:
16825 1) Prediction tools must improve.
16826 2) It's hugely difficult to build chicken and egg simultaneously.
16827 3) Venture capital firms' demands that startups generate $50 million
16828 in revenue within three years were unrealistic.
16829 4) Companies used narrowcast to broadcast.
16831 6) We all, like sheep, will go astray (with enough pressure).
16832 7) Many startups were fundamentally uncreative and "un-Internet."
16833 8) Too early to market? Too bad.
16834 9) New stuff doesn't replace old.
16835 10) Nothing changes overnight.
16839 The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
16842 The ultimate result of shielding men from the
16843 effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
16846 Sports is the toy department of human life. -- Howard Cosell
16848 First keep the peace within yourself,
16849 then you can also bring peace to others.
16852 What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print.
16855 Newspapermen learn to call a murderer "an alleged murderer" and the
16856 King of England "the alleged King of England" to avoid libel suits.
16859 I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
16860 He told me to quit going to those places.
16863 Never mistake motion for action. -- Ernest Hemingway
16865 The first duty of a leader is to make himself
16866 be loved without courting love. To be loved
16867 without "playing up" to anyone--even to himself.
16870 All you need in this life is ignorance and
16871 confidence, and then success is sure.
16874 Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited
16875 energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of
16876 order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
16877 -- Norman Podhoretz
16879 If only I could master the skill of telefecalkinesis, the act of
16880 sh*tting on someone from any distance. Another useful skill is
16881 evilknievelportation, the ability to jump out of the way right
16882 before some horrible accident occurs. This is useful to avoid
16883 the telefecalkinetics.
16886 Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six,
16887 result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual
16888 expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
16889 -- Charles Dickens, in "David Copperfield"
16891 Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
16892 way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
16895 It's the wonder of the world, it's a rocket to the moon, it gets you high,
16896 it gets you low, but once you get that glow... Love, love, hooray for love,
16897 who was ever too blase for love? Make this the night for love. If we have
16898 to fight, let's fight for love. Some sigh and cry for love--Ah, but in
16899 Pa-ree they die for love. Some waste away for love. Just the same--hooray
16903 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
16906 Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
16909 Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
16912 The young have aspirations that never come to pass,
16913 the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
16914 -- H.H. Monroe (Saki)
16916 An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement
16917 of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.
16920 There's nothing quite like doing nothing.
16923 For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
16924 over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
16925 -- Richard Feynmann
16927 The mind commands the body and the body obeys.
16928 The mind commands itself and finds resistance.
16931 The English word "way" is perhaps the nearest translation that we can
16932 make to the Chinese word tao. It is usually pronounced "dow." The Tao
16933 means many things. Primarily, it means the way of nature, the process of
16934 the universe. But it also means a way of life, a way of living in
16935 accordance with that process. We have lost the idea that our occupations
16936 are vocations. Our idea of an occupation is that it is a way of making
16937 money. We make a very, very destructive division between work and play.
16938 We spend eight hours, or whatever it may be, at work in order to earn the
16939 money to enjoy ourselves in the other eight hours. And that is a perfectly
16940 ridiculous way of living. It is much better to be very poor indeed than to
16941 do something so stupid as boring ourselves and wasting ourselves for eight
16942 hours in order to be able to enjoy ourselves the other eight hours. The
16943 result of this fantastic division between work and play is that work
16944 becomes drudgery, and play becomes empty. When we say that our occupation
16945 should also be our vocation, we are speaking of a conception of life within
16946 which work and play should be identical.
16947 It is interesting that Hindus, when they speak of the creation of the
16948 universe, do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God,
16949 the Vishnu-lila, lila meaning "play." And they look upon the whole
16950 manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of
16951 dance--lila perhaps being somewhat related to our word lilt. We in the
16952 West have tended to lose the idea of our work, our profession, as being a
16954 Now, mind you, these ways I am talking about in Asia are not followed
16955 by an enormous number of people, except in a kind of nominal, superficial
16956 way. And I am not trying to make any vast comparisons between Asian society
16957 and Western society or to say that the total Asian way of life is superior
16958 to ours. I do not think it is, but I do not think it is necessarily
16959 inferior, either; it is just different. But the fact remains that there is
16960 an aspect of Asian religion and philosophy that is very subdued in Western
16961 religion and philosophy, so that you might say that the Way, in the sense of
16962 the Chinese Tao, does not quite exist in the West, in any recognizable form.
16963 It does exist, yes. It exists unofficially, it exists occasionally, but it
16964 is never clearly recognized.
16965 -- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
16967 It is not certain that everything is uncertain.
16970 We used to think that
16971 if we knew one, we knew two,
16972 because one and one are two.
16973 We are finding that we must
16974 learn a great deal more about "and".
16975 -- Sir Arthur Eddington
16977 The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics,
16978 not only advanced this subject, but, saturated with it, they fancied
16979 that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.
16982 Civilization advances by extending the number of important
16983 operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
16984 -- Alfred North Whitehead
16986 Any solution to a problem changes the problem.
16989 I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure,
16990 could walk on a cloud without coming through.
16993 Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has
16994 never been set up a statue in honor of a critic.
16997 Do not ask things to happen as you wish, but wish them to
16998 happen as they do happen, and your life will go smoothly.
17001 One of the things most beguiling to cat lovers is the
17002 intractability of a cat... its refusal to surrender
17003 the least part of its spiritual independence.
17004 -- Marguerite Steen
17006 Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed.
17007 Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery
17008 and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they
17009 might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say
17010 to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams
17011 come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
17012 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
17014 I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the
17015 morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
17018 The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
17019 -- William Butler Yeats
17021 Drinking provides a beautiful excuse to pursue the one activity that
17022 truly gives me pleasure, hooking up with fat, hairy girls.
17025 What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?
17028 Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get
17029 wasted all of the time and have the time of your life.
17030 -- Michelle Mastrolacasa
17032 I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
17035 Newscasters have gotten so repellant,
17036 talk shows so superficial,
17037 sitcoms so unfunny,
17039 movies so predictable,
17040 that the Food Network offers the best
17041 fare on TV in every sense of the word.
17044 My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.
17045 Unless there are three other people.
17048 The people's good is the highest law. -- Cicero
17050 In all recorded history there has not been one economist who
17051 has had to worry about where the next meal would come from.
17054 The great thing in this world
17055 is not so much where we stand,
17056 as in what direction we are moving.
17057 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
17059 Reality is the leading cause of stress
17060 amongst those in touch with it.
17063 If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
17066 The nice thing about egotists is that
17067 they don't talk about other people.
17068 -- Lucille S. Harper
17070 Wisdom outweighs any wealth. -- Sophocles
17072 A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -- Duke Ellington
17074 It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
17075 It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
17078 The human mind is like an umbrella--it functions best when open.
17081 They always say that time changes things, but
17082 you actually have to change them yourself.
17085 If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the
17086 computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles
17087 per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
17088 -- Robert X. Cringely
17090 The man who says he is willing to meet you
17091 halfway usually is a poor judge of distance.
17092 -- Laurence J. Peter
17094 To do two things at once is to do neither.
17097 We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.
17100 Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
17103 Hell, there are no rules here, we're trying to accomplish something.
17106 The days of the digital watch are numbered. -- Tom Stoppard
17108 A little drowsing cat is an image of perfect beatitude.
17111 World peace must develop from inner peace.
17112 Peace is not just mere absence of violence.
17113 Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
17114 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
17116 The human mind treats a new idea the same way
17117 the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
17120 A hat should be taken off when you greet a
17121 lady and left off for the rest of your life.
17122 Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.
17125 Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
17128 It is a very sad thing that nowadays
17129 there is so little useless information.
17132 I was born not knowing and have had only a
17133 little time to change that here and there.
17136 I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the
17137 best of them, and I know how bad I am.
17140 Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.
17143 It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.
17146 Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't
17147 mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
17148 -- Edward R. Murrow
17150 What can you say about a society that says that
17151 God is dead and Elvis is alive?
17154 Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
17155 -- G. K. Chesterton
17157 Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
17158 -- Edgar Bergen, as "Charlie McCarthy"
17160 A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can
17161 do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
17164 Whatever you do will be insignificant,
17165 but it is very important that you do it.
17168 Cats know how to obtain food without labor,
17169 shelter without confinement,
17170 and love without penalties.
17173 Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
17174 -- Diogenes the Cynic
17176 When it is not necessary to make a decision,
17177 it is necessary not to make a decision.
17180 Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew
17181 and for several days we had nothing to live on but food and water.
17184 Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet? -- Lily Tomlin
17186 I took a speed reading course and read "War and
17187 Peace" in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
17190 Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
17191 -- Michel de Montaigne
17193 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
17196 In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. -- Andy Warhol
17198 Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
17201 The reason grandparents and grandchildren get
17202 along so well is that they have a common enemy.
17205 A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
17208 The prayer of the scientist if he prayed, which is not likely:
17209 Lord, grant that my discovery may increase knowledge and help other men.
17210 Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man's destruction.
17211 Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in "Brain" be published before
17212 the destruction takes place.
17213 -- Walker Percy, in "Love in the Ruins"
17215 Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
17216 confessing our parents' shortcomings.
17217 -- Laurence J. Peter
17219 Cooperate on Standards, Compete on Implementation
17220 -- Sun Corporations's Founding Principle
17222 If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.
17225 Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose
17226 all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be.
17229 Kids who have yet to master spelling or basic math are in no position to
17230 dogmatize about scientific questions like global warming or nuclear power.
17233 If you can't ride two horses at the same time you shouldn't be in the circus.
17236 Whenever a person walks in on the middle of a film or a conversation, or
17237 starts a new friendship, opens a book, takes a new job, or moves to a new
17238 city, his first need is to orient himself. We all must know, in a general
17239 way, what to expect so that we can plan and respond intelligently and feel
17240 comfortable. And although all animals work with their senses and brains to
17241 orient themselves, human being do something unique. We live less simply and
17242 directly in the world than do other animals. We make a version of a world,
17243 an interpretation of it, and then we live in that. The degree of comfort
17244 and success that we achieve in our lives depends on how well that
17245 interpretation suits our circumstances.
17246 Another way to state this idea is that genetically built into people is
17247 a special organizing mode of perception. The philosopher Susanne Langer
17248 calls this mode transformational: we are co-creators of our own perceptions.
17249 In the very act of physically perceiving, we interpret; we transform the raw
17250 data gathered by our senses into complex symbolic meanings. We literally
17251 cannot function and survive without seeing in our world evidence of order
17252 and purpose. We take nothing at face value; we systematize, explain, weave
17253 a large network of connected meanings.
17254 While nonhuman animals toil for their lives, play, or lie in the sun--do
17255 whatever is suitable for the moment--only people fret and practice and
17256 struggle to achieve distant or abstract goals. We are the only animals who
17257 live partly removed from our immediate physical circumstances. This
17258 extravagance is the source of our language, art, science, music, religions,
17259 philosophies: those things we value most. Aside from such direct physical
17260 causes of death as hunger, exposure, old age, or disease, the one
17261 circumstance we truly cannot survive is living in a raw, uninterpreted
17262 place--in chaos. Each of us either finds a meaning in some traditional
17263 religion or philosophy or patches together one of his own, or else he
17264 panics, loses the will to live, and, in one way or another perishes.
17265 -- Shirley Park Lowery, "Familiar Mysteries: The Truth in Myth"
17267 I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific
17268 problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
17271 The operating system for the *world* is too important a resource to be
17272 entrusted to just one proprietary company. No one company can handle
17273 the responsibility, nor can any one company be trusted to stay honest
17274 and fair when wielding such awesome power.
17277 Middle age is when you've met so many people that every
17278 new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
17281 Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
17284 I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.
17287 Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not.
17288 In either case, the thought is staggering.
17289 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
17291 Birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can't I?
17294 The software business is the worst
17295 of all possible business models,
17296 except for all the others.
17299 Instant gratification takes too long.
17302 Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
17303 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
17305 No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have,
17306 and I think he's a dirty little beast.
17309 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but
17310 man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
17311 -- Reinhold Niebuhr
17313 The great tragedy of Science--the slaying of a
17314 beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
17315 -- Thomas H. Huxley
17317 Against logic there is no armor like ignorance. -- Laurence J. Peter
17319 In mathematics you don't understand things.
17320 You just get used to them.
17321 -- John von Neumann
17323 Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
17326 As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
17327 I feel as young as I ever did.
17330 Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
17331 -- Benjamin Franklin
17333 When ideas fail, words come in very handy. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17335 The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages,
17336 may be preserved by quotation.
17337 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17340 I am not familiar with the command RTFM.
17341 I tried giving it but got an warning that the command does not exist.
17344 -- A real user's response to advice
17346 A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
17347 -- Robertson Davies
17349 The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
17350 opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the
17351 ability to function.
17352 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
17354 Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and
17355 less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there
17356 are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a
17357 solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces.
17358 There are no straight lines.
17359 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
17361 Our happiness doesn't depend on somebody else's action or on anything
17362 else. It doesn't depend on our success, but rather on the effort we're
17363 willing to put into everything we do. Even if people disappoint or fail
17364 us left and right, even if people turn against us, hurt us, lie about us,
17365 don't understand us, even if they think they know everything about us and
17366 judge us unfairly, they can't infringe upon our happiness. True happiness
17367 means that we have a deep-seated peace and tranquility that transcends all
17368 the difficulties of life, that cannot be disturbed by the chaos and
17369 warfare that might touch our lives.
17370 Digging in the trenches of a Nazi concentration camp Victor Frankl once
17371 said to a fellow inmate: "This is where you've got to find your happiness--
17372 right here in this trench, in this camp." It is a simple matter of fact:
17373 you can be just as happy in a concentration camp, horrific and terrible as
17374 it surely is, as you can in any other circumstance in life.
17375 For this is where we're supposed to find our happiness--where we are
17376 now, wherever that might happen to be, in all that we do, in whatever
17377 circumstances we find ourselves. Being happy involves the intense
17378 struggle of entering intimately into all that we do.
17379 -- "The Monks of New Skete, In the Spirit of Happiness"
17381 Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
17382 Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
17383 Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
17384 Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
17385 Is daily spun; but there exists no loom
17386 To weave it into fabric.
17387 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "Upon This Age"
17389 An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
17392 Everybody gets so much information all day long
17393 that they lose their common sense.
17396 Rationalists, wearing square hats,
17397 Think, in square rooms,
17398 Looking at the floor,
17399 Looking at the ceiling.
17400 They confine themselves
17401 To right-angled triangles.
17402 If they tried rhomboids,
17403 Cones, waving lines, ellipses--
17404 As, for example, the ellipse of the half-moon--
17405 Rationalists would wear sombreros.
17408 I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
17409 -- G. K. Chesterton
17411 fat in dee head / fat in dee mind / thin on dee love / absent dee kind
17412 yon falwell got dee big head / falwell got dee tiny brain
17413 falwell don' like what you be liken' / falwell hate what he don' understan'
17414 which be everyteen' for dis one / falwell dee bigot boy.
17415 -- love poem to jerry f.
17417 The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.
17420 I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
17421 us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
17424 The human mind treats a new idea the same way
17425 the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
17428 I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
17429 -- Bertrand Russell
17431 The key to being a good manager is keeping the people
17432 who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
17435 Reality is nothing but a collective hunch. -- Lily Tomlin
17437 To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. -- Thomas Edison
17439 If I knew I was going to live this long,
17440 I'd have taken better care of myself.
17443 What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.
17444 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17446 The cat is the mirror of the human mind, personality and attitude,
17447 just as the dog mirrors his human's physical appearance.
17448 -- Winfred Carriere
17450 Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy?
17451 I don't know and I don't care.
17454 Historians are like deaf people who go on
17455 answering questions that no one has asked them.
17458 There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you
17459 start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.
17462 The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems
17463 to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
17466 I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you
17467 looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
17470 common sense is just the things your parents tell you that
17471 actually make it into your brain when you're a kid.
17473 don't touch hot things,
17474 look both ways when crossing the street,
17477 these ones work; thus they survive.
17480 Men have become the tools of their tools. -- Henry David Thoreau
17482 Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the
17483 ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.
17484 -- Clare Booth Luce
17486 You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
17489 When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries
17490 disappear and life stands explained.
17493 Why was I born with such contemporaries? -- Oscar Wilde
17495 It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. -- Edmund Burke
17497 What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement? -- Fred Allen
17499 The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof,
17500 a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an
17501 oracle, is inborn in us.
17504 The mad mind does not halt. If it halts, it is enlightenment.
17505 -- Chinese Zen Saying
17507 He who controls his mind and has cut off desire and anger realizes the Self.
17508 -- The Bhagavad Gita
17510 A fly, when it exists, has as much being as God. -- Soren Kierkegaard
17512 Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural.
17513 We move between two darknesses.
17516 If you have not lived through something, it is not true. -- Kabir
17518 I like a view but I like to sit with my back to it. -- Gertrude Stein
17521 So bright in the eyes of those
17522 clutching at the thought of death.
17525 The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you,
17526 the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
17527 And only she who listens can speak.
17528 -- Dag Hammarskjold
17530 If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self,
17531 then ignorance is better than such knowledge.
17534 When the eye wakes up to see again,
17535 it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.
17536 -- Frederick Franck
17538 Only when we know little things do we know
17539 anything; doubt grows with knowledge.
17540 -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
17547 He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates,
17548 knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.
17551 Words are just like a man carrying a lamp to look for
17552 his property, by which he can say: this is my property.
17553 -- The Lankavatara Sutra
17556 of a good man's life,
17557 His little, nameless,
17559 Of kindness and love.
17560 -- William Wordsworth
17562 I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm
17563 some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself
17564 in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
17567 Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.
17571 The cries of the cicadas
17572 Sink into the rocks.
17575 We live in a rainbow of chaos. -- Paul Cezanne
17577 love's like a purple dinosaur because it can't outrun a truck,
17578 life's like a bowl of nixons sometimes you f*ck.
17581 Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
17582 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
17584 Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the
17585 imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
17588 We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not
17589 unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of
17590 thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what
17591 we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
17594 The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely
17595 more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.
17596 -- Lady Sydney Morgan
17598 The mystery of life is not a problem to be
17599 solved but a reality to be experienced.
17600 -- Aart Van Der Leeuw
17602 Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This has nothing
17603 whatever to do with sitting or lying down.
17606 When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,
17607 it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
17608 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
17610 We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big
17611 difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which,
17612 over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
17613 -- Marian Wright Edelman
17615 Golf is a good walk spoiled.
17618 The day we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. -- Seneca
17620 Life is stressful enough without customer service. -- Thomas Oliver
17622 To assume a cat's asleep is a grave mistake.
17623 He can close his eyes and keep both his ears awake.
17626 Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged
17627 in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
17630 The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received
17631 a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of
17632 its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found,
17633 men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined
17634 that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious.
17635 -- John Stuart Mill
17637 You aren't a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.
17640 The master, Hseuh-feng, asked a newly arrived monk where
17641 he had come from. The monk answered: "From the Monastery of
17643 The master said, "In the daytime we have sunlight; in the
17644 evening, lamplight. What is spiritual light?"
17645 The monk had no answer.
17646 The Master said, "Sunlight. Lamplight."
17649 There is no wealth but life. -- John Ruskin
17651 Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it
17652 and there is no end. You can't know it, but you
17653 can be it, at ease in your own life.
17656 And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where
17657 we started and know the place for the first time.
17660 There's an old saying in Tennessee--I know it's in Texas, probably in
17661 Tennessee--that says: Fool me once, shame on [pause] shame on you.
17662 [Pause] Fool me [long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause] you can't get
17664 -- Bush at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville yesterday.
17666 Concentration is my motto--first honesty,
17667 then industry, then concentration.
17670 Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. -- Charles de Gaulle
17672 If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but
17673 subtract from the sum of his desires.
17676 Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
17678 City people have a hard time handling the silences when they first
17679 come out to the country. After a certain period of solitude, I myself
17680 experiencing an aloneness that is sometimes disturbing, but the country
17681 eventually cleanses my spirit and purges my body of the sounds, fumes and
17682 toxins of urban life. I think cities feed psychological stress and tension
17683 in many ways, including an overload of electrical forces and energy. When
17684 you go to a country cabin without electricity, you will be surprised at how
17685 tensions fall away.
17686 Some practitioners advocate that urban dwellers removed from the
17687 country find a space in the yard or the garden and dig a hole deep enough
17688 to enfold the body. Lie down in the hole. Make sure your body can lie just
17689 below the surface of the ground. Stay in this hollow of earth. You will be
17690 surprised how rested you will feel simply because you have escaped for a
17691 moment the man-made influences. You have retreated for a moment to Mother
17692 Earth's very simple electrical systems. For the chemical and electrical
17693 balance of the body to be calibrated, you have to stay close to the earth
17694 itself, align yourself with its polarity so that your body can find harmony
17695 between the interior world and the exterior universe.
17696 Once we become detached from nature, we begin to think we can do
17697 without it. The lights of the Great White Way overpower the stars. It is
17698 very hard to see the brightest constellation when you live in or near a
17699 city. The dark solitude of the country reunites you with the universe of
17700 the stars. The woods and hills restore in you something primal in yourself.
17701 The sea's pulse sets your own heartbeat.
17702 -- James Earl Jones, "Voices and Silences"
17704 Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
17707 i think i found my other leak now. and this was a frelling dumb one.
17708 somehow the deletion of the memory was commented out. wtf?
17709 arrrrrrrhhhh... i don't know what i'm doing....
17710 i hate the C and everything coded in it.
17713 When men are pure, laws are useless;
17714 when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
17715 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17717 Only the mediocre are always at their best. -- Jean Giraudoux
17719 If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome;
17720 if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent;
17721 if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
17724 He is indebted to his memory for his jests
17725 and to his imagination for his facts.
17726 -- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
17728 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
17729 arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
17730 physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of
17731 poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
17734 As a public company, and as a CEO, you have to worry about the stock price
17735 to some extent. But you figure out after a while that there are very few
17736 things you can do in the short term that can positively impact stock price.
17737 If you build a great company, the value of the company goes up. That's very
17738 important for employees to realize coming out of this age of day trading,
17739 mass hysteria and "we're all going to be bazillionaires." You've got to get
17740 people saying: "Why are we really here?" Well, we're here to build a great
17741 company. That takes time. You may have a great day today and the stock goes
17742 down, and you may have a horrible day tomorrow and the stock goes up. Short
17743 term, they don't have a lot to do with each other. But over a long period of
17744 time you build a great company, and it's going to be worth a lot. Customers
17745 will reward it. Shareholders will reward it. Employees will want to be a
17746 part of it and beat our door down to want to work here.
17747 -- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers
17749 Cats have the gift of appearing at ease in any situation--high, low or
17750 anywhere in between.
17753 I am no more humble than my talents require. -- Oscar Levant
17755 Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
17756 -- Albert Schweitzer
17758 It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there
17759 is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
17762 The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by. -- Chuang-Tzu
17764 I would patch them, but I have not a half-sheet of paper.
17765 Ah, well--at least torn windows don't need to be pushed open.
17766 The blowing wind puts out my lamp.
17767 Rain falling from the eaves wets my inkstone.
17770 The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
17771 Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
17774 I tell you: one must still have chaos in one,
17775 to give birth to a dancing star.
17776 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
17779 the frog is growing old now--
17780 among fallen leaves.
17783 Consciousness is a being,
17784 the nature of which
17785 is to be conscious of
17786 the nothingness of its being.
17787 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
17789 Since it is all too clear,
17790 It takes time to grasp it.
17791 When you understand that it's foolish
17792 To look for fire with fire,
17793 The meal is already cooked.
17796 May you live all the days of your life. -- Jonathan Swift
17798 How could there be any question of acquiring
17799 or possessing, when the one thing needful for
17800 a man is to /become/--to /be/ at last, and to die
17801 in the fullness of his being.
17802 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
17804 Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us;
17805 for while we exist death is not present,
17806 and when death is present we no longer exist.
17809 Singing and dancing are the voice of dharma. -- Hakuin
17811 All great truths begin as blasphemies. -- George Bernard Shaw
17813 Hope is not a strategy. -- Thomas McInerney
17815 I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month,
17816 and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
17817 -- Thomas Jefferson
17819 As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now
17820 to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
17823 Sometimes the veil between human and animal intelligence wears
17824 very thin--then one experiences the supreme thrill of keeping
17825 a cat, or perhaps allowing oneself to be owned by a cat.
17826 -- Catherine Manley
17828 I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the
17829 roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single
17830 thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.
17833 One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the
17834 belief that one's work is terribly important.
17835 -- Bertrand Russell
17837 The universality of change, when completely understood, is the seeing
17838 into the heart of all things, and the Mind that thus understands is
17839 the Mind that truly seeks the way.
17842 The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun,
17843 in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one.
17846 To free oneself is nothing--the really arduous task is to
17847 know what to do with one's freedom.
17850 I hate women because they always know where things are. -- James Thurber
17852 I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. -- Mark Twain
17854 Be careful about reading health books.
17855 You may die of a misprint.
17858 Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.
17859 The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.
17860 Dawn, in the clear morning air.
17861 Farmers busy after long rain.
17862 The desert trees shed their few green leaves.
17863 The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.
17864 A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.
17865 A single wild goose climbs into the void.
17868 When you get there, there isn't any there there. -- Gertrude Stein
17870 I want to sing like birds sing,
17871 not worrying who hears or what they think.
17874 The practice of zazen is not
17875 for gaining a mystical mind.
17876 Zazen is for allowing a clear mind--
17877 as clear as a bright autumn day.
17880 ... and he was almighty because he had wrenched
17881 from chaos the secret of its nothingness.
17882 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
17884 Practice thirty more years. -- Zen proverb
17886 Student: "Roshi, what are you doing here?"
17887 Suzuki-roshi: "Nothing special."
17890 After the leaves fall in the village at the foot of Ogura Peak,
17891 one can see through the tree branches the moon shining in the clear.
17894 Chaos often breeds life, where order breeds habit.
17897 You yourselves must make the exertion.
17898 The Buddhas are only teachers.
17899 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
17901 Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words,
17902 and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your
17903 light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will
17904 drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
17907 Next time you have a bad day, imagine this: You are a Siamese twin.
17908 Your brother that is attached to you at the shoulder is gay.
17909 You are not. But you only have one ass.
17911 From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition
17912 is something up with which I will not put.
17913 -- Winston Churchill
17915 The meaning of life is to see. -- Hui-Neng
17917 Fundamentally not one thing exists. -- Hui-Neng
17919 In the blue heavens, cold geese calling.
17920 On the empty hills, leaves flying.
17923 When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.
17924 -- George Bernard Shaw
17926 An intense love of solitude, distaste for involvement in worldly
17927 affairs, persistence in knowing the Self and awareness of the goal
17928 of knowing--all this is called true knowledge.
17929 -- The Bhagavad Gita
17931 Some people are born to lift heavy weights.
17932 Some are born to juggle with golden balls.
17935 Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for
17936 example, makes a wonderful ancestor.
17937 -- Lawrence J. Peter
17939 Smokey the Bear Sutra
17941 Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago,
17942 the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite
17943 Void gave a Discourse to all the assembled elements
17944 and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings,
17945 the flying beings, and the sitting beings -- even grasses,
17946 to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a
17947 seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning
17948 Enlightenment on the planet Earth.
17950 "In some future time, there will be a continent called
17951 America. It will have great centers of power called
17952 such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur,
17953 Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels
17954 such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon
17955 The human race in that era will get into troubles all over
17956 its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of
17957 its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature."
17959 "The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings
17960 of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth.
17961 My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and
17962 granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that
17963 future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure
17964 the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger:
17965 and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it."
17967 And he showed himself in his true form of
17971 a.. A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs,
17972 showing that he is aroused and
17975 b.. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath
17976 appearances; cuts the roots of useless
17977 attach- ments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
17979 c.. His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display -- indicating that all
17980 creatures have the full right to live to
17981 their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and
17982 lizards all grow in the realm of the
17985 d.. Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the
17986 countless men oppressed by a
17987 civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
17989 e.. Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that
17990 guard the Wilderness, which is the
17991 Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true
17992 paths lead through mountains --
17994 f.. With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the
17995 kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of
17996 those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is
17997 contained vast and free in the Blue Sky
17998 and Green Earth of One Mind;
18000 g.. Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has
18001 food enough for everyone who loves her
18004 h.. Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs; smashing
18005 the worms of capitalism and
18008 i.. Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses,
18009 canned foods, universities, and shoes;
18010 master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and
18011 fearlessly chop down the rotten
18012 trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn
18013 the leftover trash.
18015 Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will
18016 Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
18019 HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.
18021 Thus his great Mantra:
18023 Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana
18024 Sphataya hum traks ham nam
18026 "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
18027 BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED"
18029 And he will protect those who love woods and rivers,
18030 Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick
18031 people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:
18033 And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
18034 or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:
18041 And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out
18042 with his vajra-shovel.
18044 a.. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice
18045 willl accumulate merit as countless as the
18046 sands of Arizona and Nevada.
18048 b.. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
18050 c.. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
18052 d.. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
18054 e.. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a
18055 pine tree to sit at.
18057 f.. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
18059 thus have we heard.
18061 I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
18062 nice letter saying that I approved of it.
18065 We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. -- Annie Dillard
18067 Today is the eighth of the month, tomorrow is the thirteenth. -- Zen proverb
18069 Often I am still listening when the song is over.
18070 -- Marquis de Saint-Lambert
18072 Worldly acquisitions of wealth and the need of clinging to them, as well as
18073 the pursuit of the Eight Worldly Aims, I regard with as much loathing and
18074 disgust as a man who is suffering from biliousness regardeth the sight of
18075 rich food. Nay, I regard them as if they were the murderers of my father;
18076 therefore it is that I am assuming this beggarly and penurious mode of life.
18084 Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. -- Jules Feiffer
18086 It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker
18087 that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
18090 Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable
18091 that we have to alter it every six months.
18094 Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
18095 can't talk for people who can't read.
18098 Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. The Second Patriarch, after standing
18099 outside in the snow for so long, cut off his arm. "My mind is not yet
18100 at peace. Please, Master, put my mind at peace."
18101 Bodhidharma said: "Bring me your mind and I will pacify it for you."
18102 The Second Patriarch replied: "Although I have searched for my mind,
18103 it is totally ungraspable."
18104 Bodhidharma said: "In that case I have pacified your mind for you."
18106 Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
18108 We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
18111 Since it is the practice of enlightenment,
18112 that practice has no beginning and
18113 since it is enlightenment within the practice,
18114 that realization has no end.
18117 The quieter you become, the more you can hear. -- Baba Ram Dass
18119 As long as you seek for something, you will get
18120 the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
18123 Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least
18124 triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to
18125 recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
18126 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
18128 I love being married. It's so great to find that one
18129 special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
18132 I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
18135 A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life. -- Robertson Davies
18137 At this point in history genius has become
18138 a commodity, an ambition, even a lifestyle.
18141 A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. -- Jean le Carre
18143 Martyrdom is the only way in which a
18144 man can become famous without ability.
18145 -- George Bernard Shaw
18147 For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
18148 For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
18149 -- Christopher Smart
18151 It's not autumn's cold that keeps me awake,
18152 but what I feel before the grasses and trees in my courtyard.
18153 My banana tree has lost its leaves; my parasol tree is old;
18154 and night after night--the sound of wind, the sound of rain.
18157 I believe in an ultimate decency of things. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
18164 We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye
18165 which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything.
18166 That is to understand Zen.
18169 Yes it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth
18170 sometimes comes to the top.
18173 Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing. -- Paul Valery
18175 The cat was a creature of absolute convictions,
18176 and his faith in his deductions never varied.
18177 -- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
18179 Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
18180 any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
18181 any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
18184 With Henry Adams we see the moment when the pronouncements
18185 of philosophers ceased to be greeted with forehead slaps of
18186 recognition or shouts of "Heretic!" and began to be met
18187 with mumbles of "Oh, shut up."
18190 The nature of mind, when understood, no human words can
18191 compass or disclose. Enlightenment is naught to be obtained,
18192 and he that gains it does not say he knows.
18195 As long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,
18196 you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.
18197 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
18199 Nirvana is right here, before our eyes. -- Hakuin
18201 It is the stars not known to science that I would know,
18202 the stars which the lonely traveler knows.
18203 -- Henry David Thoreau
18205 You've got to take the bitter with the sour. -- Sam Goldwyn
18207 And a man shall be free, and as pure as the day prior to
18208 his conception in his mother's womb, when he has nothing,
18209 wants nothing and knows nothing.
18212 Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything they do not make clear.
18215 Outside mind there is no Buddha,
18216 Outside Buddha there is no mind.
18219 They are ill discoverers that think there is no land,
18220 when they can see nothing but sea.
18221 -- Sir Francis Bacon
18223 My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be
18224 invented so he could hate that too.
18227 Opportunity is missed by most people because
18228 it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
18229 -- Thomas Alva Edison
18231 Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. -- Benjamin Franklin
18233 When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus,
18234 it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV
18235 has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
18236 -- Edward R. Murrow
18238 In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
18241 The art of medicine consists in amusing the
18242 patient while nature cures the disease.
18245 I am enlightened, and always have been, simultaneously
18246 with the beginning of the universe.
18247 -- The Buddha, first words after realizing the truth
18249 A billion stars go spinning through the night,
18250 blazing high above your head.
18251 But in you is the presence that will be,
18252 when the stars are dead.
18253 -- Rainer Maria Rilke
18255 The goal of Buddhism is to bring about right human life, not to have
18256 the teaching, or teacher, or sentient beings, or Buddhism, or Buddha.
18257 But if you think that without any training you can have that kind of
18258 life, that is a big mistake.
18261 So much of what we call management consists
18262 in making it difficult for people to work.
18265 People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.
18268 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
18269 acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
18270 -- W. Somerset Maugham
18272 Everything you know is wrong. -- Firesign Theatre
18274 One day Yuan-wu took the high seat, and said:
18275 A monk asked Yun-men: 'Where did all the buddhas come from?'
18276 Yun-men answered: 'The East Mountain walks over the water.'
18277 But if I were asked, I would not answer that way.
18278 I would say: 'A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south,
18279 and in the palace a refreshing coolness stirs.'
18282 I would believe only in a god who could dance. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
18284 The moon floats above the pines, and the night veranda is cold as the
18285 ancient, clear sound comes from your finger tips. The old melody usually
18286 makes the listeners weep, but Zen music is beyond sentiment. Do not play
18287 again unless the Great Sound of Lao-tzu accompanies you.
18290 Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. -- Oscar Wilde
18292 Logically considered, Zen may be full of contradictions and repetitions.
18293 But as it stands above all things, it goes serenely on its own way.
18296 Clouds come from time to time--and bring a chance
18297 to rest from looking at the moon.
18300 Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself.
18301 Stop looking in the other way of looking.
18304 Do not be an embodiment of fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes;
18305 do not be an undertaker of projects; do not be a proprietor of wisdom.
18306 Wander where there is no trail. Hold on to all that you have received
18307 from Heaven but do not think you have gotten anything. Be empty, that
18308 is all. The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror--going after nothing,
18309 welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.
18312 In the end, everything is a gag. -- Charlie Chaplin
18314 One can not be certain of living
18315 even into the evening.
18316 In the dim first light
18318 from a departing boat.
18321 The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.
18324 All things in this world are impermanent.
18325 They have the nature to rise and pass away.
18326 To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness.
18329 True words always seem paradoxical but no other form
18330 of teaching can take their place.
18333 Did you not know that at the edge of a deep valley there is an excellent
18334 pine tree growing up straight in spite of the many years of cold?
18337 Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.
18340 In a snowfall that covers the winter grass
18341 a white heron uses his own whiteness to disappear.
18344 Settle the self on the self. -- Shunryu Suzuki
18346 Finished, finished...
18347 when it is completely finished
18348 there is nothing to finish.
18351 I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity. -- Tom Stoppard
18353 Which is the more beautiful, feline movement or feline stillness?
18354 -- Elizabeth Hamilton
18356 We cannot speak without incurring some risk, at least in theory;
18357 the only way of being absolutely safe is to say nothing.
18360 Numerous studies demonstrate that people can be motivated to creativity
18361 simply with the addition of an instruction to "be creative."
18362 -- Richard Saul Wurman
18364 Our obsessions with history and prophecy perhaps reflect an inability
18365 to comprehend the implications of geological time. The mind's traditional
18366 organization of duration into past, present, and future really has more
18367 relevance to the five-thousand-year-old earth of the seventeenth century
18368 than it does to the five-billion-year-old one of the twentieth. Past and
18369 future require certain limitations and symmetries to be meaningful--there
18370 must be a plot or at least a story. But time is really not much like a
18371 story. It is more like an ocean current that rises from imperfectly
18372 perceived depths and flows into unseen distances.
18373 This immensity might seem to diminish the present--the living moment--
18374 to utter insignificance, but actually the present looms much larger in
18375 geological time than in historical time. If time is a story, the present
18376 is merely a hiatus between the significant events that were and will be.
18377 If time is an ocean, however, the present is not less important than the
18378 other moments, which stretch away on all sides, any more than a single
18379 water molecule in an ocean is less important than the others. In a sense
18380 each living moment is the whole of time--an eternal present--because it
18381 can't be set apart from all the other moments.
18382 -- David Rains Wallace, from "Idle Weeds"
18384 Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
18385 -- Henry David Thoreau
18387 We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we
18388 discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.
18391 You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
18394 Television has raised writing to a new low. -- Samuel Goldwyn
18396 I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue
18397 that I shall some day die, which is not so.
18400 People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
18403 He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
18406 If the voter cannot grasp the details of the problems of the day because he
18407 has not the time, the interest or the knowledge, he will not have a better
18408 public opinion because he is asked to express his opinion more often.
18411 i have eliminated every fault,
18412 except for pride...
18413 doomed to walk the earth
18417 In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. -- Laurence J. Peter
18419 Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall there was this one: "Matters of
18420 great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters
18421 of small concern should be treated seriously." Among one's affairs there
18422 should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great
18423 concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be
18424 understood. Thinking about things previously and then handling them lightly
18425 when the time comes is what this is all about. To face an event and solve
18426 it lightly is difficult if you are not resolved beforehand, and there will
18427 always be uncertainty in hitting your mark. However, if the foundation is
18428 laid previously, you can think of the saying, "Matters of great concern
18429 should be treated lightly," as your basis for action.
18430 -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
18432 There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with
18433 a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road.
18434 But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still
18435 get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be
18436 perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding
18437 extends to everything.
18438 -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
18440 I deserve good things.
18441 I am entitled to my share of happiness.
18442 I refuse to beat myself up.
18443 I am attractive person.
18444 I am fun to be with.
18447 The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous,
18448 the sensible man hardly anything.
18451 In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.
18452 -- Lawrence Summers
18454 I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the
18455 river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
18456 I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
18457 starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
18458 brotherhood can never become a reality.
18459 I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must
18460 spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear
18461 destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will
18462 have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is
18463 stronger than evil triumphant.
18464 I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets,
18465 there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded
18466 justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can
18467 be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of
18469 I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
18470 meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and
18471 dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what
18472 self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still
18473 believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be
18474 crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive
18475 goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
18476 -- Martin Luther King, Jr
18478 Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. -- John Ruskin
18480 If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,
18481 what is the significance of a clean desk?
18482 -- Lawrence J. Peter
18484 I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
18487 I am not young enough to know everything. -- Oscar Wilde
18489 I had never held a position for more than four years,
18490 and did not so much plan my new jobs as flee my old ones.
18493 It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.
18494 -- The White Queen, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
18496 I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by
18497 the animosities he excites among his opponents.
18498 -- Winston Churchill
18500 All things are difficult before they are easy. -- Thomas Fuller
18502 There's no business like show business, but
18503 there are several businesses like accounting.
18506 All truth passes through three stages.
18507 First, it is ridiculed.
18508 Second, it is violently opposed.
18509 Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
18510 -- Arthur Schopenhauer
18512 Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence
18513 but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to
18514 shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
18515 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
18517 Talent is like the battery in a car. It'll get you started,
18518 but if the generator is bad, you don't go very far.
18521 No man ever listened himself out of a job. -- Calvin Coolidge
18523 I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued
18524 concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which
18525 hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for
18526 a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to
18527 snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to
18528 the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who
18529 imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but
18530 deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the
18531 sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain
18532 person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute
18533 the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool
18534 of him and mock him.
18535 -- Omar Khayyam, "Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra"
18537 It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. -- Aeschylus
18539 Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good.
18540 It would be the end of everything we know.
18543 Many engineering deadlocks have been broken by people who are not engineers
18544 at all. This is simply because perspective is more important than IQ.
18545 -- Nicholas Negroponte
18547 We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.
18550 California is a fine place to live--if you happen to be an orange.
18553 Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.
18556 It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
18557 incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted
18558 by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
18561 All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They
18562 never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced
18563 on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.
18566 The corollary of constant change is ignorance. This is not often
18567 talked about: we computer experts barely know what we're doing.
18570 The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
18571 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
18573 Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. -- H. G. Wells
18575 Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that,
18576 once it is competently programmed and working smoothly,
18577 it is completely honest.
18580 Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
18581 confessing our parents' shortcomings.
18582 -- Laurence J. Peter
18584 No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing
18585 when they are feeling sensible.
18588 All truths are easy to understand once they are
18589 discovered; the point is to discover them.
18592 We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential.
18593 Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
18596 Considering how dangerous everything is,
18597 nothing is really very frightening.
18600 A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude
18601 without providing you with company.
18602 -- Gian Vincenzo Gravina
18604 What the world needs is more geniuses with humility.
18605 There are so few of us left.
18608 In the end, we will remember not the words of
18609 our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
18610 -- Martin Luther King
18612 Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the
18613 living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children,
18614 and by children to adults.
18617 You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
18618 -- Stanislaw W. Lec
18620 I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
18621 The answer is 12? I think I'm in the wrong building.
18622 -- Charles M. Schulz in "Peanuts"
18624 The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who
18625 hate me away from those who are still undecided.
18628 What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
18631 People who've never fired a gun ("weapon", in Army-talk) explain "fire power"
18632 realities. Nobody--yet--would pretend to be an expert on brain surgery. But
18633 military tactics and modern warfare? What could be easier, right?
18634 -- Kenneth G. Robinson
18636 When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
18637 -- William Wrigley Jr.
18639 Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an
18640 international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.
18641 -- George Bernard Shaw
18643 Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.
18646 A well-laid business plan is no guarantee against the
18647 disappearance of the industry on which it is based.
18650 The way to protect human freedom is to make sure that your society is one
18651 in which the benefits of being a member of the society are so tempting and
18652 so great that people will take responsibility in order for it to happen.
18655 Technology seems to always start out promising specialization and
18656 personalization. In the end, it delivers more homogenization instead.
18659 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
18660 -- Thomas H. Huxley
18662 Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. -- Frank Zappa
18664 Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
18665 as you can find outside an advertising agency.
18666 -- Raymond Chandler
18668 The only way to discover the limits of the possible
18669 is to go beyond them into the impossible.
18672 Life is full of misery, loneliness, and
18673 suffering--and it's all over much too soon.
18676 An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible.
18679 The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
18682 In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen;
18683 in small things they show themselves as they are.
18684 -- Nicholas Chamfort
18686 Pain is no evil, unless it conquers us. -- Charles Kingsley
18688 There's no reason to burn books if you don't read them. The education system
18689 in this country is just terrible, and we're not doing anything about it.
18692 Each of us inevitable; each of us limitless--
18693 each of us with his or her right upon the earth.
18696 In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the
18697 world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
18698 -- Sir William Osler
18700 It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept
18701 anything but the best, you very often get it.
18702 -- W. Somerset Maugham
18704 Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to,
18705 with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
18708 We have a natural opportunity to investigate the connections
18709 of a problem when looking back at its solution.
18712 Money teaches us to count, but science, inasmuch as it is
18713 not governed by money, might yet teach us to think.
18714 -- Christopher M. Kelty
18716 Painting, like flipping burgers or shearing sheep, is physical labor. It is
18717 enough nowadays to declare yourself an artist and then to declare some artifact
18718 in the vast world of found objects to be *your* work of art.
18721 The art of creation is older than the art of killing. -- Ed Koch
18723 In wisdom gathered over time I have found that
18724 every experience is a form of exploration.
18727 Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority
18728 uses not his understanding but his memory.
18729 -- Leonardo Da Vinci
18731 We've had a taste of Siemens before in the past. -- Bonafide PHB
18733 The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well
18734 as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
18737 A guilty conscience needs to confess.
18738 A work of art is a confession.
18741 When I examine myself and my methods of thought,
18742 I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy
18743 has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing
18744 positive knowledge.
18747 A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
18748 -- Laurence J. Peter
18750 No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into
18751 account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
18754 We have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not
18755 the sole relation of human beings.
18758 No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.
18759 His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his
18760 relation to the dead poets and artists.
18763 There's a moment coming. It's not here yet. It's still on the way.
18764 It's in the future. It hasn't arrived. Here it comes.
18765 Here it is... It's gone.
18768 Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art;
18769 it is the part the schools cannot recognize.
18772 It is easy to spot an informed man--
18773 his opinions are just like your own.
18774 -- Miguel de Unamuno
18776 If you see in any given situation only what everybody else
18777 can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of
18778 your culture that you are a victim of it.
18781 If you are going through hell, keep going. -- Winston Churchill
18783 The Founders of the American nation were one of the most creative
18784 groups in modern history. Some among them, especially in recent years,
18785 have been condemned for their failures and weaknesses--for their racism,
18786 sexism, compromises, and violations of principle. And indeed moral
18787 judgments are as necessary in assessing the lives of these people as of
18788 any others. But we are privileged to know and to benefit from the outcome
18789 of their efforts, which they could only hopefully imagine, and ignore their
18790 main concern: which was the possibility, indeed the probability, that their
18791 creative enterprise--not to recast the social order but to transform the
18792 political system--would fail: would collapse into chaos or autocracy.
18793 Again and again they were warned of the folly of defying the received
18794 traditions, the sheer unlikelihood that they, obscure people on the outer
18795 borderlands of European civilization, knew better than the established
18796 authorities that ruled them; that they could successfully create something
18797 freer, ultimately more enduring than what was then known in the centers of
18799 Since we inherit and build on their achievements, we now know what the
18800 established world of the eighteenth century flatly denied but which they
18801 broke through convention to propose -- that absolute power need not be
18802 indivisible but can be shared among states within a state and among
18803 branches of government, and that the sharing of power and the balancing of
18804 forces can create not anarchy but freedom.
18805 We know for certain what they could only experimentally and prayerfully
18806 propose--that formal, written constitutions, upheld by judicial bodies, can
18807 effectively constrain the tyrannies of both executive force and populist
18809 We know, because they had the imagination to perceive it, that there
18810 is a sense, mysterious as it may be, in which human rights can be seen to
18811 exist independent of privileges, gifts, and donations of the powerful, and
18812 that these rights can somehow be defined and protected by the force of law.
18813 We casually assume, because they were somehow able to imagine, that
18814 the exercise of power is no natural birthright but must be a gift of those
18815 who are subject to it."
18816 -- Bernard Bailyn, from "To Begin The World Anew: The Genius and
18817 Ambiguities of the American Founders
18819 Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. -- Francis Bacon
18821 I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that
18822 I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
18825 I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep
18826 contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could
18827 share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.
18828 It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill
18829 of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping
18830 forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.
18831 -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
18833 Another cause of your sickness, and the most important:
18834 you have forgotten what you are.
18837 All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of
18838 their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible,
18839 exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.
18840 One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on
18841 by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
18844 When a man mistakes his thoughts for persons and things, he is mad.
18845 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
18847 Did you ever see dishonest calluses on a man's hands? Hardly.
18848 When a man's hands are callused and women's hands are worn,
18849 you may be sure honesty is there. That's more than you can
18850 say about many soft white hands.
18853 The march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which
18854 a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
18857 The American invents
18858 as the Greek chiseled,
18859 as the Venetian painted,
18860 as the modern Italian sings.
18863 If it's mechanical, has tits, or wheels, it will give you trouble.
18866 Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
18869 A small nose means a small penis. Small noses make for difficult breathing
18870 and small penises make for difficulty breeding.
18873 Executives are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on running
18874 on the spot. If you drag an executive away from his business, he goes
18875 on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never
18876 stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them.
18877 -- Jean Baudrillard
18879 Every man bears in himself the germs of every human quality;
18880 but sometimes one quality manifests itself, sometimes another,
18881 and the man often becomes unlike himself,
18882 while still remaining the same man.
18885 You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.
18888 If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
18889 -- Professor Irwin Corey
18891 When you wish to instruct be brief--so that people's minds can
18892 quickly grasp what you have to say, understand your point, and
18893 retain it accurately. Unnecessary words just spill over the
18894 side of a mind already crammed to the full.
18897 I just don't understand why anyone is unable to realize what a disaster
18898 a meeting is for a business. Never meet. If it can't be settled in a
18899 five minute conversation, it's probably insoluble no matter how many
18900 people talk about it for however long.
18903 Writing comes more easily if you have something to say. -- Sholem Asch
18906 led by the unknowing,
18907 are doing the impossible
18908 for the ungrateful.
18909 We have done so much for so long with so little
18910 We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
18911 -- Blue Collar Lament
18913 Endure, and save yourself for happier times. -- Virgil
18915 I don't think being funny is anyone's first choice. -- Woody Allen
18917 i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly
18918 spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
18919 which is natural which is infinite which is yes
18922 None but myself ever did me any harm. I was, I may say, the only enemy to
18923 myself: my own projects, that expedition to Moscow, and the accidents which
18924 happened there, were the causes of my fall. I must say, though, that those
18925 who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views,
18926 and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury,
18927 and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they
18928 encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except
18929 myself, to injure me.
18930 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
18932 If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better
18933 mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the
18934 world will make a beaten path to his door.
18935 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, attributed by Sarah B. Yule, Borrowings, 1889
18937 Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
18938 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18940 All conservatives are such from personal defects.
18941 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18943 The reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which
18944 protect it, is the want of self-reliance.
18945 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18947 We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.
18948 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18950 The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
18951 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18953 Fame is proof that people are gullible.
18954 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18956 What is the hardest task in the world? To think....
18957 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18959 The greatest discovery of any generation is that a
18960 human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.
18963 Were we perfectly acquainted with the object,
18964 we should never passionately desire it.
18965 -- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
18967 The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot
18968 stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
18971 There were two "Reigns of Terror", if we could but remember and consider it;
18972 the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood;
18973 the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one
18974 inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million;
18975 but our shudders are all for the horrors of the momentary Terror, so to
18976 speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with
18977 lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city
18978 cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have
18979 all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France
18980 could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror--that
18981 unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see
18982 in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
18985 You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
18988 To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable. -- John Adams
18990 In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
18991 In practice, there is.
18994 The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy,
18995 chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly
18996 photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.
18999 Literature is the art of writing something that will be
19000 read twice; journalism what will be read once.
19003 It takes at least a couple of decades to realize that you were well taught.
19004 All true education is a delayed-action bomb assembled in the classroom for
19005 explosion at a later date. An educational fuse of 50 years long is by no
19007 -- Kenneth D. Gangel
19009 When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy,
19010 it ceases to be a subject of interest.
19013 Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the
19014 industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
19017 An author is a fool who, not content with boring those
19018 he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
19019 -- Charles de Montesquieu
19021 Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you
19022 don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's
19023 a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
19026 If knowledge can create problems, it is not through
19027 ignorance that we can solve them.
19030 A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. -- Sir Francis Bacon
19032 The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
19033 And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little
19034 we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our
19035 thoughts and deeds.
19038 People who are unhappy with the way things are tend to remain unhappy
19039 even after they have changed them. The nature of their unhappiness
19040 is such that change does not slake it.
19043 The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of
19044 production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication,
19045 draws all nations into civilization.
19048 I learned one really sad fact from my career as a columnist: nobody changes
19049 their mind about anything. Ever. Once we form the opinion, we become
19050 evidence processors and we just collect all the evidence that supports our
19051 opinion and reject all the evidence that disputes it.
19054 I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first
19055 dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.
19058 The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off.
19059 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on the Mideast peace effort, 2003.
19061 Once we admit that there is room for newness--that there are vastly more
19062 conceivable possibilities than realized outcomes--we must confront the fact
19063 that there is no special logic behind the world we inhabit, no particular
19064 justification for why things are the way they are. Any number of arbitrary
19065 small perturbations along the way could have made the world as we know it
19066 turn out very differently.
19069 Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be
19070 sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
19071 -- Robert Louis Stevenson
19073 All human beings should try to learn before they die
19074 what they are running from, and to, and why.
19077 The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
19078 world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
19081 All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really
19082 happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all
19083 that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and
19084 the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places
19085 and how the weather was.
19086 -- Ernest Hemingway
19088 The true conquests, the only ones that leave no regret,
19089 are those that have been wrested from ignorance.
19090 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
19092 No love, no friendship can cross the path of our
19093 destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.
19094 -- Francois Mauriac
19096 Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic
19097 wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.
19098 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
19100 A thick skin is a gift from God. -- Konrad Adenauer
19102 Far from idleness being the root of all evil,
19103 it is rather the only true good.
19104 -- Soren Kierkegaard
19106 It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.
19107 -- Logan Pearsall Smith
19109 The secret of joy is the mastery of pain. -- Anais Nin
19111 Everything is practice. -- Pele
19113 However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in
19114 the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we
19115 imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of
19116 ourselves in their words.
19119 It is astonishing what you can do when you have
19120 a lot of energy, ambition and plenty of ignorance.
19121 -- Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
19123 The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
19124 -- G. K. Chesterton
19126 If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? -- Art Hoppe
19128 For all these new and evolutionary facts, meanings, purposes,
19129 new poetic messages, new forms and expressions, are inevitable.
19132 A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king,
19133 and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
19136 Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution. -- Karl Kraus
19138 Love demands infinitely less than friendship. -- George Jean Nathan
19140 People only see what they are prepared to see. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19142 We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one
19143 dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are
19144 relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past,
19145 present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in
19146 the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
19149 I hate house work! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months
19150 later you have to start all over again.
19153 The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only
19154 a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
19155 deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the
19156 man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
19159 If a man watches three football games in a row
19160 he should be declared legally dead.
19163 To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. -- Claude Monet
19165 Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence,
19166 by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and
19167 rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life.
19168 Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and
19169 scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
19172 Being defeated appears to be an inexhaustible
19173 wellspring of intellectual progress.
19174 -- Reinhart Koselleck
19176 Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing
19177 how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
19180 George Orwell, on why someone might write a book...
19182 1. Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered
19183 after death, to get your own back on grownups who snubbed you in childhood,
19184 etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong
19185 one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians,
19186 lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen-in short, with the whole top crust
19187 of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After
19188 the age of about thirty they abandon individual ambition and live chiefly for
19189 others or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority
19190 of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the
19191 end, and writers belong to this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on
19192 the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested
19194 2. Esthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on
19195 the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact
19196 of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good
19197 story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not
19198 to be missed. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from
19199 esthetic considerations.
19200 3. Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true
19201 facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
19202 4. Political purpose -- using the word "political" in the widest possible
19203 sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other
19204 people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once
19205 again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art
19206 should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
19208 The only true exploration, the only real Fountain of Youth, will not be
19209 in visiting foreign lands, but in having other eyes, in looking at the
19210 universe through the eyes of others.
19213 They said it couldn't be done but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.
19216 To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. -- Cicero
19218 Nobody ever died of laughter. -- Max Beerbohm
19220 A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for. -- W. C. Fields
19222 Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks
19223 only when driven to speech by something outside himself--like,
19224 for instance, he can't find any clean socks.
19227 Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. You don't win
19228 once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them
19229 right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
19232 It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover.
19235 Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win,
19236 by fearing to attempt.
19237 -- William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"
19239 Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom
19240 of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
19243 Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules.
19244 They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin
19245 that won't heal because there's not enough material.
19246 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
19248 One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with
19249 gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is
19250 so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for
19251 the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
19254 Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- Josh Billings
19256 One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before
19257 you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
19258 -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
19260 When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision,
19261 then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
19264 Fascism should more properly be called corporatism,
19265 since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
19266 -- Benito Mussolini
19268 Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. -- Ovid
19270 There is hardly anything in the world that some men cannot make a little
19271 bit worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price
19272 only are this man's lawful prey.
19275 The globe has been circumnavigated, but no man ever yet has; you may survey
19276 a kingdom and note the results in maps, but all the savants in the world
19277 could not produce a reliable map of the poorest human personality.
19280 Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
19283 Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
19286 One important key to success is self-confidence.
19287 An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
19290 If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
19291 change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
19292 planet with a different reality system.
19295 As people grow up, they change brands. -- Al Ries
19297 If there is just one beam of sunshine coming into a room,
19298 you can be sure that the cat is lazing in its heat.
19299 -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
19301 If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
19304 If the human race wishes to have prolonged and indefinite period
19305 of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful
19306 and helpful way toward one another.
19307 -- Winston Churchill
19309 All charming people have something to conceal, usually
19310 their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
19313 Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break
19314 down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and
19315 at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday.
19316 -- Christopher Hitchens
19318 Try to be one of the people on whom nothing gets lost. -- Henry James
19320 If a man hasn't discovered something that
19321 he would die for, he isn't fit to live.
19322 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
19324 The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of
19325 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
19328 Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
19331 I am happy to engage in discussion with those who accept that technology and
19332 affluence are a net plus, but who worry about their troubling side effects.
19333 Spare me, however, the sensitive souls who deplore technological advance and
19334 economic growth over their cell phones on their way to the airport.
19337 There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
19338 together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
19339 -- Sir Thomas Beecham
19341 The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.
19342 -- Laurence J. Peter
19344 The universe is full of magical things patiently
19345 waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
19348 Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
19349 usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and
19350 nobody thinks of complaining.
19353 My life needs editing. -- Mort Sahl
19355 Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. -- Emile Coue
19357 Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My
19358 opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-
19359 seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
19360 -- Flannery O'Connor
19362 There is nothing so wrong in this world that a sensible
19363 woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.
19366 There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said
19367 things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that
19368 he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible.
19371 Adults are obsolete children. -- Dr. Seuss
19373 Barbie would also be tired of Microsoft's licensing bullsh*t.
19374 -- Maury Cesterino, Chief Software Architect, Mattel, Inc.
19376 When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we
19377 fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
19378 Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
19381 A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
19382 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
19384 Allowing a schizophrenic in a cowboy costume to represent himself in a
19385 death penalty case gives new meaning to the term "frontier justice."
19386 -- Jim Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.
19388 Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves
19389 you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.
19392 Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth
19393 and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the
19394 adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death.
19397 Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
19398 -- Martin Luther King
19400 Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -- Anais Nin
19402 Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
19403 who have the courage to defend it.
19406 Psychoanalysis is that spiritual disease of
19407 which it considers itself to be the cure.
19410 Teaching is arduous work, entailing much grinding detail and
19411 boring repetition--a teacher, it has been said, never says
19412 anything once--interrupted only occasionally by moments of
19413 always surprising exultation. And I should like to add that
19414 I don't think I learned a thing from my students, except that,
19415 as one student evaluation informed me, I tend to jingle the
19416 change in my pocket.
19419 All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history,
19420 novels, art would be ineffectual.
19421 -- Honore de Balzac
19423 We do not sit in such-and-such a way because a carpenter has built
19424 a chair in such-and-such a way; rather, the carpenter makes the chair
19425 as he does because someone wants to sit that way.
19428 No brilliance is required in law, just common sense
19429 and relatively clean fingernails.
19432 Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. -- Seneca
19434 True friends stab you in the front. -- Oscar Wilde
19436 Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. -- Henry Ford
19438 Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life.
19439 The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for
19443 Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
19446 Life need not be easy provided only that it is not empty. -- Lise Meitner
19448 Some of us cannot be optimists, but all of us can be bigamists.
19451 No more frisking as of old,
19452 Or chasing his shadow over the lawn,
19453 But a dignified old person, tickling
19454 His nose against twig or flower in the border,
19455 Until evening falls and bed-time's in order...
19456 My cat and I grow old together.
19459 Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken
19460 in too large quantities.
19463 The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and
19464 mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
19465 -- Thomas A. Edison
19467 Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
19468 pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little
19469 falls into lazy habits of thinking.
19472 Engineering can be seen as a family of paths crossing a solution space--in
19473 this case a space defined by all the possible arrangements and combinations
19474 of geometry, time, and material properties that might satisfy the particular
19475 specifications of a design. Filtering a good design out of these possibilities
19476 by simple, direct calculation is impossible both because of the enormous number
19477 of variables and because there are always elements in the specifications--like
19478 aesthetics or ergonomics or compatibility with the corporate image--that can't
19479 be reduced to a number or folded into a common denominator. What humans do in
19480 these cases is: think up a completely wrong (but sincerely felt) approach to
19481 the problem, jump in, fail, and then do an autopsy. Each failure contains
19482 encrypted somewhere on its body directions for the next jump: "strengthen this
19483 part," "tie this down next time," "buy a better battery." Good engineering is
19484 not a matter of creativity or centering or grounding or inspiration or lateral
19485 thinking, as useful as those might be, but of decoding the clever, even witty,
19486 messages solution space carves on the corpses of the ideas in which you
19487 believed with all your heart, and then building the road to the next message.
19488 -- Fred Hapgood, from "Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and Technical
19491 The hardest part of gaining any new idea is
19492 sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
19495 Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done
19496 it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my
19497 wall that runs counter-clockwise.
19500 What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
19501 -- Theodore Roethke
19503 A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
19504 an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
19505 -- Winston Churchill
19507 I have always felt that everybody on earth goes about in disguise.
19510 At bottom, every man knows perfectly well that he is a unique being,
19511 only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a
19512 marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever
19513 be put together a second time.
19514 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
19516 Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the
19517 lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
19520 If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
19521 The more things you do, the more you can do.
19524 The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I deplore
19525 its passing, for as a basically old-fashioned machine, it enshrines a
19526 basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and
19527 human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car,
19528 by the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the
19529 remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society.
19532 I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and eternal.
19533 -- Eugene Delacroix
19535 History never looks like history when you are living through it.
19538 In a cat's eyes round as golden bells,
19539 The mad Spring's flame glows.
19540 On a cat's gently closed lips,
19541 The soft Spring's drowsiness lies.
19542 On a cat's sharp whiskers,
19543 The green Spring's life dances.
19546 People always talk to me about my drinking; they never ask me about my thirst.
19549 Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.
19550 -- Philippe Shnoebelen
19552 We don't stop playing because we grow old;
19553 we grow old because we stop playing.
19554 -- George Bernard Shaw
19556 Competitions are for horse, not artist. -- Bela Bartok
19558 I feel that if a person has problems communicating
19559 the very least he can do is to shut up.
19562 It is, of course, totally pointless to call a cat when it is intent
19563 on the chase. They are deaf to the interruptive nonsense of humans.
19564 They are on cat business, totally serious and involved.
19565 -- John D. MacDonald
19567 Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.
19568 -- Sir William Osler
19570 The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
19571 -- Robertson Davies
19573 Where do the words come from? The same mysterious place, I suspect,
19574 where notes of music go. They precede ideas, and are inseparable
19575 from them. For myself, I bow my head, touch wood, and utter a small
19576 prayer that the flow of them never cease.
19579 The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I
19580 could charge you two hundred and forty-nine dollars for the right to speak it.
19581 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at BrainyQuotes
19583 Only a monopolist could study a business and ruin it by giving away products.
19584 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at ThinkExist.com
19586 Try moving off NT easily. You can move from Solaris to HP/UX to AIX or DEC
19587 easily relative to moving off of NT, which is like a Roach Motel. Once you
19588 check in, you never check out.
19589 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at World of Quotes
19591 With Microsoft the first hit is always free--remember that all your life.
19592 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at CNet
19594 I am convinced that if General Motors could eliminate [Microsoft] Office from
19595 their entire company, they could get the 1999 cars out next year at half price.
19596 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
19598 We've got bayonets fixed, and we'll go into any cave no matter how dark and
19599 dank it is. And in the air war [against Microsoft to win new developers],
19600 we'll go after any developer and not just let them turn over to the dark side.
19601 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at News.com
19603 Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system.
19604 I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too.
19605 -- Scott McNealy, November 4, 1998, quoted at CNN.com
19607 Every time you turn on your new car, you're turning on 20 microprocessors.
19608 Every time you use an ATM, you're using a computer. Every time I use a
19609 settop box or game machine, I'm using a computer. The only computer you
19610 don't know how to work is your Microsoft computer, right?
19611 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
19613 Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin'. -- Yogi Berra
19615 "I've seen things like this before," he told the daily Il Messaggero.
19616 "Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods."
19617 -- Gabriele Amorth, one of the Catholic Church's exorcists, quoted
19618 in an article about Canneto di Caronia, a town where electronics
19621 Nature is an unlimited broadcasting station,
19622 through which God speaks to us every hour,
19623 if we only will tune in.
19624 -- George Washington Carver
19626 To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream;
19627 not only plan, but also believe.
19630 The first step to getting the things
19631 you want out of life is this:
19632 Decide what you want.
19635 A scientist will never show any kindness for
19636 a theory which he did not start himself.
19637 -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
19640 Disappointments upon disappointments.
19642 This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding.
19645 What is now proved was once imagined. -- William Blake
19647 We haven't had any tea for a week.
19648 The bottom is out of the universe.
19651 If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable
19652 of understanding truth and beauty.
19653 -- Japanese Proverb
19659 Telephone, n.: An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
19660 advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
19661 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
19663 I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers
19664 his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.
19667 Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him
19668 with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.
19671 Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force
19672 that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
19675 One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.
19676 -- G. K. Chesterton
19678 Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute to the elevation
19679 of your spiritual practice, provided you are able to transform the
19680 calamity and misfortune into the path.
19681 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom",
19682 published by Snow Lion Publications
19684 In Buddhism, both learning and practice are extremely important, and they must
19685 go hand in hand. Without knowledge, just to rely on faith, faith, and more
19686 faith is good but not sufficient. So the intellectual part must definitely be
19687 present. At the same time, strictly intellectual development without faith and
19688 practice, is also of no use. It is necessary to combine knowledge born from
19689 study with sincere practice in our daily lives. These two must go together.
19690 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western
19691 Buddhists", published by Snow Lion Publications
19693 The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
19694 yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
19695 May intense compassion arise within me
19696 for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds.
19698 In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
19699 is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
19700 May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
19701 and practice it at all times, day and night.
19702 -- "The Eighth Situpa on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer", translated
19703 by Lama Sherab Dorje, published by Snow Lion Publications
19705 The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
19706 -- Following the Equator
19708 Love is metaphysical gravity. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
19710 Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
19711 Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.
19712 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
19714 In accordance with the conditioning of desire, fear, disgust, and so forth--
19715 the conditioning of habitual tendencies that one has been accustomed to since
19716 beginningless time--mind itself appears as body, enjoyments, abode, and so
19717 forth. Yet, childish ordinary individuals do not comprehend that these
19718 [appearances] are the identity of their own minds. Conceiving of mind as being
19719 "here" and objects "over there," they hold the separation, the vast divide
19720 between the apprehended and apprehender, to be established in actuality. This
19721 is entirely imputation, or a deluded misapprehension of the way things are, as
19722 when not knowing that the dream elephant is personal experience, but instead
19723 apprehending it as an actual elephant in the external world.
19724 -- "Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary on Shantarakshita's Ornament
19725 of the Middle Way", translated by Thomas H. Doctor.
19727 Instead of prompting the appearance of delusions and/or hallucinations,
19728 many of the patients receiving Valium displayed a progressive development
19729 of dislikes and hates. The patients themselves deliberately used the term
19730 "hate". This hatefulness first involved non-significant figures in the
19731 patients' environment, progressed from there to the involvement of key
19732 figures such as aides, nurses and physicians, and went on to the involvement
19733 of important personal figures such as parents and spouses... This
19734 hatefulness was of a peculiar type. The patients were unhappy with it; they
19735 realized that it was unnatural and without basis, but were impotent to do
19736 anything about it. Many of them, exhibiting real distress, would inquire,
19737 "Why do I feel like this?"
19738 -- P.E. Feldman, Journal of Neuropsychiatry
19740 The greatest book is not the one whose messages engraves itself on the brain,
19741 but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to
19742 reader spreads the fire that is fed by various essences, until it becomes a
19743 great conflagration.
19746 The world is a looking glass and gives back
19747 to every man the reflection of his own face.
19748 -- William M. Thackeray
19750 Travel is only glamorous in retrospect. -- Paul Theroux
19752 Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which
19753 difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
19754 -- John Quincy Adams
19756 Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden
19758 I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works
19759 to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets
19760 anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
19763 You might find this discussion of attitudes threatening or insulting. No one
19764 wants to be told they're practicing incorrectly. We don't want to hear that
19765 we are uptight or repressed, that we are unskillful in dealing with our pain.
19766 We just want to continue doing what we are doing. But there's a Tibetan saying
19767 that the highest teaching is the one that reveals practice and any mistake you
19768 might be making, it will only result in what you most truly desire--progress in
19769 your spiritual development. Remember, I know of these mistakes because I've
19770 made them all myself. Practice involves a radical transformation of our being,
19771 and we have to learn to face and eventually to dissolve all the attitudes we
19772 have about everything, not only meditation. So check yourself out.
19773 -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
19774 Practitioner's Journey"
19776 Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality. -- Steve Allen
19778 At this point, a vote for Bush is a character flaw. -- Janeane Garofalo
19780 It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make
19781 their experiments on journalists and politicians.
19784 Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other.
19785 -- Laurence J. Peter
19787 Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
19789 I have taken all knowledge to be my province. -- Sir Francis Bacon
19791 Genius is childhood recaptured at will. -- Charles Baudelaire
19793 Generally speaking, whenever we perceive things, our perception is deluded, in
19794 that we project onto things a status of existence and a mode of being which is
19795 simply not there. We exaggerate things, and the way they then appear falsely
19796 to our minds gives rise to afflictive emotions. When we see our friends or
19797 enemies, for instance, we superimpose on them a quality of desirability or
19798 undesirability that is beyond the actual facts of the situation, and this
19799 superimposition or exaggeration sparks off fluctuating states of emotion in
19800 our mind. Towards our friends we feel strong attachment and desire, and
19801 towards our enemies powerful anger and hatred. So if we are serious about
19802 trying to purify our minds of these afflictive emotions, an understanding of
19803 emptiness becomes crucial.
19804 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
19805 Perfection", Snow Lion Publications
19807 If you examine the nature of your own mind, you will realize that the
19808 pollutants, such as afflictive emotions and thoughts rooted in a distorted
19809 way of relating to the world, are actually unstable. No matter how powerful
19810 an affliction, when you cultivate the antidote of true insight into the nature
19811 of reality, it will vanish because of the power of the antidote, which
19812 undermines its continuity. However, there is nothing that can undermine the
19813 basic mind itself; nothing that can actually interrupt the continuity of
19814 consciousness. The existence of the world of subjective experience and
19815 consciousness is a natural fact. There is consciousness. There is mind.
19816 There is no force that can bring about a cessation of your mental continuum.
19817 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to
19818 Enlightenment", published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
19820 When we habituate our minds to being fearless, to being brave and open towards
19821 our emotions, fearlessness will also arise naturally. In order for this to
19822 happen we must train in applying antidotes to our thought patterns that are
19823 caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend fear first through a conceptual
19824 process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a natural fearlessness. In order
19825 to become fearless in this way, we need determination and the willingness to
19826 face our emotions. With that strong determination and courage, fearlessness
19827 will arise effortlessly.
19828 -- from Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
19829 Avalokiteshvara, trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
19830 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
19832 The strongest element of growth lies in the human choice. -- George Eliot
19834 But again, I warn you my son: If you want to continue to be a devoted yogi,
19835 generally you should never cling to dreams. If you do, you will eventually
19836 expose yourself to the influence of the four maras. If your dreams are
19837 positive, do not have any expectations. If we are filled with hopes and
19838 expectations, even positive things can turn negative. If your dreams are
19839 negative, don't take them too seriously. Learn to see negative dreams as
19840 illusion, not real. Then, although a dream seems negative, because we realize
19841 that it isn't real, it becomes a positive thing that prepares us for further
19842 development and realization in the spiritual path. This is the practice of
19844 -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
19846 In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where
19847 it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of
19848 rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy,
19849 of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political
19850 dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers
19851 and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party,
19852 but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid,
19853 home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform
19854 mechanically repeating the familiar phrases--bestial atrocities, iron heel,
19855 bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder--
19856 one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being
19857 but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments
19858 when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank
19859 discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether
19860 fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance
19861 towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out
19862 of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were
19863 choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he
19864 is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of
19865 what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And
19866 this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate
19867 favorable to political conformity.
19868 -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
19870 An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.
19871 A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life
19872 when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
19875 Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. -- Seneca
19877 I am a devilish fellow, who has mastered many arts. -- August Strindberg
19879 Every real thought on every real subject
19880 knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
19881 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
19883 Come, lovely cat, and rest upon my heart,
19884 And let my gaze dive in the cold
19885 Live pools of thine enchanted eyes that dart
19886 Metallic rays of green and gold.
19887 -- Charles Baudelaire
19889 A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. -- Hazel Nicholson
19891 As every cat owner knows,
19893 -- Ellen Perry Berkeley
19895 One of the most important practices is that of tolerance, patience. Tolerance
19896 can be learned only from an enemy; it cannot be learned from your guru. At
19897 these lectures, for instance, you cannot learn tolerance, except perhaps when
19898 you are bored! However, when you meet your enemy who is really going to hurt
19899 you, then, at that moment you can learn tolerance. Shantideva makes a
19900 beautiful argument; he says that one's enemy is actually a good spiritual
19901 guide because in dependence upon an enemy one can cultivate patience, and in
19902 dependence upon patience one accumulates great power of merit. Therefore, it
19903 is as if an enemy were purposefully getting angry in order to help you
19905 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
19906 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
19908 In the intermediate stages of practice, you must be like a farmer during the
19909 harvest. Once he has determined that it is time to reap his crop, he works
19910 at it continuously, no matter what anyone tells him. Just as a farmer works
19911 to make the most of the crop he has grown, we who now have opportunities and
19912 conditions which are so valuable to our practice, should use them
19913 immediately, understanding that there is no time to be wasted.
19914 -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
19916 I'm growing old, I delight in the past. -- Henri Matisse
19918 Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
19919 with us--that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
19922 Things equal out pretty well.
19923 Our dreams seldom come true,
19924 but then neither do our nightmares.
19927 Inner development comes step by step. You may think "Today my inner calmness,
19928 my mental peace is very small," but still, if you compare, if you look five,
19929 ten, or fifteen years back, and think, "What was my way of thinking then? How
19930 much inner peace did I have then and what is it today?", comparing it with what
19931 it was then, you can realize that there is some progress, there is some value.
19932 This is how you should compare--not with today's feeling and yesterday's
19933 feeling, or last week or last month, even not last year, but five years ago.
19934 Then you can realize what improvement has occurred internally. Progress comes
19935 by maintaining constant effort in daily practice.
19936 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
19938 Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when
19939 I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before
19940 me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is
19941 what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor
19943 -- Alexander Hamilton
19945 Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the
19946 young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that
19947 it cares for its helpless members.
19950 It is important for us to have a stable and peaceful mind, for it is mostly
19951 through our mind that we experience suffering and problems. With diligence,
19952 we can establish our minds in peace by abandoning the afflictions that create
19953 obstacles. Meditation makes this possible because it establishes a steady
19954 mind. Among the many types of meditation, calm abiding (shamatha) and deep
19955 insight (vipashyana) are central to this process. In calm abiding, our mind
19956 is focused inwardly, which allows us to suppress the afflictions so that they
19957 do not actually manifest. There is a sense of distance between us and the
19958 afflictions. It is not possible, however, to eradicate them with calm abiding
19959 alone; deep insight is necessary to remove them at the root.
19960 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa
19961 Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, Snow Lion Publications
19963 Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.
19966 If you persevere in this practice of recognizing the state of natural
19967 light, it will progressively become easier to repeat the lucid recognition
19968 that you are dreaming. There will arise a steady awareness within the dream,
19969 and you will know that you are dreaming. When you look in a mirror, you see
19970 a reflection. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly, you know that
19971 it is a reflection. This is similar to knowing that a dream is a dream, to
19972 being lucid. Whether the dream is tragic or ecstatic, you are aware that it
19974 Awareness within the Dream State becomes a way to develop oneself and to
19975 break one's heavy conditioning. With this awareness, one can manipulate the
19976 dream material. For example, one can dream whatever one wishes, or one can
19977 pick up a desired theme. One can continue dreaming from where one left off
19978 on a previous occasion.
19979 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light"
19981 Responsibility educates. -- Wendell Phillips
19983 What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid
19984 of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that
19985 which he thinks he already knows.
19988 There are two kinds of food--food for mental hunger and food for physical
19989 hunger. Thus a combination of these two--material progress and spiritual
19990 development is the most practical thing. I think that many Americans,
19991 particularly young Americans, realize that material progress alone is not
19992 the full answer for human life. Right now all of the Eastern nations are
19993 trying to copy Western technology. We Easterners such as Tibetans, like
19994 myself, look to Western technology feeling that once we develop material
19995 progress, our people can reach some sort of permanent happiness. But when
19996 I come to Europe or North America, I see that underneath the beautiful
19997 surface there is still unhappiness, mental unrest, and restlessness. This
19998 shows that material progress alone is not the full answer for human beings.
19999 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
20001 Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't
20002 time--and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
20003 -- Georgia O'Keeffe
20005 The eighth root downfall is to regard our physical bodies, or the skandhas or
20006 aggregates of our psycho-physical makeup, as impure and base. The reason why
20007 this is a root downfall is because Vajrayana sees everything as sacred. All
20008 appearances is a form of divinity, all sound is the sound of mantra, and all
20009 thought and awareness is the divine play of the transcending awareness, the
20010 Mahamudra experience. The potential for that sacredness exists within our
20011 present framework, so to speak, of the five skandhas. Acknowledging psycho-
20012 physical aggregates of an individual as the potential of the Buddhas of the
20013 five families, or the five elements, or the five feminine aspects, and so
20014 forth, is to recognize that, in tantra, the potential for the transformation
20015 exists within our present situation. To disparage that potential as something
20016 useless or impure or unwholesome is a root downfall, a basic contradiction,
20017 from the point of view of tantric practice.
20018 -- H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, in "Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
20020 Terrorists and totalitarians have always been two sides of one coin;
20021 a totalitarian out of office is a terrorist.
20024 Now that as humans we have met with spiritual teachings and have met a teacher,
20025 we should not be like a beggar doing nothing meaningful year after year, ending
20026 up empty-handed at death. I, an ordinary monk in the lineage of Buddha
20027 Shakyamuni, humbly urge you to make efforts in spiritual practice. Examine the
20028 nature of your mind and cultivate its development. Take into account your
20029 welfare in this and future existences, and develop competence in the methods
20030 that produce happiness here and hereafter. Our lives are impermanent and so
20031 are the holy teachings. We should cultivate our practice carefully.
20032 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
20035 Time makes more converts than reason. -- Tom Paine
20037 We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as
20038 we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better
20039 system, except possibly flipping a coin.
20042 To be dead is to stop believing in
20043 The masterpieces we will begin tomorrow.
20044 -- Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet
20046 The obvious is always least understood. -- Klemens von Metternich
20048 We are decent 99 percent of the time, when we could easily be vile.
20051 The whole world loves a maverick, but the whole world wants
20052 the maverick to achieve something nobler than simple rebellion.
20055 Insofar as the destructive effects of anger and hateful thoughts are
20056 concerned, one cannot get protection from wealth; even if one is a
20057 millionaire, one is subject to these destructive effects of anger and
20058 hatred. Nor can education guarantee that one will be protected from
20059 these effects. Similarly, the law cannot guarantee protection. Even
20060 nuclear weapons, no matter how sophisticated the defense system may be,
20061 cannot give one protection or defend one from these effects.
20062 The only factor that can give refuge or protection from the destructive
20063 effects of anger and hatred is the practice of tolerance and patience.
20064 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
20065 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
20067 Theoretically it may be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient
20068 beings," but through our practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is
20069 a collection of individuals. When we actually try to generate compassion
20070 for each and every individual, it becomes much more challenging. But if we
20071 cannot work with one individual, then how can we work with all sentient
20072 beings? Therefore it is important for us to reflect more practically, to
20073 work with compassion for individuals and then extend that compassion further.
20074 -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
20075 translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop
20076 Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
20078 The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
20079 the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
20080 -- Bertrand Russell
20082 I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
20085 The worst, the hardest, the most disagreeable thing that you may have
20086 to do may be the thing that counts most, because it is the hard discipline,
20087 and it alone, that makes possible the highest efficiency.
20090 I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
20091 I learn by going where I have to go.
20092 -- Theodore Roethke
20094 Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. -- Cherokee proverb
20096 Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. -- T'ien Yiheng
20098 Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong
20099 they are until they get into hot water.
20100 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
20102 There are two appropriate methods of mahamudra meditation to give rise to
20103 the primordial awareness of the dharmadhatu: looking while the mind is
20104 resting and looking while the mind is moving. The approach to the first
20105 method is the meditation of calm abiding. One lets one's mind rest until
20106 it abides calmly, and then with precision one looks at it. One looks for
20107 how it rests, for where it abides, and whoever or whatever it is that
20108 abides there. This is looking at the true nature of the mind while the
20110 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Everyday Consciousness and
20111 Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Publications
20113 It is better to debate a question without settling it
20114 than to settle a question without debating it.
20117 What is the purpose of the Dharma? Just like other spiritual traditions,
20118 Buddhadharma is an instrument for training the mind--something we use to try
20119 to work out the problems that we all experience; problems that originate
20120 mainly at the mental level. Negative emotional forces create mental unrest,
20121 such as unhappiness, fear, doubt, frustration and so forth; these negative
20122 mental states then cause us to engage in negative activities, which in turn
20123 bring us more problems and more suffering. Practicing Dharma is a way of
20124 working out these problems, be they long-term or immediate. In other words,
20125 Dharma protects us from unwanted suffering.
20126 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion.
20128 Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the
20129 symbol of his liberty--his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when
20130 it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.
20133 Everything in the world has a hidden meaning... Men, animals, trees, stars,
20134 they are all hieroglyphics. When you see them you do not understand them.
20135 You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years
20136 later that you understand.
20137 -- Nikos Kazantzakis, from "Zorba the Greek"
20139 One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things
20140 like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.
20143 A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
20146 Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
20149 For a romantic relationship to survive, more than romantic love is needed.
20150 We need to love the other person as a human being and as a friend. The sexual
20151 attraction that feeds romantic love is an insufficient basis on which to
20152 establish a long-term relationship. Deeper care and affection, as well as
20153 responsibility and trust, must be cultivated.
20154 In addition, we do not fully understand ourselves and are a mystery to
20155 ourselves. Needless to say, other people are even more of a mystery to us.
20156 Therefore, we should never presuppose, with a bored attitude that craves
20157 excitement, that we know everything about our partner because we have been
20158 together so long. If we have the awareness of the other person being a
20159 mystery, we will continue to pay attention and be interested in him or her.
20160 Such interest is one key to a long-lasting relationship.
20161 -- Thubten Chodron, from "Buddhism for Beginners", Snow Lion Pub.
20163 Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun.
20166 Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
20167 same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least
20168 twice as fast as that!
20171 Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its
20172 instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary
20173 for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living
20174 for the ordinary human being.
20177 Vision without action is a daydream;
20178 action without vision is a nightmare.
20179 -- Japanese proverb
20181 To satisfy a cat, a new state of being needs to be
20182 created--halfway between in and out.
20183 -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
20185 The Perfection of Zeal
20186 1. Thus, one who has patience should cultivate zeal, because Awakening is
20187 established with zeal, and there is no merit without zeal, just as there is no
20188 movement without wind.
20189 2. What is zeal? It is enthusiasm for virtue. What is said to be its
20190 antithesis? It is spiritual sloth, clinging to the reprehensible, apathy, and
20192 3. Spiritual sloth arises from indolence, indulging in pleasures, sleep,
20193 and craving for lounging around due to one's apathy toward the miseries of the
20194 cycle of existence.
20195 4. Scented out by the hunters, the mental afflictions, you have entered the
20196 snare of rebirth. Why do you not recognize even now that you are in the mouth
20198 -- Shantideva, in "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life", trans. from the
20199 Sanskrit and Tibetan by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace, published by
20200 Snow Lion Publications
20202 I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.
20203 -- Theodore Roosevelt
20205 Sufferings arise from specific causes and conditions, which are collected by
20206 individual sentient beings. That being so, it is extremely important that
20207 individual sentient beings know what is to be practiced and what is to be
20208 given up--what brings suffering and what brings long-lasting happiness. We
20209 must show sentient beings the right path, which brings happiness and the wrong
20210 path, which brings suffering. Therefore, when we talk about benefiting other
20211 sentient beings, it is through showing them the path and helping them
20212 understand what is to be given up and what is to be practiced. This is how
20213 we can help other sentient beings.
20214 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
20216 We make our lives miserable by being miserable, so why not do exactly the
20217 opposite, and make our lives happy, joyful, and harmonious, by being happy,
20218 joyful, and harmonious? We create our own lives and yet we think that
20219 something else is doing it. All we have to do is change our mental
20220 reactions towards the opposite direction. And the way to do that is to
20221 meditate, otherwise we won't have the strength of mind to do it. A mind
20222 that can meditate is a mind that is one-pointed. And a mind that is one-
20223 pointed, the Buddha said, is like an ax that has been sharpened. It has a
20224 sharp edge that can cut through everything. If we want to remove stress
20225 and strain, and have a different quality of life, we have every opportunity.
20226 We need to strengthen our mind to the point where it will not suffer from
20227 the things which exist in the world.
20228 -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
20229 Tsomo, published by Snow Lion Publications
20231 I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
20232 mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
20233 philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation,
20234 commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study
20235 painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
20238 There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
20239 easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
20240 -- Benjamin Franklin
20242 Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk
20243 step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and
20244 patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again.
20247 Umpire's heaven is a place where he works third base every game.
20248 Home is where the heartache is.
20251 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20252 Other than the meditation that occurs, where is the one who is meditating?
20253 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20254 Other than the behavior that occurs, where is the one who is behaving?
20255 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20256 Other than the samaya vow that occurs, where is the one who is guarding it?
20257 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20258 Other than the fruition that occurs, where is the one who is realizing it?
20259 You should look at your own mind, observing it again and again.
20260 -- from "Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation
20261 and commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, published by Snow Lion Pub.
20263 You must understand that I'm just as interested in someone I've
20264 known for ten minutes as in someone I've known for ten years.
20265 -- Alberto Giacometti
20267 Now in our day-to-day lives we know that the more stable, calm and contented
20268 our mind is, the more feelings and experiences of happiness we will derive
20269 from it. The more undisciplined, untrained, and negative our mind is, the
20270 more we suffer mentally, and physically as well. So we can see only too well
20271 that a disciplined and contented mind is the source of our happiness.
20272 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
20273 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
20275 If we do not wish merely to know intellectually about the view of emptiness,
20276 but rather wish to experience it ourselves in our own continuum, we should
20277 build a firm foundation for this. Then, according to our mental ability we
20278 should hear and consider both the sutras and treatises which teach the profound
20279 view of emptiness as well as the good explanations of them by the experienced
20280 Tibetan scholars in their commentaries. Together with this, we should learn
20281 to make our own ways of generating experience of emptiness accord with the
20282 precepts of an experienced wise man.
20283 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", published by Snow Lion Pub.
20285 A great deal of our suffering comes from having too many thoughts. And, at
20286 the same time, the way we think is not sane. We are only concerned by our
20287 immediate satisfaction and forget to measure its long-term advantages and
20288 disadvantages, either for ourselves or for others. But such an attitude
20289 always goes against us in the end. There is no doubt that by changing our
20290 way of seeing things we could reduce our current difficulties and avoid
20292 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
20294 If, motivated by the attainment of fame and gain for this life and hoping to
20295 look good in the eyes of others, one's behavior appears to be temporarily
20296 beautiful and one appears to be diligent in moral conduct, hearing, and
20297 contemplation, then one should think, "What is the use of appearing good in the
20298 eyes of others when my practice does not counteract the afflictions? When my
20299 practice does counteract the afflictions then even if it is not beautiful,
20300 what have I got to lose?
20301 -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
20302 the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Pub.
20304 Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you,
20305 well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best
20306 preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
20307 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
20309 If you can't describe what you are doing as a process,
20310 you don't know what you're doing.
20311 -- W. Edwards Deming
20313 Our Dharma practice is the best offering to make to our teachers. If we have
20314 material possessions, talents, and time, we can offer those. However, we don't
20315 neglect our practice, for that is what our teacher cares about most. When we
20316 follow the Dharma instructions we've received and keep whatever precepts we've
20317 taken, that pleases our teacher more than anything else.
20318 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Pub.
20320 If organized religion is the opium of the masses, then
20321 disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe.
20322 -- Principia Discordia
20324 When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
20325 be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
20326 -- St. Francis of Assisi
20328 Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
20329 -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
20331 It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie
20332 which is being systematically repeated. If something is in me which can be
20333 called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the
20334 world so far as our science can reveal it.
20335 -- Albert Einstein, in "Albert Einstein : The Human Side", from a 1954
20336 letter to an atheist.
20338 This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military
20339 system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation
20340 to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been
20341 given his big brain by mistake; a spinal cord was all he needed.
20342 -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
20344 I'm not a teacher, but an awakener. -- Robert Frost
20346 It is very important to understand the context of the Buddhist emphasis on
20347 recognizing that we are all in a state of suffering, otherwise there is a
20348 danger we could misunderstand the Buddhist outlook, and think that it involves
20349 rather morbid thinking, a basic pessimism and almost an obsessiveness about the
20350 reality of suffering. The reason why Buddha laid so much emphasis on
20351 developing insight into the nature of suffering is because there is an
20352 alternative--there is a way out, it is actually possible to free oneself from
20353 it. This is why it is so crucial to realize the nature of suffering, because
20354 the stronger and deeper your insight into suffering is, the stronger your
20355 aspiration to gain freedom from it becomes. So the Buddhist emphasis on the
20356 nature of suffering should be seen within this wider perspective, where there
20357 is an appreciation of the possibility of complete freedom from suffering. If
20358 we had no concept of liberation, then to spend so much time reflecting on
20359 suffering would be utterly pointless.
20360 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Book of Awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
20362 A cat is a demure animal; it will not come into the living room
20363 wagging its tail and knocking over lamps and tables.
20364 -- H. Monger Burdock
20366 There is no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.
20369 Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the
20370 principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either
20371 that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or
20372 that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may
20373 cause. But this is shortsighted, no one truly benefits from causing harm to
20374 another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense
20375 of someone else is short-lived. In the long run causing others misery and
20376 infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear and
20377 suspicion within one-self. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and
20378 contentment which are the marks of happiness.
20379 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
20381 When we're told that things are mere deceptive appearances, we shouldn't
20382 misinterpret it as license to act in any way we please. Of course, none of
20383 us would be so silly! Appearances are extremely powerful. You dream your
20384 house is on fire and you're surrounded by flames. You can't escape and feel
20385 terrified. You wake up soaked in sweat and screaming. What a relief! It was
20386 just a nightmare and none of it actually happened, but while it all seemed to
20387 be happening, you were in anguish.
20388 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
20389 published by Snow Lion Publications
20391 A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams.
20394 I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work. -- Mary Cassatt
20396 If one ever wishes to retain one's fantasies about the good sense
20397 of the people in the realm of literary taste, one does best never
20398 to consult the bestseller lists.
20401 The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
20403 Speaking of others' faults can also be a way to distract ourselves from
20404 acknowledging our own painful emotions. For example, if we feel hurt or
20405 rejected because a dear one hasn't called us in a long time, rather than
20406 feel the suffering nature of our attachment, we criticize our loved one
20407 for being unreliable and inconsiderate.
20408 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Publications
20410 A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance.
20411 -- Benjamin Disraeli
20413 The things that we love tell us what we are. -- St. Thomas Aquinas
20415 Everything on this planet functions according to the law of nature. Particles
20416 come together, and on the basis of their co-operation everything around us, our
20417 whole environment, can develop and be sustained. Our own body too has the same
20418 structure. Different cells come together and work together in co-operation,
20419 and as a result, human life is sustained. In a human community the same law
20420 and principle of co-operation applies. Even for an aeroplane to fly or for a
20421 single machine to work, it can only do so by depending on many other factors,
20422 and with their co-operation. Without them it is impossible. Just so, to
20423 sustain everyday life in human society we need co-operation.
20424 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Pefection"
20426 We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the byways and
20427 untrodden depths of the wilderness, and travel and explore
20428 and tell the world the glories of our journey.
20429 -- John Hope Franklin
20431 Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
20434 Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in
20435 others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.
20438 There are two ways to slide easily through life:
20439 to believe everything or to doubt everything;
20440 both ways save us from thinking.
20441 -- Alfred Korzybski
20443 We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be
20444 to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.
20447 I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains
20448 be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate
20449 in greater pleasures.
20450 -- Michel de Montaigne
20452 A plot, if there is to be one, must be a secret. A secret that, if we only
20453 knew it, would dispel our frustration, lead us to salvation; or else the
20454 knowing of it in itself would be salvation. Does such a luminous secret
20455 exist? Yes, provided it is never known. Known, it will only disappoint us.
20458 The subjects that were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I
20459 fancied least. ... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
20460 always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed
20461 my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had
20462 only one result: I did not do well at examinations...
20463 -- Winston Churchill
20465 One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to
20466 commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money;
20467 we also feel we need to work.
20470 One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.
20473 The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -- Muriel Rukeyser
20475 Chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost maniacal impulse
20476 to seek their pleasures amongst smoke and vapour, soot and flames, poisons and
20477 poverty, yet amongst all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I would
20478 rather die than change places with the King of Persia.
20479 -- Johann Joachim Becher
20481 Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. -- Joan Ganz Cooney
20483 Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. -- Igor Stravinsky
20485 Purifying the unwholesome: In the past we have engaged in unwholesome physical,
20486 verbal, and mental actions. All these actions are of the past and cannot be
20487 touched; we cannot reach back and wipe them away. They have left detrimental
20488 imprints on our mind-stream that obstruct our spiritual practice and manifest
20489 as suffering when they come to full maturation, giving rise to misfortune and
20490 grief. However, these imprints can be affected, and even purified, by our
20491 present behavior. They are like seeds carried along in the current of our
20492 mind-stream. We cannot annihilate them without a trace, but we can burn them
20493 so that they have little or no potency to cause damaging results.
20494 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
20496 First it is important to recognize the human form as rare and precious. It is
20497 not enough just to obtain this precious human form which has great potential;
20498 rather, you should use that potential to its fullest extent by taking its
20499 essence. For example, if a person's ascent to high office is not followed by
20500 good work for the community and people, it is not very beneficial and
20501 worthwhile. If, on the basis of full use of the potential, one is able to
20502 accomplish great feats, that would truly be a great success. Therefore, it is
20503 important initially to recognize all the significance and great potential of
20504 this human existence.
20505 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
20507 We haven't had any tea for a week.
20508 The bottom is out of the universe.
20511 Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that
20512 usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills
20513 conflicting in one man, Freedom cannot be conceived simply.
20514 -- Flannery O'Connor, in "Wise Blood", 1952
20516 We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect
20517 and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.
20520 Only in the most unusual cases is it useful to determine whether
20521 a book is good or bad; for it is just as rare for it to be one or
20522 the other. It is usually both.
20525 A lie gets halfway around the world before
20526 the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
20527 -- Winston Churchill
20529 Like yourself, everyone else from their own side equally does not want
20530 suffering and equally wants happiness. For example, among ten ill people,
20531 each of them just wants happiness; from their side they are all ill, and
20532 they all want to be freed from their illness. Hence there is no possible
20533 reason for making a biased exception, treating a certain one better and
20534 neglecting the others. It is impossible to select one out for better
20535 treatment. Moreover, from your own viewpoint, all sentient beings, in
20536 terms of their connection with you over the course of lifetimes, have in
20537 the past helped you and in the future will help again. Thus, you also
20538 cannot find any reason from your own side to treat some better and others
20540 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
20541 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
20543 In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.
20544 -- Raymond Chandler
20546 Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. -- George Santayana
20548 Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. -- Claude Bernard
20550 When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the
20551 bad actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After
20552 that, when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we
20553 should help others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while
20554 pursuing our own inner development; however, after you have some confidence,
20555 some strength, you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any
20556 field--health, education, politics, or whatever.
20557 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
20559 Other paths that are aimed at "sudden awakening" lead one on an unmapped
20560 journey that may offer no clear indications of progress. In contrast, in this
20561 practice we have definite sign-posts along the way. Look at your mental
20562 distortions and see how they are doing. After practicing for a month, a year,
20563 six years, are the mental distortions somewhat diminished? Do wholesome
20564 qualities arise more readily, more frequently, more deeply? At the very root
20565 of the mental distortions, is the self-grasping attenuated? Is there less
20566 self-centeredness and greater humility? Is there more loving concern for the
20567 welfare of others? All of these are causes that lead either to well-being or
20569 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
20571 In the jungle of samsara arisings are ceaseless, there is never any let up in
20572 the interplay between past, present and future and in the turbulent interchange
20573 between inner thoughts and outer events. 'I', 'me' and 'mine' are tossed about
20574 like corks in the waves. There is no exit from this on the level of 'I'.
20575 There is no way to think yourself out of samsara. Even the thoughts that
20576 everything is empty, or is Padmasambhava, or pure from the very beginning do
20577 not help for no thought can unlock the door to awakening. The key is not
20578 shaped like a thing; it is not a thought, a feeling or a sensation. It's not
20579 something outer or inner. The key is your own nature, how you have been from
20580 the very beginning, simple, raw, naked, uncontrived, free of all constructs.
20581 -- Nuden Dorje, in "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text", Snow Lion
20583 Great ideas originate in the muscles. -- Thomas A. Edison
20585 If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. -- Mark Twain
20587 Mathematics is a game played according to certain
20588 simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
20591 When you are poor enough, everything has some value. -- Barbara Ann Porte
20593 I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
20594 been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and
20595 then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst
20596 the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
20599 In ancient times, a candidate for initiation into the Mysteries was led through
20600 a series of dark chambers, virtually a labyrinth, beset by terrifying sounds
20601 and ominous presences. And then in the adytum, the final chamber, there was a
20602 sudden illumination. The enthroned hierophant tells the candidate, "Behold the
20603 light, my child! It is your own being and nature." Just this epopteia, or
20604 sudden illumination, is the introduction to the Clear Light that is one's own
20605 original nature. The course of the initiation in the ancient Mystery Religions
20606 simulates the experience of death and rebirth and leads the candidate into what
20607 lies beyond, so that one no longer need fear death. This initiatory process
20608 may be compared to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
20609 -- John Myrdhin Reynolds, in "The Golden Letters", Snow Lion Pub.
20611 If only I had the theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough.
20612 -- Bernhard Riemann
20614 Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent,
20615 literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
20618 But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
20619 hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
20620 have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
20623 A memory is more atmospheric than accurate, more an evolving fiction than a
20624 sacred text. And thank heavens. If rude, shameful, or brutal memories
20625 can't be expunged, they can at least be diluted. So is nothing permanent
20626 and fixed in life? By definition life is a fickle noun, an event in
20627 progress. Still, we cling to philosophical railings, religious icons,
20628 pillars of belief. We forget on purpose that Earth is rolling at 1,000
20629 miles an hour, and, at the same time, falling elliptically around our sun,
20630 while the sun is swinging through the Milky Way, and the Milky Way migrating
20631 along with countless other galaxies in a universe about 13.7 billion years
20632 old. An event is such a little piece of time and space, leaving only a
20633 mindglow behind like the tail of a shooting star. For lack of a better
20634 word, we call that scintillation memory.
20635 -- Diane Ackerman, in "An Alchemy Of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of
20638 Many people who approach the practice of Buddhism are willing to sacrifice one
20639 or two hours of their day in order to perform some ritual practice or engage in
20640 meditation. Time is relatively easy to give up, even though their life may be
20641 very busy. But, they are not willing to change anything of their personality--
20642 they are not willing to forgo anything of their negative character. With this
20643 type of approach to Buddhism, it hardly matters how much meditation we do, our
20644 practice remains merely a hobby or a sport. It does not touch our lives. In
20645 order actually to overcome our problems, we have to be willing to change--
20646 namely to change our personality. We need to renounce and rid ourselves of
20647 those negative aspects of it that are causing us so much trouble.
20648 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
20651 Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into
20652 you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into
20653 you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
20656 Whoso does not see that genuine life is a battle
20657 and a march has poorly read his origin and his destiny.
20660 The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality
20661 one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
20664 The last proceeding of reason, is to recognize that
20665 there is an infinity of things beyond it.
20668 Argument is the worst sort of conversation. -- Jonathan Swift
20670 No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.
20673 Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
20674 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
20676 I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.
20677 -- Winston Churchill
20679 The self that is grasped by ignorance should be refuted, but we should not
20680 refute the conventionally existent self. If we refute the self that is merely
20681 conventionally existent, that is like a seeing a person and saying, "Oh, I
20682 didn't see the person." Or we might look at another person and say, "All I
20683 see is the basis of designation of the person or the visual form of the body."
20684 This is no way to speak. It would be impossible to maintain any valid or
20685 justifiable use of language in this way. We would be negating the existence
20686 of a merely designated self, but we would not negate the self that is refuted
20687 by means of the wisdom that investigates the nature of emptiness. Once again,
20688 the self to be negated is the self which is grasped by ignorance.
20689 -- Gen. Lamrimpa, in "Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation",
20690 translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
20692 In general, the countries of the East have had less material progress and thus
20693 have great suffering from poverty. In the West, though poverty is not severe,
20694 there is the suffering of worry and not knowing satisfaction. In both East and
20695 West, many persons spend their lives in jealousy and competition; some think
20696 only of money, and when they meet with conditions unfavourable to their wish
20697 develop a dislike or enmity for these unfavourable circumstances from the very
20698 orb of their heart. Within and between countries people are disturbed, not
20699 trusting and believing each other, having to spend their lives in continual
20700 lies and deceit. Since the most we can live is a hundred years, what point is
20701 there in spending our lives in jealousy, deceit, and competition?
20702 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", translated and edited by Jeffrey
20703 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
20705 She was fascinated by baths. I suppose total immersion in water
20706 must have seemed to her a peculiar method of cleansing oneself.
20707 -- Elizabeth Peters
20709 The uncompromising self-examination of a Rembrandt self-portrait remains,
20710 almost four centuries on, far more 'shocking' than a museum installation
20714 Complaint is the largest tribute Heaven receives. -- Jonathan Swift
20716 Mere belief in a source of refuge is not firm; unless there is valid cognition,
20717 you are going only on the assertion that Buddhism is good. Refuge is not an
20718 act of partisanship but is based on analysing what scriptures are reasonable
20719 and what scriptures are not. In order for the mind to engage one-pointedly in
20720 practice, there must be reasoned conviction that only the Buddhist path is
20721 non-mistaken and capable of leading to the state of complete freedom from
20722 defects and possession of all auspicious attainments. One should engage in
20723 honest investigation, avoiding desire and hatred and seeking the teaching that
20724 sets forth the means for fulfilling the aims of trainees.
20725 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", trans. & ed. by Jeffrey Hopkins
20727 A bad peace is even worse than war. -- Tacitus
20729 The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a number of
20730 smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it is a number
20731 of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that
20732 make men fortunate.
20735 Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. -- Confucius
20737 There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi
20739 If cats could talk, they wouldn't. -- Nan Porter
20741 I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
20744 The teeth, hair and nails are not I, nor am I bone, blood, mucus, phlegm,
20746 Bodily oil is not I, nor is sweat, fat or the entrails either. The cavity
20747 of the entrails is not I, nor is excrement or urine.
20748 Flesh is not I, nor are the sinews, warmth nor air. The bodily cavities are
20749 not I, nor is any one of the six types of consciousness.
20750 If the self truly exists in the manner in which it appears, then it should be
20751 identifiable as one inspects the components of a person one by one. Following
20752 the above verses, no part of the body, including the four elements and space,
20753 nor the six types of consciousness can be identified as the self. This implies
20754 that the self that experiences joy and sorrow and that appears to the mind as
20755 if it existed independently does not exist at all. This is ascertained by
20756 engaging in such analysis.
20757 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Transcendent Wisdom", Snow Lion Publications
20759 Once, on behalf of his mother, Kyogom produced a thangka of the five buddha
20760 families. He asked the guru, Gampopa, to bless it quickly.
20761 Gampopa agreed, saying, "Burn this stick of incense and make a mandala
20763 He then transformed himself into the Buddha, and from his ushnisha there
20764 radiated a glorious light that dissolved into the thangka. The air resounded
20765 with the tinkling of bells and the drumbeat of the damaru, and the sky was
20766 filled with parasols, auspicious banners, and canopies. The sound of cymbals
20767 was heard, and a rain of flowers fell from the sky.
20768 When Kyogom saw this, the lama said, "This is the way to do a rapid
20770 -- Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, in "The Life of Gampopa", Snow Lion Pub.
20772 The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill
20773 treatment means that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a
20774 state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any
20775 other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.
20776 -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
20778 No executive, legislative, administrative, or judicial measure authorizing
20779 recourse to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
20780 can be considered as lawful under international law.
20781 -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
20783 In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a
20784 long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians
20785 will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an
20786 unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time--literally
20787 --substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the
20788 first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally
20790 -- Peter F. Drucker
20792 Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. -- Hippocrates
20794 One of the lessons of the Web is that if people have access to information,
20795 they will consume it, whether they are hungry or not.
20798 If cats seem distant and aloof, it is because this is not their native
20799 planet--they are here just to visit and dominate.
20802 History is the only laboratory we have in which to test
20803 the consequences of thought.
20806 In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out.
20807 It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.
20810 If we have only cultivated undistracted meditative concentration and lack the
20811 supreme knowledge that realizes how things actually are, it is impossible to
20812 see ultimate reality. On the other hand, if we have the correct view of
20813 understanding identitylessness but no meditative concentration in which the
20814 mind rests one-pointedly, our mind will be distracted by other objects, not be
20815 under control, and thus not be workable. Consequently, it will be impossible
20816 for the light of wisdom to shine clearly and realize ultimate reality. Another
20817 analogy for the need to combine calm abiding and superior insight as an
20818 inseparable unity is a sharp scalpel in the steady hand of an experienced
20819 surgeon. If the scalpel is blunt or the surgeon's hand shaky, the operation
20820 cannot be performed properly. In the same way, when the mind rests in a state
20821 that involves both stillness and a crisp wakefulness or awareness, it is like
20822 a steady hand that deftly operates on our objects of investigation with the
20823 sharp blade of superior insight.
20824 -- Karl Brunnhoelzl, in "The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madyhamaka in the
20825 Kagyu Tradition, Snow Lion Publications
20827 Golf is the only sport where the ball doesn't move until you hit it.
20830 ... when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men
20831 of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
20832 that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending
20833 any save the most elemental--men whose whole thinking is done in terms of
20834 emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand.
20835 So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
20837 ... all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and
20838 mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is
20841 The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
20842 perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of
20843 the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
20844 plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the
20845 White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
20846 -- H. L. Mencken (July 26, 1920, in the Baltimore Sun):
20848 The mastery of the turn is the story of how aviation became practical as a
20849 means of transportation. It is the story of how the world became small.
20850 -- William Langewiesche
20852 Flight's greatest gift is to let us look around. I mean a simple form of
20853 looking around, and one that requires little instruction--just gazing down at
20854 the ordinary scenery sliding by below. The best views are views of familiar
20855 things, like cities and farms and bottlenecked freeways. So set aside the
20856 beauty of sunsets, the majesty of mountains, the imprint of winds on golden
20857 prairies. The world beneath our wings has become a human artifact, our most
20858 spontaneous and complex creation. Tourists may not like to contemplate the
20859 evidence, with its hints of greed and self-destruction, but the fact remains
20860 that the old sterilized landscapes--like designated outlooks and pretty parks
20861 and sculpted gardens--have become obsolete, and that it is largely the airplane
20862 that has made them so. The aerial view is something entirely new. We need to
20863 admit that it flattens the world and mutes it in a rush of air and engines, and
20864 that it suppresses beauty. But it also strips the facades from our
20865 constructions, and by raising us above the constraints of the treeline and the
20866 highway it imposes a brutal honesty on our perceptions. It lets us see
20867 ourselves in context, as creatures struggling through life on the face of a
20868 planet, not separate from nature, but its most expressive agents. It lets us
20869 see that our struggles form patterns on the land, that these patterns repeat to
20870 an extent which before we had not known, and that there is a sense to them.
20871 -- William Langewiesche, "Inside The Sky: Meditation on Flight"
20873 A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool
20874 who knows what he is talking about.
20875 -- Miguel de Unamuno
20877 Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real. -- Jules Verne
20879 We have the bias of considering some people to be enemies and others to be
20880 friends. If this really were true such that an enemy always remained an enemy
20881 and a friend always remained a friend, then there might be a reason to hate
20882 certain people and love others. But, again, this is not the case. There is
20883 no certainty in relationships.
20884 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
20885 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
20887 Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. -- George Santayana
20889 It is said that the awareness of a buddha is completely even, like the ocean,
20890 taking in equally the joys and sorrows of all people, friends, loved ones,
20891 relatives, and those never met. This is the meaning of a statement made by so
20892 many of the world's great spiritual teachers, "Love your enemy." It doesn't
20893 mean love the person you hate. You can't do that. Love those who hate you.
20894 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
20895 Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
20897 Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal
20898 does this--no dog exchanges bones with another.
20901 Art is not about thinking something up.
20902 It is the opposite--getting something down.
20905 Although we regard the realization of the selflessness of persons as something
20906 particularly exalted and therefore difficult to achieve, in fact, if you look
20907 directly at your mind and see its nature, you will realize this selflessness.
20908 This is not a matter of trying to convince yourself that there is no self in
20909 the mind. It is simply a matter of looking. And when you look, you will see
20910 that there is no mind, and that therefore there is no self that could be
20911 imputed on the basis of the mind.
20912 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Pointing out the Dharmakaya", Snow Lion
20914 Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death.
20917 Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. -- Henry Fielding
20919 Material progress is for the sake of achieving that happiness and relieving
20920 that suffering which depends upon the body. But it is indeed difficult to
20921 remove all suffering by these external means and thereby achieve complete
20922 satisfaction. Hence there comes to be a great difference between seeking
20923 happiness in dependence upon external things and seeking it in dependence
20924 upon one's own internal spiritual development. Furthermore, even if the
20925 basic suffering is the same, there is a great difference in the way we
20926 experience it and in the mental discomfort that it creates, depending upon
20927 our attitude towards it. Hence our mental attitude is very important in
20928 how we spend our lives.
20929 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
20931 Love is a condition in which the happiness of another
20932 person is essential to your own.
20935 Looking at a cat, like looking at clouds or stars or the ocean, makes
20936 it difficult to believe there is nothing miraculous in this world.
20937 -- Leonard Michaels
20939 Waking in the night
20944 Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.
20947 If you have love, deities and humans will love you and will naturally
20948 gravitate toward you. Moreover, the Conqueror defeated Mara's armies with the
20949 power of love, so love is the supreme protector, and so forth. Thus, although
20950 love is difficult to develop, you must strive to do so.
20951 The way to cultivate love is as follows. Just as you can develop compassion
20952 once you have repeatedly thought about how living beings are made miserable by
20953 suffering, develop love by thinking repeatedly about how living beings lack all
20954 happiness, both contaminated and uncontaminated. When you become familiar with
20955 this, you will naturally wish for beings to be happy. In addition, bring to
20956 mind various forms of happiness and then offer them to living beings.
20957 -- from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment",
20958 Volume 2, Snow Lion Publications
20960 There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found
20961 in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.
20964 You'll never need a lawn ornament if you have a cat in the yard.
20965 -- Katherine Palmer Peterson
20967 Karma has four main characteristics. The first is its increasing effect:
20968 goodness heralds further goodness and evil heralds further evil. Secondly,
20969 karma is definite: in the long run, goodness always produces joy and negativity
20970 always produces suffering. Thirdly, one never experiences a joy or sorrow that
20971 does not have an according karmic cause. And lastly, the karmic seeds that are
20972 placed on the mind at the time of an action will never lose their potency even
20973 in a hundred million lifetimes, but will lie dormant within the mind until one
20974 day the conditions that activate them appear.
20975 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
20977 The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. -- Jules Reynard
20979 There are generally two kinds of buddhist meditation: stabilizing meditation
20980 and analytical meditation. The stabilizing type of meditation gets the brain
20981 very mellow. It is a soothing of the mind to a clear state of calm, like a
20982 still lake. Stabilization allows all thoughts to flow through the mind without
20983 attachment to any of them. But the analytical type of meditation uses the
20984 power of logic to examine what is bothering one. Through meditative analysis,
20985 problems are conquered by finding their root causes and by developing
20986 techniques for mitigating the effects of those causes on the mind. Analysis
20987 can focus on topics such as impermanence, suffering, the need for patience,
20989 These two phases of meditation are not practiced at different times of the
20990 day, but from instant to instant. At first, when one is a beginner, one must
20991 actively work to stabilize the mind and release all the distractions. But
20992 just when one starts to doze off because this process is so relaxing, one
20993 switches over to analytical meditation to keep the brain moving and to balance
20995 One has to pay careful attention to the state of one's mind to determine
20996 what is needed at a particular time. But this wakeful refocusing of the
20997 attention helps to develop mindfulness, which in turn helps develop
20998 understanding and concentration. Later on, the switch between analytical
20999 and stabilizing meditations will happen somewhat more automatically; if
21000 thoughts start swirling too fast, the meditative mind seeks stabilization. If
21001 things get too calm or placid, then analysis can bring the balance back to
21002 thinking and improving.
21003 Analysis is insufficient by itself, because it might be all about what's
21004 currently "wrong" or it might produce a billion approaches to improving the
21005 mind which cannot all be followed, but it would miss out on just enjoying our
21006 somewhat short existence. Complete realization of the enjoyability of
21007 sentience and sapience seems to come from stabilization, not analysis. And
21008 stabilization is not enough by itself either, because one sees the result
21009 of too much placidity in a person asleep in bed: they have a cow-like calm
21010 without any thoughts breaking the surface to cause future progress. The
21011 impetus behind the push towards enlightenment seems to come from analysis,
21012 because one cannot see why one would want to fully awake and aware unless
21013 one can logically compare that state with the current one. Thus analytical
21014 and stabilizing meditations are the dynamic duo of meditation, the laurel
21015 and the hardy, the R and the D, the anion and the cation, for without both
21016 the ultimate mental state is unattainable.
21019 The bad news: there is no key to the universe.
21020 The good news: it was never locked.
21021 -- Swami Beyondananda
21023 What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of
21024 frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the
21025 first law of nature.
21028 A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.
21029 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
21031 If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
21032 -- Frederick the Great
21034 I know that many people have difficulty thinking of spirits in the way I
21035 describe them. There are many spirits described in Tibetan texts related to
21036 specific places in Tibet. I'm not sure, if we live in New York or Tokyo, that
21037 it's very helpful to try to connect to those spirits. When we are in Western
21038 cities, rather than thinking of spirits living in mountain passes or caves, we
21039 might find it easier to think that spirits travel the streets, creating anger
21040 and agitation in the drivers. When we experience aggressive driving, it is a
21041 good idea to breathe evenly and relax. Otherwise, we may find ourselves
21042 connected to traffic demons!
21043 -- "Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan
21044 Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen", published by Snow Lion Publications
21046 I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
21047 Let's start with typewriters.
21048 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
21050 As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.
21053 In Tantra the term bodhicitta assumes a more specific connotation. The essence
21054 of enlightenment or "Buddha-nature," revealed in the sutras of the third
21055 turning of the wheel of Dharma, is equated to the subtle essence (thig le) of
21056 the human body, the coarse aspect of which is present in the seminal fluid and
21057 in the ovum. Thus in Tantra, bodhicitta is recognized as the seed of the
21058 manifestation of the infinite mandalas and deities who are all already
21059 contained in potentiality in the energy structure of the physical body itself,
21060 what is known as the "vajra body." However in spite of this underlying
21061 recognition as its base, tantric practice entails visualization and commitments
21062 of body voice, and mind to achieve the transformation of the energies of impure
21063 vision into the pure dimension of the mandala and of the deities.
21064 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, in "The Supreme Source: The
21065 Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde Kunjed Gyalpo", Snow Lion Pub.
21067 Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books
21068 I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
21071 It is impossible to keep a straight face in
21072 the presence of one or more kittens.
21073 -- Cynthia E. Varnardo
21075 I always explain that violence is not the human way. I believe that,
21076 fundamentally, human nature is positive, gentle; therefore, the non-violent way
21077 is the human way. Also, whatever result we achieve through non-violence has no
21078 negative side effect. Through violence, even though we may get some kind of
21079 satisfaction, negative side effects are also incurred. Then, most importantly,
21080 whether we like it or not, we have to live side by side with the Chinese; thus,
21081 in the long future, generation to generation, in order to live happily,
21082 peacefully, it is extremely important, while we are carrying on the struggle,
21083 to accord with the principle of non-violence.
21084 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates discuss
21085 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", Snow Lion Pub.
21089 I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--
21090 that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have
21091 been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
21092 I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless
21093 to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent,
21094 can be anything but vicious.
21095 I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must
21096 necessarily make war upon liberty...
21097 I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence
21098 of witches, and deserves no more respect.
21099 I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
21100 I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what
21101 it is made of, and how it is run.
21102 I believe in the reality of progress.
21103 I--But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it
21104 is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be
21105 free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be
21109 The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small
21110 electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying
21111 even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is
21112 nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and
21113 the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds
21114 are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man
21115 who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual
21117 The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
21118 perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the
21119 people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
21120 plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
21121 House will be adorned by a downright moron.
21122 -- Henry Louis Mencken, "Bayard vs. Lionheart", Baltimore Evening Sun,
21125 The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of
21126 wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
21129 There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
21130 -- Sir Francis Bacon
21132 I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based
21133 on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.
21134 -- Benvenuto Cellini
21136 When we talk about patience or tolerance, we should understand that there are
21137 many degrees, starting from a simple tolerance, such as being able to bear a
21138 certain amount of heat and cold, progressing toward the highest level of
21139 patience, which is the type of patience and tolerance found in the great
21140 practitioners, the Bodhisattvas on the high levels of the Buddhist path.
21141 Since patience or tolerance comes from a certain ability to remain firm and
21142 steadfast, to not be overwhelmed by the adverse situations or conditions that
21143 one faces, one should not see tolerance or patience as a sign of weakness, but
21144 rather as a sign of strength coming from a deep ability to remain steadfast and
21145 firm. We can generally define patience or tolerance in these terms. We find
21146 that even in being able to tolerate a certain degree of physical hardship, like
21147 a hot or cold climate, our attitude makes a big difference.
21148 If we have the realization that tolerating immediate hardship can have long-
21149 term beneficial consequences, we are more likely to be able to tolerate
21150 everyday hardships. Similarly, in the case of those on the Bodhisattva levels
21151 of the path practicing high levels of tolerance and patience, intelligence also
21152 plays a very important role as a complementary factor.
21153 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
21154 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
21156 One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the
21157 background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
21158 -- Stephen Sondheim
21160 All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
21163 Completely pure desirous attachment expresses itself through Buddha Amitabha.
21164 A person guided by desire, attachment, or grasping becomes diffused and loses
21165 power over phenomena. Through completely purified desirous attachment,
21166 however, one is able to gain control over, and to independently coordinate,
21167 everything. This is because the entourage, possessions, merit, and so forth
21168 are controlled by the power of this Buddha. In this way Amitabha grants us the
21169 empowering enlightened activity and the empowering extraordinary achievements.
21170 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and
21171 Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
21173 No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
21174 -- David McCollough
21176 If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and
21177 only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement
21178 would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the
21179 atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, if you wish to call it that) that all
21180 things are made of atoms--little particles that move around in perpetual
21181 motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but
21182 repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
21183 -- Richard P. Feynman
21185 The third aspect of the practice of generosity is giving the gift of the
21186 Dharma by making the teachings available. Through the Dharma, we can bring
21187 understanding into the lives of others and help them remove their patterns of
21188 ignorance. We do not have to be great scholars to practice generosity through
21189 the Dharma. We may know just one line of the Dharma, but if we know that one
21190 line clearly and correctly, we can genuinely express it to others and help
21191 them. If we know four lines of the teachings, through those four lines we can
21192 help to clear up someone's ignorance or lessen someone's problems and
21193 sufferings. What counts is not how much we know but how correctly we know it
21194 and how sincerely we use it to help others. We should not wear the mask of the
21195 Dharma, pretending we know a great deal and are doing great things, while
21196 hiding ugliness inside us.
21197 -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", Snow Lion Pub.
21199 One difference between the destructive, negative emotions on the one side and
21200 constructive, positive emotions on the other is that constructive, positive
21201 emotions have a strong grounding in valid experience and reasoning. In fact,
21202 the more we analyze these positive emotions, the more they are enhanced.
21203 Negative, afflictive emotions, by contrast, are usually quite superficial.
21204 They have no grounding in reason and often arise out of habit rather than
21205 reasoned thought processes.
21206 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment",
21207 Snow Lion Publications
21209 Whenever you travel on an airplane, the flight attendants demonstrate what to
21210 do in an emergency. They tell you to put the oxygen mask over your own nose
21211 before putting it over your child's nose. That's not because you should be
21212 selfish, but because if you pass out, you won't be able to help anyone at all.
21213 So you see, the essential point is that we must first subdue our own minds
21214 before we can effectively serve others.
21216 If you have failed to subdue your own mind, even if a thousand Buddhas surround
21217 you, they will be of no benefit. If you want to subdue your enemies, you must
21218 subdue your own mind. If you want to bring about world peace, subdue your
21219 mind. A subdued mind is the Lama. A subdued mind is the Dakini, the chosen
21220 deity, and the Buddha. A subdued mind is the pure land. You are already
21221 imbued with the Buddha-nature. This is your inherent nature. What actual
21222 benefit have you gotten from the essential nature of your mind?
21223 -- Karma Chagme, in "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on
21224 the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", Snow Lion Publications
21226 From: non-verbal sys-admin
21227 To: support technician
21228 Subject: harriet crash
21230 harriet crashed this afternoon
21231 it is back online now
21232 looks like a bad drive in the array
21233 i have an ibm ticket opened
21234 hope to have it serviced sometime tomorrow
21236 the current state or the repair
21237 should not affect core team work in build
21241 From: support technician
21242 To: non-verbal sys-admin
21243 Subject: Re: harriet crash
21246 complete sentences, grammar
21249 I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little,
21250 they become its visible soul.
21253 I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite
21254 ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
21257 Besides the first degree of eminence in science, a professor with us must be
21258 of sober and correct morals and habits, having the talent of communicating his
21259 knowledge with facility, and of an accommodating and peaceable temper. The
21260 latter is all important for the harmony of the institution.
21261 -- Thomas Jefferson
21263 Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities,
21264 of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.
21265 -- Queen Elizabeth II
21267 We do not see, or we forget, that the birds that are idly singing around us
21268 mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life.
21271 Obstacles to our practice may be external, internal or secret. The external
21272 ones consist of natural disasters, harm inflicted by human and nonhuman
21273 beings, sicknesses and so forth. Internal obstacles are our own disturbed
21274 states of mind and emotions and all the obstructions to liberation and full
21275 knowledge of all phenomena. Secret obstacles are seemingly good
21276 circumstances, which distract the practitioner and make him or her forget
21277 about practice. For instance, one might gain a good reputation as a sincere
21278 practitioner and thereby attract followers and wealth, which in the end make
21279 one neglect one's practice.
21280 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind",
21283 From Linus Benedict Torvalds Oct 5 1991, 8:53 am
21284 Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
21285 From: torva...@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
21286 Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
21287 Local: Fri, Oct 4 1991 10:41 pm
21288 Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
21290 Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
21291 their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
21292 to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
21293 finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
21294 nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
21297 As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
21298 minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage
21299 where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
21300 and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is
21301 just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
21302 run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
21304 Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
21305 (128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also
21306 contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
21307 (bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel
21308 source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are
21309 only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The
21310 system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh.
21311 Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
21314 ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
21316 (and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
21317 set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
21318 for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
21319 something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
21320 alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
21321 hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.
21323 The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
21324 you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
21325 for additional info.
21327 I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
21328 out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
21329 minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
21330 it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
21331 their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
21332 modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.
21334 I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
21335 utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
21336 distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
21337 from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
21338 right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
21339 will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
21340 a line if you are willing to let me use your code.
21344 PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
21345 "forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.
21347 Question: How do things exist if they are empty of inherent existence?
21349 His Holiness: The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-
21350 existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void
21351 of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that
21352 we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
21353 negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
21354 on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
21355 other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
21357 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
21358 Snow Lion Publications
21360 You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
21361 But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
21364 Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things,
21365 in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually,
21366 are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
21367 -- Sir Humphrey Davy
21369 It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive.
21370 -- Federico Fellini
21372 When you engage in a project or an activity that helps other sentient beings,
21373 there is no question of a time limit. You must do it continuously. This is
21374 how you should train your mind. If you think you will achieve enlightenment or
21375 bodhichitta within a few days or months, and if you think that you will get
21376 enlightened after entering into a retreat for three years and three months, you
21377 are mistaken. When I hear the suggestion that you will attain Buddhahood if
21378 you go into retreat for three years and three months, sometimes I jokingly say
21379 that this is just like communist propaganda. I tell my Western friends that
21380 wanting to practice the most profound and the quickest path is a clear sign
21381 that you will achieve no result. How can you achieve the most profound and the
21382 vast in the shortest way? The story of the Buddha says that he achieved
21383 Buddhahood after three countless aeons. So harboring an expectation to achieve
21384 Buddhahood within a short time-like three years and three months-is a clear
21385 indication that you will make no real progress. We have to be practical.
21386 There is no use in fooling others with your incomplete knowledge.
21387 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
21389 Buddhist moral philosophy is strikingly pragmatic. Something is valuable
21390 insofar as it is relevant to people's lives and useful for achieving their
21391 happiness. If it will bring happiness for oneself and others, pursue it; if it
21392 will bring suffering, better to avoid it. There are no absolute dictates;
21393 ethical personal behavior is seen as simply the most practical way to cope with
21394 the difficulties of the human condition. Although guidelines and copious
21395 illustrations are given, nothing is absolute or definitive. The power and
21396 freedom to make decisions rests with the individual. There is no arbitrary or
21397 mysterious force controlling our lives; there is simply the law of cause and
21398 effect. Of course, decisions are dependent upon many factors. The choices we
21399 make are conditioned by circumstances, both outer and inner, but ultimately
21400 human beings have free will to decide. Individuals make decisions and
21401 experience the consequences of their decisions.
21402 -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
21403 Tsomo, Snow Lion Pub.
21405 Chemistry stands at the pivot of science. On the one hand it deals with biology
21406 and provides explanations for the processes of life. On the other hand it
21407 mingles with physics and finds explanations for chemical phenomena in the
21408 fundamental processes and particles of the universe. Chemistry links the
21409 familiar with the fundamental.
21412 In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. -- English Proverb
21414 A university is what a college becomes when the faculty
21415 loses interest in students.
21418 Ye can lead a man up to the university, but ye can't make him think.
21419 -- Finley Peter Dunne
21421 The new electronic interdependence recreates the
21422 world in the image of a global village.
21423 -- Marshall McLuhan
21425 One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.
21428 For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. -- William Blake
21430 Love is a kind of warfare. -- Ovid
21432 Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what
21433 is excellent in others belong to us as well.
21434 -- Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire, 1694
21436 From a Buddhist point of view, one might be able to distinguish different
21437 states of dreaming. Generally speaking, a dream is a dream, something you
21438 can't control. But for the highly advanced meditator, there could be
21439 possibilities for gaining certain insights through dreams.
21440 I know some Tibetans who lived in Tibet prior to the 1959 uprising. Before
21441 their escape from Tibet, they did not know about the natural trails and passes
21442 by which to get over the Himalayas into India. Some of these people I met had
21443 very clear dreams of these tracks and, years later, when they actually had to
21444 follow the actual trails, they found that they were already familiar with them
21445 because of the very clear dreams they had had previously.
21446 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
21447 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", ed. by Zara Houshmand,
21448 Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
21450 I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things.
21451 It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the
21452 shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to
21453 another book, and that to successive others.
21454 -- Carolyn Wells (1862-1942), Mystery Writer
21456 It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life
21457 that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that
21458 goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
21461 Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity,
21462 we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second
21463 time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
21464 -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
21466 One method for disciples to develop bodhichitta entails recognizing all
21467 beings as having been their mothers in some previous life and focusing on
21468 their mothers' kindness. Similarly, guru-meditation requires focusing on
21469 their mentors' kindness.
21470 Many Westerners, however, have difficulty focusing on the kindness of their
21471 mothers. Unable to find the goodness and kindness in their mothers, most
21472 cannot find any goodness in themselves either. Although they may be desperate
21473 for love and kindness, their mental blocks often prevent them from recognizing
21474 and appreciating the kindness of others, for instance their spiritual mentors.
21475 No matter how much kindness they receive, it is never enough.
21476 One of the reasons for being unable to acknowledge our mothers' kindness
21477 may be that they fail to live up to our models of ideal parents. Similarly,
21478 when our spiritual mentors have shortcomings and do not live up to our models
21479 of ideal teachers, we may also have difficulty recognizing their kindness.
21480 Like children yearning for ideal love, we feel cheated if our mentors fail
21481 to meet our expectations.
21482 -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy
21483 Relationship", Snow Lion Publications
21485 Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
21488 I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis
21489 and I don't deserve that either.
21492 I have come to believe over and over again that what is most
21493 important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at
21494 the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
21495 -- Audre Geraldine Lorde
21497 The word dharma in Sanskrit means "that which holds". All existents are
21498 dharmas, phenomena, in the sense that they hold or bear their own entity or
21499 character. Also, a religion is a dharma in the sense that it holds persons
21500 back or protects them from disasters. Here the term dharma refers to the
21501 latter definition. In rough terms, any elevated action of body, speech or
21502 mind is regarded as a dharma because through doing such an action one is
21503 protected or held back from all sorts of disasters. Practice of such
21504 actions is practice of dharma.
21505 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
21507 What will survive of us is love. -- Philip Larkin
21509 Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
21512 Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
21515 Optimism can make you look stupid but cynicism always makes you look cynical.
21518 An architect proves his skill by turning the defects of a site into advantages.
21519 -- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini
21521 Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world
21522 being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is
21523 asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.
21526 What is my purpose in life, what is my responsibility? Whether I like it or
21527 not, I am on this planet, and it is far better to do something for humanity.
21528 So you see that compassion is the seed or basis. If we take care to foster
21529 compassion, we will see that it brings the other good human qualities. The
21530 topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is very important to
21531 know that it is human business, that it is a question of human survival, that
21532 is not a question of human luxury. I might say that religion is a kind of
21533 luxury. If you have religion, that is good. But it is clear that even without
21534 religion we can manage. However, without these basic human qualities we cannot
21535 survive. It is a question of our own peace and mental stability.
21536 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An
21537 Anthology of Writings By and About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
21538 by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
21540 Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
21541 -- Benjamin Disraeli
21543 We often get angry when something we consider undesirable happens. But what
21544 use is this anger? If we can change the situation, then let's go ahead and do
21545 it. There's no need to be angry. It's very useful to think like this when
21546 confronted with social problems and injustice. They can be changed, so rather
21547 than be angry, it's wiser to work calmly to improve the society.
21548 On the other hand, if the situation can't be changed, anger is equally
21549 useless. Once our leg is broken, we can't unbreak it. All of the corruption
21550 in the world can't be solved in a year. Getting angry at something we can't
21551 alter makes us miserable. Worrying about or fearing something that hasn't
21552 happened immobilizes us. Shantideva said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
21554 Why be unhappy about something If it can be remedied? And what is the
21555 use of being unhappy about something If it cannot be remedied?
21556 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Open Heart, Clear Mind", Snow Lion Publications
21558 From the Hacker's Lexicon:
21560 Heisenbug /hi:'zen-buhg/ from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in
21561 quantum physics n. A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one
21562 attempts to probe or isolate it. Antonym of Bohr bug; see also mandelbug,
21563 schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from either
21564 fandango on core phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the
21565 malloc arena) or errors that smash the stack.
21567 Schroedinbug MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in
21568 quantum physics n. A design or implementation bug in a program which
21569 doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an
21570 unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the
21571 program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though this
21572 sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent
21573 schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.
21575 Bohr bug /bohr buhg/ from quantum physics n. A repeatable bug; one that
21576 manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of
21577 conditions. Antonym of heisenbug; see also mandelbug, schroedinbug.
21579 Mandelbug /mon'del-buhg/ from the Mandelbrot set n. A bug whose
21580 underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its behavior
21581 appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. This term implies that the
21582 speaker thinks it is a Bohr bug, rather than a heisenbug. See also
21585 If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in
21586 music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
21589 Nothing's impossible I have found,
21590 For when my chin is on the ground,
21591 I pick myself up, Dust myself off,
21592 Start all over again.
21595 You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.
21596 -- Colonial American Proverb
21598 The essence of dharma practice is to bring about a discipline within the mind,
21599 a state of mind free of hatred, lust and harmful intentions. Hence the entire
21600 message of the buddhadharma could be summed up in two succinct statements:
21601 "Help others," and "If you cannot help them, at least do not harm others."
21602 It is a grave error to think that apart from such a disciplining of the
21603 physical and mental faculties there is something else called "the practice of
21604 dharma." Various, and in some cases divergent, methods to achieve such an
21605 inner discipline have been taught in the scriptures by the Buddha.
21606 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
21608 It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
21609 nor the most intelligent,
21610 but the one most responsive to change.
21613 As progress is made in dream practice, dreams become clearer and more detailed,
21614 and a larger part of each dream is remembered. This is a result of bringing
21615 greater awareness into the dream state. Beyond this increased awareness in
21616 ordinary dreams is a second kind of dream called the dream of clarity, which
21617 arises when the mind and the prana are balanced and the dreamer has developed
21618 the capacity to remain in non-personal presence. Unlike the samsaric dream, in
21619 which the mind is swept here and there by karmic prana, in the dream of clarity
21620 the dreamer is stable. Though images and information arise, they are based
21621 less on personal karmic traces and instead present knowledge available directly
21622 from consciousness below the level of the conventional self.
21623 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
21624 published by Snow Lion Publications
21626 In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.
21629 Be careful when reading health books--you might die of a misprint.
21632 The practice of pure perception is effective when it is practiced a lot. In
21633 pure perception, look beyond the surface and imagine that other people are none
21634 other than expressions of buddha-mind. We can choose to focus on positive
21635 attributes. What we attend to becomes our reality and if we attend to the
21636 buddhas in situations, in things, in other people it is the buddhas we engage
21637 with and the reality of the buddhas that becomes our reality.
21638 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: Tibetan Seven-Point
21639 Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
21641 Correctness is clearly the prime quality. If a system does not do what it
21642 is supposed to do, then everything else about it matters little.
21645 The path to genuine co-operation is again through sincere compassion and love.
21646 Sometimes we misunderstand compassion as being nothing more than a feeling of
21647 pity. Compassion is much, much more. It embraces not only a feeling of
21648 closeness, but also a sense of responsibility. When you develop compassion, it
21649 will help you enormously to generate inner strength and self-confidence, and to
21650 reduce your feelings of fear and insecurity. So compassion and love, embodied
21651 in an attitude of altruism, are qualities that are of tremendous importance for
21652 the individual, as well as for society and the community at large.
21653 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
21654 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
21656 The value of transmission is not only that of introducing the state of
21657 knowledge, but lies also in its function of bringing about the maturing of the
21658 transmission, right up until one reaches realization. For this reason the
21659 relationship that links master and disciple is a very close one. The master,
21660 in Dzogchen, is not just like a friend who helps and collaborates with the
21661 disciple; rather the master is himself or herself the path. This is because
21662 the practice of contemplation develops through the unification of the state of
21663 the disciple with that of the master. The master is extremely important, too,
21664 at the Sutra and the Tantra levels of teaching, in the former because he or she
21665 is the holder of Buddha's teachings, and in the latter because he or she is the
21666 source of all the manifestations of transformation.
21667 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-perfected State",
21668 published by Snow Lion Publications
21670 Setting the Appropriate Motivation
21671 It is very important before receiving any Dharma teaching to set a proper
21672 motivation, or reaffirm and enhance that motivation if we already basically
21673 have it. This is important not only for those who are listening to a spiritual
21674 discourse, but also for the person delivering it. If a discourse or
21675 explanation is given with an attitude of pride, competitiveness or jealousy, it
21676 will not do as a Dharma teaching. A Buddhist teaching must be given with the
21677 sincere wish to benefit all beings by means of it.
21678 Likewise, the listeners to a Buddhist teaching must have a proper
21679 motivation, always thinking, "What new point can I learn from this that will
21680 help me be of more benefit to others?" If we sit here with the notion to learn
21681 something about mahamudra so that we can make a display of ourselves and
21682 proudly talk to others about mahamudra so that they will consider us an
21683 erudite, spiritual person, we have a completely wrong motivation.
21684 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
21685 published by Snow Lion Publications
21687 There is one simple Divinity found in all things, everything has Divinity
21688 latent within itself. For she enfolds and imparts herself even unto the
21689 smallest beings. Without her presence nothing would have being, because she
21690 is the essence of the existence of the first unto the last being.
21691 -- Giordano Bruno, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast", (1582)
21693 Even to have come forth is something, since I see that being able to conquer
21694 is placed in the hands of fate. However, there was in me, whatever I was able
21695 to do, that which no future century will deny to be mine, that which a victor
21696 could have for his own: Not to have feared to die, not to have yielded to any
21697 equal in firmness of nature, and to have preferred a courageous death to a
21699 -- Giordano Bruno, "De Monade"
21701 Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made
21702 manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single
21703 earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of
21707 The real story of our times is seldom told in the horse-puckey-filled memoirs
21708 of dopey, self-serving presidents or generals, but in the outrageous, demented
21709 lives of guys like Lenny Bruce, Giordano Bruno, Scott Fitzgerald--and Paul
21710 Krassner. The burrs under society's saddle. The pains in the ass.
21713 The Tibetan word that is usually translated as "blessing" or "inspiration" can
21714 more literally be translated as "to transform into magnificence." We are
21715 asking the Buddhas to transform our minds into magnificence. How that happens
21716 isn't by the Buddha going in and pulling some switches inside our mind.
21717 Because our mind is conditioned and changing, the mental energy of the Buddha's
21718 realizations can affect our energy, so to speak. Conditioned phenomena affect
21719 each other, so the force of Tara's realizations can positively affect our mind.
21720 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind", Snow Lion Publications
21722 A botnet is comparable to compulsory military service for windows boxes.
21725 The greatest strength is gentleness. -- Iroquois proverb
21727 Whether or not we actually achieve the realisation of bodhicitta and to what
21728 level or depth we gain such a realisation depends upon the force of our
21729 experience of great compassion. This great compassion, which aspires to free
21730 all sentient beings from suffering, is not confined to the level of mere
21731 aspiration. It has a dimension of far greater power, which is the sense of
21732 commitment or responsibility to personally bring about this objective of
21733 fulfilling others' welfare. In order to cultivate this powerful great
21734 compassion, we need to train our mind separately in two other factors. One is
21735 to cultivate a sense of empathy with or closeness to all sentient beings, for
21736 whose sake we wish to work so that they become free from suffering. The other
21737 factor is to cultivate a deeper insight into the nature of the suffering from
21738 which we wish others to be relieved.
21739 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
21741 Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external
21742 signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in
21743 taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner
21744 of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
21745 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", Snow Lion Pub.
21747 Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
21749 To go outside, and there perchance to stay
21750 Or to remain within: that is the question:
21751 Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
21752 The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
21753 That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
21754 Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
21755 And so by dozing melt the solid hours
21756 That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
21757 And stall the dinner bell.
21758 To sit, to stare Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
21759 A wish to venture forth without delay,
21760 Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
21761 As if transfixed by doubt.
21762 To prowl; to sleep;
21763 To choose not knowing when we may once more
21764 Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
21765 For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
21766 Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
21767 And going out and coming in were made
21768 As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
21769 What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
21770 The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
21771 The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
21772 The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
21773 That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
21774 He might his exodus or entrance make
21775 With a mere mitten?
21776 Who would spaniels fear,
21777 Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
21778 But that the dread of our unheeded cries
21779 And scratches at a barricaded door
21780 No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
21781 And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
21782 Than run away to unguessed miseries?
21783 Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
21784 And thus the bristling hair of resolution
21785 Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
21786 And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
21787 We pause upon the threshold of decision.
21790 It is not good to begin many different works, saying "This looks good; that
21791 looks good", touching this, touching that, and not succeeding in any of them.
21792 If you do not generate great desires but aim at what is fitting, you can
21793 actualise the corresponding potencies and become an expert in that. With
21794 success, the power or imprint of that practice is generated.
21795 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", Snow Lion Pub.
21797 Through the skillful methods of tantra, meditators are able to cultivate
21798 pleasure in a way that actually aids in spiritual progress. Afflicted
21799 grasping and desires based on mistaken ideas are the problem, not happiness
21800 and pleasure. If the pursuit of happiness and pleasure can be separated
21801 from afflictive emotions, then it can be incorporated into the path and
21802 will even become a powerful aid to the attainment of enlightenment.
21803 -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
21806 What kind of refuge does Buddhism offer? How are Buddhists and non-Buddhists
21807 differentiated? From the viewpoint of refuge, a Buddhist is someone who
21808 accepts Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community as the final refuge.
21809 From the viewpoint of philosophy, a Buddhist is someone who asserts the four
21810 views that guarantee a doctrine as being Buddhist. With respect to the three
21811 refuges, called the Three Jewels, it is said that the Buddha is the teacher of
21812 refuge but that the actual refuge is the Dharma, the doctrine. Buddha himself
21813 said, "I teach the path of liberation. Liberation itself depends upon you."
21814 From the same perspective, Buddha said, "You are your own master." The
21815 spiritual community are those who assist one in achieving refuge.
21816 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard", Snow Lion
21819 Bodhisattvas are motivated by universal compassion, and they seek the ultimate
21820 goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others. They embark on this
21821 path with the generation of the mind of enlightenment, which Geshe Rabten
21822 states is "the wish for Supreme Enlightenment for the sake of others. The sign
21823 of the true Bodhicitta is the constant readiness to undergo any sacrifice for
21824 the happines of all beings." Unlike ordinary beings, who think of their own
21825 advantage, bodhisattvas consider how best to benefit others.
21826 -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
21828 Why are there fierce protectors? Peaceful deities such as Tara have a certain
21829 energy that calms and gladdens our mind. But sometimes our mind is so
21830 belligerent and stuck that we need the kind of energy that goes "Pow!" to wake
21831 us up or to pull us out of unproductive behavior. For this reason, the
21832 Buddhas' wisdom and compassion appear in the form of these wrathful deities to
21833 demonstrate clean-clear wisdom and compassion that act directly. This active
21834 wisdom doesn't vacillate and pamper us. This wisdom doesn't say, "Well,
21835 maybe," or, "Poor you. You deserve to be treated well, not like that horrible
21836 person treated you." Instead, it's forceful: "Cut it out! Stop those false
21837 expectations and preconceptions right now!" Sometimes we need that strong,
21838 wise energy to be in our face to wake us up to the fact that our afflictions
21839 and old patterns of thought and behavior are making us miserable.
21840 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator"
21842 I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed
21843 rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting
21844 my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being
21845 in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military.
21848 The human essence of good sense finds no room with anger. Anger, jealousy,
21849 impatience, and hatred are the real troublemakers; with them problems cannot
21850 be solved. Though one may have temporary success, ultimately one's hatred or
21851 anger will create further difficulties. With anger, all actions are swift.
21852 When we face problems with compassion, sincerely and with good motivation, it
21853 may take longer, but ultimately the solution is better, for there is far less
21854 chance of creating a new problem through the temporary "solution" of the
21856 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
21858 Killing and eating meat are interrelated, so do we have to give up eating
21859 animal products? I myself once tried to give it up, but health problems arose
21860 and two years later my doctors advised me to again use meat in my diet. If
21861 there are people who can give up eating meat, we can only rejoice in their
21862 noble efforts. In any case, at least we should try to lessen our intake of
21863 meat and not eat it anywhere where it is in scarce supply and our consumption
21864 of it would cause added slaughter.
21865 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion Publications
21867 The mind is beyond expression, thought and conceptualization, because it is
21868 empty. Yet, there is phenomena and appearance. The objects that you cling to
21869 in this waking reality are dreamlike, but if you do not inquire into the nature
21870 of this dream, you remain attracted as though there were really something here.
21871 Upon examination, you find that these objects have no true existence at all and
21872 are just like space. A practitioner who understands that phenomena lack
21873 inherent existence and resemble space should then examine himself or herself to
21874 discover whether he or she possesses an individual self. Then it will be
21875 discovered that there is no truly existing examiner either.
21876 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, from "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra",
21877 published by Snow Lion Publications
21879 Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
21882 In discursive meditations it is imperative that one's growing disenchantment
21883 with mundane existence is complemented with growing confidence in the real
21884 possibility of true freedom and lasting joy that transcends the vicissitudes
21885 of conditioned existence. Without this faith and the yearning for such
21886 liberation, the meditations may easily result in profound depression, in which
21887 everything seems hollow, unreal, and futile. Thus instead of polarizing one's
21888 desires towards the single-pointed pursuit of nirvana, one is reduced to a
21889 debilitating kind of spiritual sloth.
21890 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
21891 to Refining Attention", Snow Lion Publications
21893 I believe that in human actions, the prime mover is motivation. On the spot,
21894 it is important to tackle the symptoms of problems, but in the long run, it is
21895 necessary to look at the motivation and whether there is possibility to change
21896 it. For the long run, this is crucial. As long as the negative motivation is
21897 not changed, then although there might be certain rules and methods to stop
21898 counterproductive actions, human beings have the ability through various ways
21899 to express their negative feeling. Thus, for the long run, we need to look at
21900 our motivation and try to change it. This means that we must try to cultivate
21901 the right kind of motivation and try to reduce the negative motivation.
21902 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
21903 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
21904 published by Snow Lion Publications
21906 When we talk of karma or action, it entails action committed by an agent, in
21907 this case, oneself, in the past. So what type of future will come about, to a
21908 large extent, lies within one's own hands and can be determined by the kind of
21909 initiatives that one takes now. Not only that, but karma should not be
21910 understood in terms of passive, static kind of force, but rather in terms of
21911 active process. This indicates that there is an important role for the
21912 individual agent to play in determining the course of the karmic process.
21913 Consider, for instance, a simple act like fulfilling our need for food. In
21914 order to achieve that simple goal one must take action on one's own behalf: one
21915 needs to look for food, to prepare it, to eat it. This shows that even a
21916 simple act, even a simple goal is achieved through action.
21917 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
21918 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
21920 Nothing is easier than to bring others down to our level, particularly in
21921 cultures where it is taken as a sign of keen intelligence to view every person
21922 and situation as a challenge to "name the ten things wrong with this picture."
21923 The presence of Guru Rinpoche in so many forms in our world makes us question
21924 life in a way pre-1959 persons rarely had to. Life isn't the same after
21925 meeting the Dalai Lama or Kyentse Rinpoche and others. We can't erase them
21926 from our minds, as inconvenient as these open doors to enlightenment might be.
21927 We had other plans; we didn't ask to see so vividly another totally different
21929 The question, "How can I integrate this into my daily life?" doesn't plumb
21930 the depth of the inquiry. I have translated for lamas in North America,
21931 Europe, and Asia, and have found this to be the typical North American
21932 question. I think the best answer is, "You can't; don't even try." But I
21933 have to wonder about the question itself. What do you do when an event or an
21934 encounter changes your life? If you won a 10,000,000 dollar jackpot, if a
21935 dear friend dies, or if you fall deeply in love, do you ask, "How can I
21936 integrate this into my daily life?" Some events change us, are earth-
21937 shattering, and are not meant to be integrated into what can sometimes feel
21938 like a rat race existence. Meeting Guru Rinpoche is one such event.
21939 -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", Snow Lion Pub.
21941 Now in terms of the actual practice, when one is immersed in the contemplation
21942 of the clear light, since all dualistic appearances vanish, it becomes
21943 impossible to distinguish the object from the consciousness perceiving it.
21944 They seem to become as if they were one, like water mixed with water. Of
21945 course, strictly speaking, there are two entities, subject and object, but
21946 within the experience of the clear light this duality is lost.
21947 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
21948 published by Snow Lion Publications
21950 Guardians of the teachings
21951 There are eight principal classes of Guardians each with many subdivisions.
21952 Some are highly realized beings, others not realized at all. Every place--
21953 every continent, country, city, mountain, river, lake or forest--has its
21954 particular dominant energy, or Guardian, as have every year, hour and even
21955 minute: these are not highly evolved energies. The various teachings all have
21956 energies which have special relationships with them: these are more realized
21957 Guardians. These energies are iconographically portrayed as they were
21958 perceived when they manifested to masters who had contact with them, and their
21959 awesome power is represented by their terrifyingly ferocious forms, their many
21960 arms and heads, and their ornaments of the charnel ground. As with all the
21961 figures in tantric iconography, it is not correct to interpret the figures of
21962 the guardians as merely symbolic, as some Western writers have been tempted to
21963 do. Though the iconographic forms have been shaped by the perceptions and
21964 culture of those who saw the original manifestation and by the development of
21965 tradition, actual beings are represented.
21966 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
21967 and Dzogchen, Teachings of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu", compiled and edited by
21968 John Shane, published by Snow Lion Publications
21970 5. When others out of jealousy treat me unreasonably, with abuse, slander, and
21971 so on, I will learn to take all loss and offer the victory to them. When any
21972 type of deserved or undeserved slander, prompted by jealousy, and so forth,
21973 and unpleasant verbal abuse [comes to one], do not lose patience. Keep a
21974 peaceful mind. Further, when problems arise, do not say "It is his fault,
21975 not mine!" Accept the blame, as did Geshe Lang ri thang pa. [Reflect:]
21976 "Whoever created this mess, it includes me! I have [a hand in it] also."
21977 The reason for this is that we must endeavor toward generosity and the various
21978 modes of ethical behavior, for the sake of purifying our many misdeeds and
21979 completing the accumulations [of merit and wisdom].
21980 Therefore, when one shows kindness to slanderers, even if one does not
21981 deserve the abuse and slander, it is said to be necessary for purifying our
21982 misdeeds when problems arise. Taking all blame on ourselves prevents our evil
21983 karma from arising.
21984 Geshe Lang ri thang pa speaks of a person from the Valley of Phan who
21985 sometimes gave a little butter cake to the Lamas, and at other times slandered
21986 them for no reason. The Lamas regarded him with great kindness. This
21987 cleansed their misdeeds and helped their accumulation of the two collections.
21988 They claimed that his slanderous talk was great. Shantideva's
21989 bodhisattvacaryavatara says:
21990 Therefore, since patience can be generated
21991 In dependence upon a very hate filled mind
21992 And because it is the cause of patience,
21993 Make offerings to it as if it was the most excellent doctrine!
21994 More correct even than this statement is that ethics and patience lead to
21995 great merit, and to the end of misdeeds such as anger. Therefore it is said
21996 that the hardest practice is patience. [Learn] the patience that is keeping
21997 still no matter what happens.
22000 I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
22001 -- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
22003 All sentient beings are exactly the same in that every one desires happiness
22004 and seeks to avoid misery. We are not isolated entities disconnected from
22005 each other. The happiness and suffering of other beings affect us. This
22006 mutual relation is obvious. Sentient beings have been kind and have benefited
22007 us directly and indirectly throughout beginningless time. These beings are
22008 intrinsically the same as us in their pursuit of happiness and effort to avoid
22009 suffering. Thus, it is essentially logical for us to train in cultivating an
22010 impartial attitude wishing for the happiness of all beings.
22011 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Pub.
22013 Our exaggerated sense of self and our compulsion to find happiness for this
22014 larger-than-life self we have fabricated cause us to ignore, neglect and harm
22015 others. Of course, it is our right to love and take care of ourselves, but
22016 not at the expense of others. While "As long as I'm alright" is our motto,
22017 we have no hesitation in acting with total disregard for others.
22018 We may find this description of self-concern altogether too crass to apply
22019 to us. "I'm not like that," we object, but though we may not consciously
22020 think in this way, when self-concern is operating, our behavior shows a cold
22021 indifference to others. Conflicts between partners, parents and children and
22022 with other family members, conflicts between students and teachers and on a
22023 larger scale within and between countries have their source in personal and
22024 collective self-concern.
22025 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
22026 preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
22027 effects are responsible for all our miseries.
22028 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An
22029 Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
22030 Snow Lion Publications
22032 Ordinarily, it is difficult to remember one's past life. Such recollections
22033 seem to be more vivid when the child is very young, such as two or three, and
22034 in some cases even younger. ...When the present body is fully formed, the
22035 ability to recall past life seems to diminish.
22036 The mental associations with this life become increasingly dominant. There
22037 is a close relationship during the first few years of one's life with the
22038 continuum of consciousness from the previous life. But as experiences of this
22039 life become more developed and elaborate, they dominate.
22040 It is also possible within this lifetime to enhance the power of the mind,
22041 enabling one to reaccess memories from previous lives. Such recollection
22042 tends to be more accessible during meditative experiences in the dream state.
22043 Once one has accessed memories of previous lives in the dream state, one
22044 gradually recalls them in the waking state.
22045 -- H.H Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
22046 The Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", Edited by Zara Houshmand,
22047 Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
22049 Relaxation involves a kind of awareness which reverses the normal tendency
22050 that we have. Because, as we have seen, this ordinary sense of self that we
22051 have lacks inherent self existence, it has to keep constructing itself and
22052 that requires a particular kind of effort. The ego's root feeling is that if
22053 I do not hold myself together there will be a falling apart into something
22054 chaotic and difficult. So there is anxiety, an energetic anxiety which is
22055 located in the body, in the whole energetic system of the body and
22056 interpersonal turbulence reminds us again and again "If I don't keep it
22057 together, I will get in trouble." The belief in reincarnation indicates that
22058 for many lifetimes we have been caught up in this anxiety, this nervous
22059 contraction which is holding our ordinary grasping sense of self in place.
22060 -- from "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
22061 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning,'" commentary by James Low, Snow Lion Pub.
22063 Buddhas are always striving for the welfare of beings migrating in cyclic
22064 existence. In every hour and minute they create limitless forms of welfare
22065 for beings throughout billions of emanations of their body, speech and mind.
22066 For instance, in this aeon--an aeon being a period of an extremely great
22067 number of years--they will appear in the aspect of one thousand supreme
22068 Emanation Bodies (Nirmanakaya) as Buddhas, and each will have his own new
22070 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
22073 The Buddhist teachings differentiate between flash insights (nyam, nyams),
22074 and stable realizations (togpa, rtogs-pa). A flash insight does not make a
22075 significant change in one's life, but may lead in that direction. A stable
22076 realization, on the other hand, whether it be partial or complete, actually
22077 produces a noticeable improvement that lasts. The distinction we are drawing
22078 here between Dharma instructors and spiritual mentors derives from this
22079 difference. Dharma instructors may have either insight or realization,
22080 whereas spiritual mentors need to have some level of stable realization.
22081 -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a
22082 Healthy Relationship, published by Snow Lion Publications
22084 Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.
22085 -- Edward Shepherd Mead
22087 If you can't do what you want, do what you can. -- Lois McMaster Bujold
22089 Human history is work history. The heroes of the people are work heroes.
22090 -- Meridel le Sueur
22092 It is not the man who has too little,
22093 but the man who craves more, that is poor.
22096 Drive-in banks were established so most of the
22097 cars today could see their real owners.
22098 -- E. Joseph Crossman
22100 I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch. -- Gilda Radner
22102 It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.
22105 You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that
22106 make you want to live to be a hundred.
22109 No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.
22112 Do not look where you fell but where you slipped.
22114 There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.
22117 Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
22118 -- Elizabeth Barret Browning
22120 Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
22121 -- Robert Louis Stevenson
22123 We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from
22124 artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
22125 -- Alfred E. Newman, Mad Magazine
22127 The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
22130 You are what you are--and not what people think you are. -- O.W. Polen
22132 Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
22135 From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
22138 I touch the future. I teach. -- Christa McAuliffe
22140 Curiosity is one of the permanent and
22141 certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
22144 People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. -- W. Somerset Maugham
22146 Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. -- Sir Francis Bacon
22148 The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting
22149 otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
22152 We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
22153 -- Wernher von Braun
22155 The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and
22156 write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
22159 Wealth is the possession of whatever gives us happiness,
22160 contentment or a sense of significance.
22163 To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. -- Oscar Wilde
22165 I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. -- Steven Wright
22167 The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.
22170 People who work sitting down get paid
22171 more than people who work standing up.
22174 It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -- Sir Edmund Hillary
22176 What we should ask of ourselves is growth, not perfection. -- Pat Boone
22178 Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. -- Unknown
22180 The purpose of life is to fight maturity. -- Dick Wertheimer
22182 Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with. -- Bob Wells
22184 A good mind possesses a kingdom. -- Lucius Anaaeus Seneca
22186 I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the
22187 position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has
22188 overcome while trying to succeed.
22189 -- Booker T. Washington
22191 An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart
22192 he would have been not to have taken it.
22193 -- Laurence J. Peter
22195 I have not lost my mind--it's backed up on disk somewhere. -- Unknown
22197 Wise men talk because they have something to say;
22198 fools, because they have to say something.
22201 Don't waste a thousand dollars' worth of emotion over a 5-cent triviality.
22204 Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. -- Suzanne Necker
22206 Some people are born on third base and go
22207 through life thinking they have hit a triple.
22210 I can't understand why people are scared of new ideas.
22211 I'm frightened of the old ones.
22214 It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
22217 A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. -- Samuel Goldwyn
22219 When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the bad
22220 actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After that,
22221 when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we should help
22222 others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while pursuing our
22223 own inner development; however, after you have some confidence, some strength,
22224 you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any field--health,
22225 education, politics, or whatever.
22227 There are people who call themselves religious-minded, trying to show this by
22228 dressing in a peculiar manner, maintaining a peculiar way of life, and
22229 isolating themselves from the rest of society. That is wrong. A scripture of
22230 mind-purification (mind-training) says, "Transform your inner viewpoint, but
22231 leave your external appearance as it is." This is important. Because the
22232 very purpose of practicing the Great Vehicle is service for others, you should
22233 not isolate yourselves from society. In order to serve, in order to help, you
22234 must remain in society.
22235 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness",
22236 Snow Lion Publications
22238 The indivisible nature of mind is said to possess a "mobile quality." This
22239 mobile quality is described as currents of energy which flow through the
22240 channels of various parts of the body, presiding over physical as well as
22241 mental functions, and pass through the nostrils as breathing. Such currents
22242 of energy, called "winds" (rlung, vayu), serve as the bridge between body and
22244 The winds are a blend of two types of energy, one associated with
22245 emotionality, called karmic or conditioned wind (las kyi rlung), and the other
22246 related to the original state of the individual, called pristine awareness
22247 wind (ye shes kyi rlung). Distinguished in terms of the three principles,
22248 darkness (tamas), mobility (rajas), and buoyancy (sattva), winds are of three
22249 types: wind of Rahu, solar wind, and lunar wind. Moreover, the winds are
22250 differentiated as the five root winds (rtsa ba'i rlung), the natures of the
22251 five elements, and five branch winds (yan lag gi rlung), produced through the
22252 five elemental transformations. The winds of the five elements, or five
22253 mandalas, flow back and forth through the right and left nostrils in the order
22254 of generation of the elements and of birth (first space, then wind, fire,
22255 water, earth) and in the order of dissolution of the elements and of death
22256 (first earth, then water, and so on), respectively. In one day, they are
22257 exhaled and inhaled 21,600 times, divided between the two nostrils, a time
22258 corresponding to eight periods or watches (thun). The outward movement of
22259 these energy currents as the breath diminishes the strength of the wind
22260 associated with pristine awareness. Therefore, when outward movement
22261 increases, there occur signs of death. If the winds are held inside,
22262 pristine awareness wind is strengthened. Hence, many extraordinary powers
22263 such as longevity are gained through breath control techniques for "holding
22264 the winds" in the central channel.
22265 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, in "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six,
22266 Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Indestructible Way of
22269 When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
22272 ...you should have the deep conviction that cessation of the sufferings and
22273 the delusions is possible, and also that it is possible within your mind.
22274 True cessation is a state where you have destroyed the delusions at their root
22275 so that there remains no potential for their re-emergence. Such a cessation
22276 can be realized only through the true paths that penetrate into the nature of
22278 When you develop this conviction, you will also be able to develop faith in
22279 a being who has really mastered cessation, who is the Buddha--a person who has
22280 fully accomplished the realization of the dharma. If you contemplate along
22281 such lines, you will be able to develop a very deep faith and conviction in
22282 Buddha Shakyamuni and see him as an incomparable master.
22283 What distinguishes Buddhist practitioners from others is the factor of
22284 taking refuge. But merely seeking a refuge out of the fear of suffering is
22285 not unique to Buddhists; non-Buddhists could also have such a motivation. The
22286 unique practice of refuge that Buddhists should have is that of taking refuge
22287 in the Buddha out of a deep conviction in his exceptional qualities and
22288 realizations. If you think in such terms you will be able to understand Lama
22289 Tsongkhapa's profound praise of Buddha Shakyamuni: "Those who are far from his
22290 doctrine always reinforce the illusion of self-existence that they have within
22291 themselves, whereas those who follow his guidance will be able to free
22292 themselves from such confusions."
22293 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
22295 ...they say that the initial realization of the nature of the mind is the
22296 first breakthrough. It's a very important point in all Buddhist schools. At
22297 that moment, you cease to be an ordinary person. You become in Buddhist
22298 parlance an arya, a noble one. It doesn't mean you are finished. It doesn't
22299 mean you are a high level bodhisattva. We can fall back from this. But
22300 still, this is a big breakthrough. We now understand what is true and what is
22301 not true. We don't have to take it all on faith any more. It is a direct
22302 non-dual experience. The point is that it is very easy. It's not difficult,
22303 and it's not something that can only be attained after years and years of
22305 Our main obstacle is the fact that we don't know how to relax our minds
22306 enough to be open to this experience. In the back of our minds we keep
22307 thinking this is something so difficult and so advanced. For this reason we
22308 don't recognize what is in front of our face. This is why a teacher can be
22309 extraordinarily helpful. A teacher living within that realization is able--
22310 if the mind of the disciple is completely open--to transmit his or her
22311 experience. The problem here is that we have too many hopes and fears; it
22312 creates a barrier. It is very hard to be open. You can't just will it.
22313 -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
22314 Practical Buddhism"
22316 The Level of Initial Capacity
22318 All the essential spiritual practices related primarily to the achievement of
22319 rebirth in the higher realms belong to what Atisha calls the 'small capacity'.
22322 Know that those who by whatever means
22323 Seek for themselves no more
22324 Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
22325 Are persons of the least capacity.
22326 [Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]
22328 ...the principal means for attaining birth in the higher realms is the ethical
22329 discipline of refraining from the ten negative actions of body, speech and
22330 mind. These comprise three actions of the body--killing, stealing and sexual
22331 misconduct; four verbal actions--lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and
22332 frivolous speech; and three mental actions--covetousness, ill-will and
22333 harbouring wrong views. To live an ethically sound life, it helps to remind
22334 ourselves of what are known as the four reflections, namely the preciousness
22335 of human life; the inevitability of our death and the uncertainty of the time
22336 of death; the infallibility of the law of cause and effect and the workings of
22337 karma; and understanding the nature of suffering. Concerning the first
22338 reflection, some Tibetan masters have said that when we contemplate the
22339 preciousness of this human existence, we should literally cultivate the
22340 determination to make our human life something precious in itself, rather than
22341 allowing it to be wasted or to become a cause of future suffering.
22343 Contemplating these four reflections gives us the courage to engage earnestly
22344 in the practice of the Dharma in order to free ourselves from the possibility
22345 of rebirth in the lower realms. This involves a process of training our mind,
22346 not just at the mental level but also at the level of our emotions and
22347 actions. Living an ethical life is not a case of adhering to a set of
22348 regulations imposed on us from outside, such as the laws of a country. Rather
22349 it involves voluntarily embracing a discipline on the basis of a clear
22350 recognition of its value. In essence, living a true ethical life is living a
22351 life of self-discipline. When the Buddha said that 'we are our own master, we
22352 are our own enemy', he was telling us that our destiny lies in our own hands.
22354 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
22356 In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of
22357 his attachment as a child to the monastery's Master of the Kitchen,
22358 commenting, "I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the
22359 basic roots of all relationships." And the connection between giving food and
22360 understanding the interrelationship of all life is recognized also in stories
22361 about the belated discovery of an enlightened master who lived humbly as a
22362 monastery cook; or the stories of a great lama who gathers his disciples to
22363 test their progress, only to discover that the most highly realized of all is
22364 the cook, who has neither meditated nor studied, but who simply served the
22366 May you have long life,
22367 may the house be filled with grain,
22368 and may you have the luck
22369 to make use of this abundance.
22370 -- Tibetan drinking song
22372 -- Tsering Wangmo and Zara Houshmand, in "The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook"
22374 The Level of Middling Capacity
22376 In the following verse Atisha describes the characteristics of spiritual
22377 trainees of the middling capacity.
22380 Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
22381 Turning away from worldly pleasures
22382 And avoiding destructive actions
22383 Are said to be of middling capacity.
22384 -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
22386 The phrase "destructive actions" refers to the afflictions that, together with
22387 karma, constitute the origin of suffering. This is why practitioners at the
22388 level of middling capacity concentrate on the spiritual practices that are
22389 primarily aimed at the elimination of the afflictions. Broadly speaking,
22390 these practices fall into two categories. One is training the mind to
22391 cultivate the genuine desire to gain freedom from cyclic existence, which is
22392 often referred to as the cultivation of renunciation. The other is
22393 cultivating the path to bring about the fulfillment of that wish for
22394 renunciation. In order to train one's mind in this way, one needs to reflect
22395 upon the defects of cyclic existence and to develop an understanding of the
22396 causation chain of karma and the afflictions. Through these reflections one
22397 cultivates the wish to gain freedom and then embarks upon the path to bring
22398 about that freedom.
22399 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
22401 Number of Recitations
22402 The sixth section of the yoga of speech concerns measuring the accumulation
22403 of mantra recitations. How do you know when you have recited enough of a
22404 particular mantra? Generally speaking, you should count a mantra until you
22405 achieve some common spiritual power and ideally until you achieve the supreme
22406 spiritual attainment. Wouldn't that be the best way?
22407 After all, if you are really hungry, don't you eat until you are satisfied?
22408 Similarly, if you plan a trip to San Francisco, you want to travel until you
22409 arrive at your destination. You would not travel halfway and be satisfied
22410 with that, would you? In the same way, when you recite a mantra, you have a
22411 specific goal in mind: to gain the supreme spiritual attainment--buddhahood.
22412 Wouldn't it be wise to keep on reciting the mantra until you have achieved
22413 your goal, or at least until you achieve some perceptible improvement?
22414 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, in "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
22415 by Snow Lion Publications
22417 The Level of Great Capacity
22419 Atisha continues his discussion on the three capacities by turning his
22420 attention to spiritual trainees at the highest level.
22423 Those who, through their personal suffering,
22424 Truly want to end completely
22425 All the suffering of others
22426 Are persons of supreme capacity.
22427 -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
22429 Practitioners at this level use their deep understanding of the nature of
22430 suffering, derived from reflection on their personal experience, to recognise
22431 the fundamental equality of oneself and others insofar as the desire to
22432 overcome suffering is concerned. This then leads to the arising of a
22433 spontaneous wish to free all sentient beings from their suffering, a wish
22434 which becomes the powerful impetus for engaging in spiritual practices aimed
22435 at bringing about this altruistic objective.
22437 The most important practice in relation to this altruistic goal is the
22438 generation of bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for
22439 the benefit of all beings.
22440 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in Lighting the Way, Snow Lion Publications
22442 The Meaning of Empowerment
22443 As for empowerment in general, what does the term wang, or empowerment,
22444 signify? To begin with, our fundamental nature--what we term "the buddha
22445 nature", or tathagatagarbha, the very nature of our mind, is inherently
22446 present within us as a natural attribute. This mind of ours, the subject at
22447 hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time, and so has the more
22448 subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the continuity of that subtle
22449 nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to attain enlightenment. This
22450 potential is what we call "the seed of buddhahood", "buddha nature", "the
22451 fundamental nature", or tathagatagarbha. We all have this buddha nature, each
22452 and every one of us. For example, this beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here,
22453 in the presence of which we are now sitting, is a representation that honours
22454 someone who attained buddhahood. He awakened into that state of enlightenment
22455 because his nature was the buddha nature. Ours is as well, and just as the
22456 Buddha attained enlightenment in the past, so in the future we can become
22458 In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
22459 awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
22460 that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
22461 empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
22462 nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
22463 Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
22464 the five families. In particular, you are "ripened" within that particular
22465 family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
22466 So, with these auspicious circumstances established in your mindstream,
22467 and when you reflect on what is taking place and maintain the various
22468 visualizations, the conditions are right for the essence of the empowerment to
22469 awaken within you, as a state of wisdom which is blissful yet empty--a very
22470 special state that is the inseparability of basic space and awareness. As you
22471 focus your devotion in this way, it allows this special quality of mind, this
22472 new capability, as it were, to awaken.
22473 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
22474 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
22476 Value Our Good Circumstances
22477 We often focus on a few circumstances in our life that aren't going well
22478 instead of all those that are. Although we all have problems, when we over-
22479 emphasize their importance, we easily begin thinking that we are incapable and
22480 worthless. Such self-hatred immobilizes us and prevents us from developing
22481 our good qualities and sharing them with others.
22482 When we look at the broad picture, however, we can see many positive things
22483 in our life. We can rejoice that we are alive and appreciate whatever degree
22484 of good health we have. We also have food (often too much!), shelter,
22485 clothing, medicine, friends, relatives, and a myriad of good circumstances.
22486 Many of the people reading this book live in peaceful places, not in war-torn
22487 areas. Many have jobs they like, and family and friends they appreciate. We
22488 shouldn't take these for granted. Most importantly, from a spiritual
22489 viewpoint, we have access to an authentic path, qualified teachers to guide
22490 us, and kind companions who encourage us. We have genuine spiritual
22491 aspirations and the time to cultivate these. Thinking about these good
22492 conditions one by one, we will be filled with joy, and any sense of being
22493 incapable and hopeless will vanish.
22494 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", Snow Lion Publications
22496 15. This fresh state of present awareness, unspoiled
22498 This fresh state of present awareness (da lta'i shes pa)
22499 Unspoiled by dualistic thoughts,
22500 Effortlessly sustained in the natural state,
22501 Is Buddha Kuntu Zangpo's wisdom mind.
22503 Do not hope or fear for good or bad outcomes.
22504 Regardless of what formulation of thought occurs,
22505 they arise and are liberated simultaneously;
22506 Their essential nature is empty awareness.
22507 Reach that unmoving, unassailable state.
22509 I, Jnana, spoke these words immediately In response to
22510 Zangmo's supplication. May this be virtuous!
22511 -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice" translated and
22512 introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion
22514 Concern for others to be happy and compassion wishing them to be free from
22515 suffering are needed not only as the basis for a bodhichitta motivation for
22516 mahamudra* practice, but also for keeping that practice on course to its
22517 intended goal. When we have changed our focus in life from the contents of
22518 our experience to the process of experience, there is great danger of becoming
22519 fixated on mind itself. This is because the direct experience of mind itself
22520 is totally blissful--in a calm and serene sense--and entails extraordinary
22521 clarity and starkness. Concern for others is one of the strongest forces that
22522 brings us back down to earth after having been up in the clouds. Although all
22523 appearances exist as a function of mind, other beings do not exist merely in
22524 our head. Their suffering is real and it hurts them just as much as ours
22526 Furthermore, to be concerned about someone does not mean to be frantically
22527 worried about this person. If we are fixated on our child's problems at
22528 school, for example, we lose sight that whatever appearance of the problems
22529 our mind gives rise to is a function of mind. Believing the appearance to be
22530 the solid reality "out there," we again feel hopeless to do anything and thus
22531 become extremely anxious and tense. We worry to the point of becoming sick
22532 and we over-react toward our child, which does not help. If we focus instead
22533 on the process of mind that gives rise to our perception of the problem as if
22534 it existed as some horrible monster "out there," we do not eliminate our
22535 concern for our child, only our worry. This allows us to take whatever clear
22536 and calm action is necessary to alleviate the problem. Thus not only is
22537 compassion necessary for successful practice of mahamudra, but mahamudra
22538 realization is necessary for successful practice of compassion.
22539 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
22540 published by Snow Lion Publications
22541 * "Mahamudra" is a Sanskrit word meaning "great seal" and refers to the
22542 nature of all phenomena. Mahamudra also refers to sophisticated Buddhist
22543 systems of meditation and practice to realize this great sealing nature.
22545 Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
22548 45. This fresh present knowing, unbound
22550 This fresh present knowing,
22551 Unbound by the intellect that clings to meditation,
22552 Is naked unobstructed non-meditation.
22554 And settle in the state of naturalness.
22555 This is the meaning of realization of meditation.
22557 When thoughts move, let them.
22558 Movement arises and is liberated without a trace.
22559 When there is no movement, don't search for it.
22560 This is empty luminosity, naked empty awareness.
22561 Tantric practice without suppression or
22562 cultivation of thoughts
22563 Brings the accomplishment of the destruction
22566 There is nothing more to add to this.
22567 Madman Dudjom said this:
22568 Let it remain like this in your heart.
22569 -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated and
22570 introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
22572 ...karma refers not only to our actions but, more importantly, to the
22573 motivation or intention behind them. The acts themselves are not the primary
22574 cause of our suffering; rather, it arises from the world of our intentions or,
22575 in other words, from our thoughts and emotions. These afflictive states of
22576 mind underlie our negative karma and are therefore the source of our
22579 Obviously, these afflictions won't go away simply by saying prayers or
22580 wishing them away; they can only be eliminated by cultivating their
22581 corresponding remedies or antidotes. To understand how this process of
22582 applying the antidote works we can observe our physical world. For instance,
22583 we can contrast heat and cold: if we are suffering from the effects of too
22584 cold a temperature, then we increase the thermometer on our heater or air-
22585 conditioning unit and adjust it to our comfort. Thus, even in the physical
22586 world we can see instances where opposing forces counter each other.
22588 ...From our own personal experience we recognise that anger and hostility
22589 disturb our peace of mind and, more importantly, that they have the potential
22590 to harm others. Conversely, we recognise that positive emotions like
22591 compassion and loving kindness can engender in us a deep sense of peace and
22592 serenity, beneficial results that we can extend to others as well. This
22593 appreciation of their great value naturally leads to a desire to cultivate
22594 these positive emotions. It is through this gradual process that the
22595 antidotes work in decreasing and eventually eliminating their opposing forces
22596 in the mental realm, the realm of our thoughts and emotions.
22597 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
22599 Starting Dzogchen Practice
22600 When we start to practice, in order to grasp the normal mind, our first
22601 practice consists in engaging our mind. For example, if we have a problem of
22602 some kind, we may go to a movie to distract ourselves from our problem.
22603 Likewise when we start to practice, we try to calm down our problem-creating
22604 mind in order to be able to observe the nature of thought. The observation of
22605 the arising, abiding, and dissolving of thought in the empty state of the mind
22606 is an essential practice in Dzogchen in order to discover that moving thoughts
22607 are of the same nature as the thoughtless state of the mind. Since we are not
22608 accustomed to meditation, it seems very difficult, and every slight sound or
22609 movement, outside or inside the mind itself, becomes a major distraction
22610 interfering with our ability to continue to practice. In order to overcome
22611 this problem, we engage the mind in a practice so that it is not so easily
22612 distracted, by focusing attention so that the movement of the mind caused by
22613 thought or sense perception does not have the power to divert our
22614 concentration. This first stage, of grasping the mind, is concentration
22615 practice, described in detail in the Bonpo 'Ati' system.
22616 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
22617 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
22619 Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic
22620 religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and
22621 theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a
22622 religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and
22623 spiritual, as a meaningful unity
22624 -- Albert Einstein in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side", edited by Helen
22625 Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, 1954
22627 Techniques for Improvement
22628 All of us have attained a human life; we are, in a sense, incomparable among
22629 the various types of sentient beings, as we are able to think about many
22630 topics with a subtler mind and are endowed with vaster capabilities. Dogs,
22631 birds, and so forth do communicate, but only humans can settle and ascertain
22632 deep topics on the basis of words; it is obvious that there are no other
22633 sentient beings capable of as many thoughts and techniques. Nowadays, humans
22634 are engaging in many activities that were not even objects of thought a
22635 century or two ago. The metaphors of the poets of the past, such as "the
22636 wonderful house of the moon", are becoming actualities.
22637 ...People have made great effort right up to this century, thinking to
22638 become free from suffering, but we cannot point to even one person in the
22639 world, no matter how rich he or she is, who has no worry--except for those
22640 who have the inner happiness of renouncing the material way of life. Without
22641 internal renunciation it is difficult to achieve happiness and comfort.
22642 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins from "Deity Yoga",
22643 published by Snow Lion Publications
22645 Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -- Confucius
22647 Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake,
22648 zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.
22649 -- Jim Davis (Garfield)
22651 A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
22652 than anything else in the world.
22653 -- Edmond de Concourt
22655 Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. -- Jimi Hendrix
22657 There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
22658 -- Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
22660 People who have what they want are fond of telling people
22661 who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.
22664 There are only two ways of telling the complete
22665 truth--anonymously and posthumously.
22668 The easiest way for your children to learn
22669 about money is for you not to have any.
22670 -- Katharine Whitehorn
22672 If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in life.
22675 Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
22676 where there is no path and leave a trail.
22677 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
22679 The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
22682 I have a simple philosophy.
22685 Scratch where it itches.
22686 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
22688 Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
22689 -- John Archibald Wheeler
22691 You know that children are growing up when they start
22692 asking questions that have answers.
22695 The average man, who does not know what to do with his life,
22696 wants another one which will last forever.
22699 Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is
22700 a broken winged bird that canot fly.
22703 Spare no expense to save money on this one. -- Samuel Goldwyn
22705 It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.
22706 People are either charming or tedious.
22709 If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute
22710 powerlessness make you pure?
22713 Parents were invented to make children happy
22714 by giving them something to ignore.
22717 Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
22718 -- Jules de Gaultier
22720 I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse.
22721 I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
22724 If you find it in your heart to care for
22725 somebody else, you will have succeeded.
22728 Time is an illusion.
22729 Lunchtime doubly so.
22733 A person whom we know well enough to borrow from,
22734 but not well enough to lend to.
22735 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
22737 The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
22738 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
22740 Eighty percent of success is showing up. -- Woody Allen
22742 Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. -- Don Marquis
22744 The only reason some people get lost in thought
22745 is because it's unfamiliar territory.
22748 A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has
22749 a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
22752 Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. -- Steven Wright
22754 Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. -- Oscar Wilde
22756 It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
22757 -- William Shakespeare
22759 If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. -- Mo Udall
22761 I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. -- Pablo Picasso
22763 The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
22766 Lack of money is no obstacle.
22767 Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
22770 Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
22771 -- Marcus Valerias Martialis
22773 Great minds discuss ideas;
22774 average minds discuss events;
22775 small minds discuss people.
22776 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
22778 I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. -- Herb Caen
22780 When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?"
22783 Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. -- Mahatma Gandhi
22785 I'm living so far beyond my income that we may
22786 almost be said to be living apart.
22789 I try to avoid looking forward or backward,
22790 and try to keep looking upward.
22791 -- Charlotte Bronte
22793 My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. -- Henry Ford
22795 Without democracy, religion becomes extreme.
22796 With religion, democracy becomes more spiritual.
22797 -- Mohammad Khatami, president of Iran
22799 For fast acting relief, try slowing down. -- Lily Tomlin
22801 A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
22804 Poor people have more fun than rich people, they say; and
22805 I notice it's the rich people who keep saying it.
22808 Whatever you are, be a good one. -- Abraham Lincoln
22810 Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
22813 Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson
22815 Confusion is always the most honest response. -- Marty Indik
22817 Doing nothing is very hard to do... you never know when you're finished.
22820 Free advice is worth the price. -- Robert Half
22822 A person who trusts no one can't be trusted. -- Jerome Blattner
22824 There is nobody so irritating as somebody with
22825 less intelligence and more sense than we have.
22828 He that plants trees loves others besides himself. -- Dr. Thomas Fuller
22830 To find something you can enjoy is far better
22831 than finding something you can possess.
22834 An intellectual is a man who takes more words than
22835 necessary to tell more than he knows.
22836 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
22838 Not everything that can be counted counts, and not
22839 everything that counts can be counted.
22842 Brain, n.: an apparatus with which we think we think.
22843 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
22845 There is always some madness in love.
22846 But there is always some reason in madness.
22847 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
22849 We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
22850 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
22852 Good resolutions are simply checks that men
22853 draw on a bank where they have no account.
22856 The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in mueseums.
22859 Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
22862 Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. -- Thomas Jones
22864 It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.
22865 -- Margaret Bonnano
22867 Yesterday is history.
22868 Tomorrow is a mystery.
22870 That's why it's called the present.
22873 Money is in abundance, where are you? -- Reverend Ike
22875 Santa Claus had the right idea. Visit everyone once a year.
22878 Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
22881 You cannot fix what you will not face. -- James Baldwin
22883 There are too many people, and too few human beings. -- Robert Zend
22885 Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
22888 A good listener is usually thinking about something else. -- Kin Hubbard
22890 If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't
22891 know what a millionaire looked like.
22894 Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
22895 -- George Bernard Shaw
22897 Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money. -- Arthur Miller
22899 Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off
22900 their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
22903 If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.
22906 If computers get too organized, we can organize
22907 them into a committee--that will do them in.
22908 -- Bradley's Bromide
22910 It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
22913 If we stand tall it is because we stand
22914 on the backs of those who came before us.
22917 The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize
22918 you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back.
22919 -- Franklin P. Jones
22921 I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
22924 By the time we've made it, we've had it. -- Malcolm Forbes
22926 It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up.
22927 -- W. Somerset Maugham
22929 It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
22930 -- Henry David Thoreau
22932 Accomplishing the impossible means only that
22933 the boss will add it to your regular duties.
22936 Government big enough to supply everything you need
22937 is big enough to take everything you have...
22938 The course of history shows that as a government grows,
22940 -- Thomas Jefferson
22942 Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except
22943 the things in the world that just don't add up.
22946 Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
22949 The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
22950 -- Flora Whittemore
22952 When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
22953 -- Marquis de la Grange
22955 If more of us valued food and cheer and song
22956 above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
22959 While I was in Malaysia, I saw a T-shirt depicting a surfboard aloft huge
22960 waves. Sitting on the surfboard was a figure meditating cross-legged. The
22961 slogan read, "Riding the waves of life, be mindful, be happy." That's it.
22962 Awareness. Being present. Knowing thoughts as thoughts, emotions as
22963 emotions. It's just like riding a surfboard. You gradually develop the
22964 poise to cruise along on the roughest seas until, no longer immersed in
22965 the waves, you are riding on top of them. Of course you have to start
22966 with small waves until you get your balance. Then the higher the wave, the
22967 better! Likewise, when we begin to train in awareness, it is better if we
22968 have an atmosphere which is nonthreatening and peaceful. That's why people
22969 go on retreat. That's also a reason why people set aside regular sitting
22970 periods. But once we learn how to be balanced, we become like a surfer who
22971 finds that the bigger the wave, the greater the fun.
22972 -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
22973 Practical Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
22975 The word "mantra" means "mind-protection". It protects the mind from ordinary
22976 appearances and conceptions. "Mind" here refers to all six consciousnesses--
22977 eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental consciousnesses--which are to be
22978 freed, or protected, from the ordinary world. There are two factors in mantra
22979 training, pride in oneself as a deity and vivid appearance of that deity.
22980 Divine pride protects one from the pride of being ordinary, and divine vivid
22981 appearance protects one from ordinary appearances. Whatever appears to the
22982 senses is viewed as the sport of a deity; for instance, whatever forms are
22983 seen are viewed as the emanations of a deity and whatever sounds are heard are
22984 viewed as the mantras of a deity. One is thereby protected from ordinary
22985 appearances, and through this transformation of attitude, the pride of being a
22986 deity emerges. Such protection of mind together with its attendant pledges
22987 and vows is called the practice of mantra.
22988 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins in "Tantra in Tibet",
22989 published by Snow Lion Publications
22991 There is nothing new under the sun, but there are
22992 lots of old things we don't know.
22995 Win hearts, and you have all men's hands and purses. -- William Cecil Burleigh
22997 Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.
22998 Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
23001 He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. -- M. C. Escher
23003 Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
23004 whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
23007 Training in compassion has the capacity to be both profound and vast--both
23008 absolute and relative. Compassion has the quality of being approachable and
23009 at the same time ungraspable. It manifests both the quality of shunyata,
23010 emptiness, or egolessness, as well as the qualities of kindness and joyfulness.
23011 Therefore, from the Mahayana point of view, compassion is the most important
23012 practice we could ever engage in. It can lead us to the full realization of
23013 enlightenment without any need for other practices.
23014 -- from "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
23015 Avalokiteshvara", translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
23016 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
23018 Question: If the root of all suffering is attachment, are the desire to have a
23019 family and the desire for liberation from suffering contradictory?
23021 Answer: I think that a distinction should be made between desires that are due
23022 to ignorance and desires that are reasoned. In Tibetan, a difference can be
23023 made between "wish" and "desire"; for instance a Bodhisattva is reborn through
23024 his or her own wishes, not out of desire. Similarly, it is suitable to aspire
23025 toward liberation. Also, persons, such as Foe Destroyers, who have completely
23026 overcome all of the afflictive emotions, have thoughts such as, "Such and such
23027 is good; I need it." Merely such thoughts are not afflictive consciousnesses.
23028 Similarly, if we consider the desire for a family, there are persons practicing
23029 the Bodhisattva path who have families; also, in the scriptures of discipline,
23030 Buddha himself set forth vows for lay persons and vows for monks. Hence, there
23031 is no general prohibition of the wish to have a family.
23032 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
23033 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
23034 Snow Lion Publications
23036 In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being outside
23037 the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a refuge, or of
23038 a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course this is fine.
23039 In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated on as being
23040 outside of the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being one's own
23041 essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One therefore
23042 thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates. Why is it
23043 justifiable to meditate in this manner? ...our own mind is in essence exactly
23044 the same as the mind of a Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is
23045 sometimes referred to as "sugatagarbha" or "buddha-nature".
23046 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-
23047 Awakening", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
23048 Snow Lion Publications
23050 If things did in fact exist the way they appear--if things did exist so
23051 concretely--then when one looked into and investigated them, this inherent
23052 existence should become even clearer, more obvious. However, when you seek
23053 for the object designated, you cannot find it under analysis.
23054 ...[That] which gives rise to the appearance of I is mind and body, but when
23055 you divide this into mind and body and look for the I, you cannot find it.
23056 Also the whole, body, is designated in dependence upon the collection of parts
23057 of the body; if you divide this into its parts and look for the body, you
23058 cannot find it either. Even the most subtle particles in the body have sides
23059 and hence parts. Were there something partless, it might be independent, but
23060 there is nothing that is partless. Rather, everything exists in dependence on
23061 its parts... There is no whole which is separate from its parts.
23062 ...No matter what the phenomenon is, internal or external, whether it be
23063 one's own body or any other type of phenomenon, when we search to discover
23064 what this phenomenon is that is designated, we cannot find anything that is it.
23065 ...However, these things appear to us as if they do exist objectively and in
23066 their own right, and thus there is a difference between the way things appear
23067 to our minds and the way they actually exist... Since phenomena appear to us
23068 in a way that is different from what we discover when analysing, this proves
23069 that their concrete appearance is due to a fault of our minds.
23070 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, translated and
23071 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, from "Kindness,
23072 Clarity, and Insight" published by Snow Lion Publications
23074 The Buddhist notion of diligence is to delight in positive deeds. Its
23075 opposite, called "le lo" in Tibetan, has three aspects. Le lo is usually
23076 translated as "laziness," though only its first aspect refers to laziness as
23077 we usually understand it. The first aspect is not doing something because of
23078 indolence, even though we know that it is good and ought to be done. The
23079 second aspect is faintheartedness. This comes about when we underestimate our
23080 qualities and abilities, thinking, "I'm so incompetent and weak. It would be
23081 good to do that, but I could never accomplish it." Not having the confidence
23082 of thinking, "I can do it," we end up doing nothing. The third aspect refers
23083 to being very busy and seeming diligent, but wasting time and energy on
23084 meaningless activities that will not accomplish anything in the long run.
23085 When we do many things for no real purpose, we fail to focus on what is truly
23086 worthwhile and our path has no clear direction. When we refrain from these
23087 three aspects of laziness, we are diligent.
23088 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
23089 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
23090 published by Snow Lion Publications
23092 All events and incidents in life are so intimately linked with the fate of
23093 others that a single person on his or her own cannot even begin to act. Many
23094 ordinary human activities, both positive and negative, cannot even be
23095 conceived of apart from the existence of other people. Even the committing of
23096 harmful actions depends on the existence of others. Because of others, we
23097 have the opportunity to earn money if that is what we desire in life.
23098 Similarly, in reliance upon the existence of others it becomes possible for
23099 the media to create fame or disrepute for someone. On your own you cannot
23100 create any fame or disrepute no matter how loud you might shout. The closest
23101 you can get is to create an echo of your own voice.
23102 Thus interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms
23103 of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without
23104 any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an
23105 innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of
23106 material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from
23107 the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that
23108 surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without
23109 their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
23110 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life"
23112 Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels
23113 ...a buddha is someone who has attained full enlightenment through the
23114 cultivation of compassion and the wisdom of no-self, the absence of self-
23115 existence. From our discussion we also saw how the Dharma jewel is to be
23116 understood as the path by which we can gradually accomplish the same result as
23117 the fully awakened Buddha. Likewise, the Sangha jewel is the community of
23118 sincere practitioners who have directly realised emptiness, the ultimate
23120 For those of us who consider ourselves to be practising Buddhists, it is
23121 crucial to have this kind of deeper understanding of the Three Jewels when we
23122 go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
23123 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
23125 Being Mindful of Impermanence
23127 Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
23128 Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
23129 Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guest house of the body.
23130 Let go of this life--
23131 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
23133 Although we have this human life with freedom and richness, which is so
23134 valuable and difficult to get, it cannot last forever. This is because it is
23135 not permanent and is subject to decay moment by moment. This life will
23136 eventually become non-existent because our body and mind will separate.
23137 Although death meditation involves reflecting on the moment by moment changing
23138 nature of our life, it principally entails recognizing that one day it will
23139 come to a complete stop and our mind will leave our body behind. Therefore,
23140 we must take the essence from this life each day and try to fulfill a great
23141 Dharma purpose because we will not have this opportunity for long.
23142 -- from "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of
23143 'The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", by Geshe Jampa Tegchok,
23144 edited by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
23146 What do we mean when we speak of a truly compassionate kindness? Compassion
23147 is essentially concern for others' welfare--their happiness and their
23148 suffering. Others wish to avoid misery as much as we do. So a compassionate
23149 person feels concerned when others are miserable and develops a positive
23150 intention to free them from it. As ordinary beings, our feeling of closeness
23151 to our friends and relatives is little more than an expression of clinging
23152 desire. It needs to be tempered, not enhanced. It is important not to
23153 confuse attachment and compassion.... A compassionate thought is motivated by
23154 a wish to help release beings from their misery.
23155 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable
23156 Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
23157 published by Snow Lion Publications
23159 Tantric yogis succeed in their cultivation of wisdom more quickly than do
23160 practitioners of the Perfection Vehicle because the tantric yogi, employing
23161 deity yoga, can achieve a mind that is a union of calm abiding and special
23162 insight--a mind of alert one-pointedness that realizes emptiness--in far
23163 less time than the period of countless great aeons required for those who
23164 practice sutra paths alone. Tantric yogis use deity yoga to enhance
23165 meditation on emptiness; their use of deity yoga brings them more quickly to
23166 an initial direct cognition of emptiness by enhancing their ability to combine
23167 meditative stability with analysis.... Also, in Highest Yoga Tantra,
23168 powerful, subtle consciousnesses that realize emptiness are manifested,
23169 whereby the obstructions to liberation and omniscience are quickly overcome.
23170 -- Daniel Cozort, in "Highest Yoga Tantra", Snow Lion Publications
23172 Howard C. Cutler, MD:
23173 Is happiness a reasonable goal for most of us? Is it really possible?
23176 Yes. I believe that happiness can be achieved through training the mind.
23177 When I say "training the mind," in this context I'm not referring to "mind"
23178 merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather, I'm using the term
23179 in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, which has a much broader meaning,
23180 closer to "psyche" or "spirit"; it includes intellect and feeling, heart
23181 and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a
23182 transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living.
23183 When we speak of this inner discipline, it can of course involve many things,
23184 many methods. But generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors
23185 which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having
23186 done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead
23187 to suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way.
23188 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, MD, in "The Art of Happiness:
23189 A Handbook for Living", published by Snow Lion Publications
23191 It can be difficult to accept others and to accept ourselves. "I should be
23192 better. I should be something different. I should have more." All of this
23193 is conception; it's all mental fabrication. It's just the mind churning up
23194 "shoulds," "ought tos," and "supposed tos." All this is conceptual rubbish,
23195 and yet we believe it. Part of the solution is to recognize that these
23196 thoughts are conceptual rubbish and not reality; this gives us the mental
23197 space not to believe them. When we stop believing them, it becomes much
23198 easier to accept what we are at any given moment, knowing we will change in
23199 the next moment. We'll be able to accept what others are in one moment,
23200 knowing that they will be different in the next moment. This is good stuff
23201 for everyday practice; it's very practical.
23202 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
23203 published by Snow Lion Publications
23205 The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is followed by
23206 nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and insects as
23207 insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic potencies of all
23208 realms of cyclic existence. Many beings transmigrate from higher to lower
23209 realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of rebirth is
23210 not directly in our own hands but is conditioned by our karma and delusions.
23211 They who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny at the time
23212 of death, but for ordinary beings the process is very much an automatic chain
23213 reaction of karmic seeds and habitual psychic response patterns....
23214 Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery does not
23215 have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly our lack of
23216 spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind is controlled
23217 principally by afflicted emotions and illusions. Attachment, aversion and
23218 ignorance rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom are the guiding forces.
23219 Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of the spiritual path.
23220 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, in
23221 "The Path to Enlightenment", published by Snow Lion Publications
23223 If persons who have attained calm abiding keep their minds in calm abiding,
23224 not only does the force of their meditative stabilization remain but their
23225 other good qualities increase and do not degenerate. Similarly, persons who
23226 have achieved special insight have clear perception not only with respect to
23227 the object of observation on which they have been meditating but also with
23228 respect to any other object to which they turn their minds. Persons who
23229 cultivate calm abiding but not special insight will gain the factor of
23230 stability but not that of an intense clarity; they will not be able to
23231 manifest any antidote to the afflictive emotions. One must achieve an
23232 intensity of clarity in order for anything to serve as an antidote to
23233 ignorance, and to achieve that clarity one must cultivate special insight.
23234 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, in "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving
23235 Spiritual Transformation through Meditation", translated and edited
23236 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Anne C. Klein and Leah Zahler,
23237 published by Snow Lion Publications
23239 If you haven't found something strange during the day,
23240 it hasn't been much of a day.
23243 Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
23246 It is hypocrisy to say that all religions are the same. Different religions
23247 have different views and fundamental differences. But it does not matter, as
23248 all religions are meant to help in bringing about a better world with better
23249 and happier human beings. On this level, I think that through different
23250 philosophical explanations and approaches, all religions have the same goal
23251 and the same potential. Take the concept[s] of the creator and self-creation
23252 for instance. There are big differences between the two, but I feel they have
23253 the same purpose. To some people, the concept of the creator is very powerful
23254 in inspiring the development of self-discipline, becoming a good person with a
23255 sense of love, forgiveness and devotion to the ultimate truth--the Creator or
23257 The other concept is self-creation: if one wants to be good, then it is one's
23258 own responsibility to be so. Without one's own efforts one cannot expect
23259 something good to come about. One's future is entirely dependent on oneself:
23260 it is self-created. This concept is very powerful in encouraging an
23261 individual to be a good and honest person. So you see, the two are different
23262 approaches but have the same goal.
23263 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Live in a Better Way: Reflections on Truth, Love
23264 and Happiness", compiled and edited by Renuka Singh, published by Snow
23267 The wise perceive that all things--persons and phenomena--arise in reliance
23268 upon their own causes and conditions, and that based on this process we impute
23269 mental labels upon things. The phenomena themselves have no true or inherent
23270 existence from their own side. They have no self-nature whatsoever.
23271 Were persons or phenomena to have a self-presence, there would be no need
23272 for them to rely upon causes and conditions. Therefore one can be certain
23273 that even the smallest speck of matter has no true, inherent existence from
23275 Although all things lack even the smallest speck of true existence,
23276 nonetheless conventionally the laws of causes and conditions operate through
23277 them, and conventionally all the phenomena in samsara and nirvana seem to
23278 exist, arising in the same manner as do illusions, dreams and a reflected
23280 -- Glenn H. Mullin, in "The Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa's commentary
23281 entitled 'A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of
23282 Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas' commonly referred
23283 to as 'The Three Inspirations' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
23285 | George of the Bungle |
23287 And finally, new rule: America must recall the president. That's what this
23288 country needs. A good old-fashioned, California-style, recall election!
23289 Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just
23290 like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so
23291 unpopular he must defend his job against... Russell Crowe. Because at this
23292 point I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have
23293 only phone throwers--Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!
23295 Now I kid, but seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you
23296 anymore. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't
23297 start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck,
23298 the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor
23299 people. Yeah, listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's
23300 maxed out, and no one's speaking to you: mission accomplished. Now it's time
23301 to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did
23302 with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team.
23303 It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy
23306 Now I know what you're saying; you're saying that there's so many other
23307 things that you as President could involve yourself in... Please don't. I
23308 know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela... and
23309 eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the
23310 church... and Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
23312 But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern
23313 like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't
23314 given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert
23315 Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis
23316 to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our
23317 allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the
23318 Pentagon, and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky!
23320 I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much
23321 worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to
23322 you... and what he is saying is: "Take a hint."
23324 -- Bill Maher on Real Time, October 2005
23326 We have the ability and the responsibility to choose to direct our actions
23327 on a virtuous path.
23328 When we weigh a particular act, to determine whether it is moral or
23329 spiritual, our criterion should be the quality of our motivation. When someone
23330 deliberately makes a resolution not to steal, if he or she is simply motivated
23331 by the fear of getting caught and being punished by the law, it is doubtful
23332 whether engaging in that resolution is a moral act, since moral considerations
23333 have not dictated his or her choice.
23334 In another instance, the resolution not to steal may be motivated by fear of
23335 public opinion: "What would my friends and neighbors think? All would scorn
23336 me. I would become an outcast." Though the act of making a resolution may be
23337 positive, whether it is a moral act is again doubtful.
23338 Now, the same resolution may be taken with the thought "If I steal, I am
23339 acting against the divine law of God." Someone else may think, "Stealing is
23340 nonvirtuous; it causes others to suffer." When such considerations motivate
23341 one, the resolution is moral or ethical; it is also spiritual. In the
23342 practice of Buddha's doctrine, if your underlying consideration in avoiding a
23343 nonvirtuous act is that it would thwart your attainment of a state
23344 transcending sorrow, such restraint is a moral act.
23345 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
23346 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland
23348 A conventional enemy may harm us, but patience and a refusal to retaliate
23349 can bring us benefit both in this life and in the future. However, tolerance
23350 towards [our own] hostile disturbing emotions and attempts at peaceful
23351 coexistence with them will never bring us any reward. They will do us nothing
23352 but harm if we don't take steps to drive them out. No conventional enemy can
23353 do us such harm. The most an ordinary enemy can do is to defeat us for a
23354 short space of time or destroy us in this life, but the disturbing emotions
23355 will insure our misery for many lifetimes to come.
23357 All other foes that I appease and wait upon
23358 Will show me favors, give me every aid,
23359 But should I serve my dark defiled emotions,
23360 They will only harm me, draw me down to grief.
23361 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind: An Oral
23362 Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
23365 There is a story about a princess who had a small eye problem that she felt
23366 was really bad. Being the king's daughter, she was rather spoiled and kept
23367 crying all the time. When the doctors wanted to apply medicine, she would
23368 invariably refuse any medical treatment and kept touching the sore spot on her
23369 eye. In this way it became worse and worse, until finally the king proclaimed
23370 a large reward for whoever could cure his daughter. After some time, a man
23371 arrived who claimed to be a famous physician, but actually was not even a
23373 He declared that he could definitely cure the princess and was admitted to
23374 her chamber. After he had examined her, he exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
23375 "What is it?" the princess inquired. The doctor said, "There is nothing much
23376 wrong with your eye, but there is something else that is really serious." The
23377 princess was alarmed and asked, "What on earth is so serious?" He hesitated
23378 and said, "It is really bad. I shouldn't tell you about it." No matter how
23379 much she insisted, he refused to tell her, saying that he could not speak
23380 without the king's permission.
23381 When the king arrived, the doctor was still reluctant to reveal his findings.
23382 Finally the king commanded, "Tell us what is wrong. Whatever it is, you have
23383 to tell us!" At last the doctor said, "Well, the eye will get better within a
23384 few days--that is no problem. The big problem is that the princess will grow
23385 a tail, which will become at least nine fathoms long. It may start growing
23386 very soon. If she can detect the first moment it appears, I might be able to
23387 prevent it from growing." At this news everyone was deeply concerned. And the
23388 princess, what did she do? She stayed in bed, day and night, directing all
23389 her attention to detecting when the tail might appear. Thus, after a few
23390 days, her eye got well.
23391 This shows how we usually react. We focus on our little problem and it
23392 becomes the center around which everything else revolves. So far, we have
23393 done this repeatedly, life after life. We think, "My wishes, my interests, my
23394 likes and dislikes come first!" As long as we function on this basis, we will
23395 remain unchanged. Driven by impulses of desire and rejection, we will travel
23396 the roads of samsara without finding a way out. As long as attachment and
23397 aversion are our sources of living and drive us onward, we cannot rest.
23398 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps toward Fearlessness: The Three
23399 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
23400 by Snow Lion Publications
23402 buddha mind listens
23403 sound waves crashing over head
23406 time god shits in hand
23407 catapults distraction dung
23408 unstained mind abides
23410 Dr. Cutler: "... one of the reasons I brought up the topic of challenge at
23411 work," I said to the Dalai Lama, "is because it relates to a concept that
23412 seems to come up frequently these days in psychological literature, the
23413 concept of flow.* This concept is increasingly mentioned in articles on human
23414 happiness, and this state can commonly occur at work... while engaged in
23415 activity, there's a feeling of effortlessness, a sense of total control over
23416 what one is doing.... Although flow can occur in any activity, some
23417 investigators have found that Americans experience more flow at work than they
23418 do in their leisure time."
23420 The Dalai Lama: "You really like this flow, Howard!" the Dalai Lama exclaimed
23421 with an amused chuckle. "... no matter how nice that state may be, I don't
23422 think it is the most important source of satisfaction, fulfillment, or
23423 happiness.... For one thing, you can't be in that state at all times.... So
23424 through this flow, even if you get some temporary kind of happiness, it will
23425 not be an ongoing thing. I think this flow state is not reliable or
23426 sustainable, and I think it's much more important to develop other sources of
23427 satisfaction through one's work that are brought about by training one's mind,
23428 shaping one's outlook and attitude, integrating basic human values in the
23429 workplace. For example, dealing with one's destructive emotions while at
23430 work, reducing anger, jealousy, greed, and so on, and practicing relating to
23431 others with kindness, compassion, tolerance, these are much more important and
23432 stable sources of satisfaction than simply trying to create flow as much as
23435 Dr. Cutler: "...To the Dalai Lama, true happiness is associated with a sense
23436 of meaning, and arises on the basis of deliberately cultivating certain
23437 attitudes and outlooks. True happiness may take longer to generate, and
23438 requires some effort, but it is this lasting happiness that can sustain us
23439 even under the most trying conditions of everyday life."
23441 * flow is defined here as [people] being so completely absorbed in their work
23442 that they lose track of time.
23444 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
23447 Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly
23448 understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as
23449 "leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs
23450 chod), "beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on. Some scholars have classified
23451 Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this
23452 expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct
23453 path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a
23454 "direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place
23455 from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives. But in
23456 Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one
23457 possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is
23458 already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to
23459 be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).
23460 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
23461 Adriano Clemente, translated from the Italian by John Shane, published by
23462 Snow Lion Publications
23464 Since the situation in which we live is much changed but the attitude of
23465 people who are in that situation is at variance with the times, this is one of
23466 the causes of unnecessary pain, unnecessary problems. Therefore, education is
23467 needed to communicate that the concept of violence is counterproductive, that
23468 it is not a realistic way to solve problems, and that compromise is the only
23469 realistic way to solve problems. Right from the beginning, we have to make
23470 this reality clear to a child's mind--the new generation. In this way, the
23471 whole attitude towards oneself, towards the world, towards others, can become
23472 more healthy. I usually call this "inner disarmament." Without inner
23473 disarmament, it is very difficult to achieve genuine, lasting world peace.
23474 ...Through inner disarmament we can develop a healthy mental attitude, which
23475 also is very beneficial for physical health. With peace of mind, a calm mind,
23476 your body elements become more balanced. Constant worry, constant fear,
23477 agitation of mind, are very bad for health. Therefore, peace of mind not only
23478 brings tranquility in our mind but also has good effects on our body.
23479 With inner disarmament, now we need external disarmament. As I mentioned
23480 earlier, according to today's reality, there no longer is room for war, for
23481 destruction. From a compassionate viewpoint, destruction, killing others, and
23482 discriminating even against one's enemy are counterproductive. Today's enemy,
23483 if you treat them well, may become a good friend even the next day.
23484 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
23485 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
23486 published by Snow Lion Publications
23488 What we do for ourselves dies with us.
23489 What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
23492 Q: Where does hatred come from?
23494 A: That is a question which requires long hours of discussion. From the
23495 Buddhist viewpoint, the simple answer is that it is beginningless. As a
23496 further explanation, Buddhists believe that there are many different levels of
23497 consciousness. The most subtle consciousness is what we consider the basis of
23498 the previous life, this life and future lives. This subtle consciousness is
23499 a transient phenomenon which comes about as a consequence of causes and
23500 conditions. Buddhists have concluded that consciousness itself cannot be
23501 produced by matter. Therefore, the only alternative is to accept the
23502 continuation of consciousness. So that is the basis of the theory of rebirth.
23504 Where there is consciousness, ignorance and hatred also arise naturally.
23505 These negative emotions, as well as the positive emotions, occur right from
23506 beginningless time. All these are a part of our mind. However, these
23507 negative emotions actually are based on ignorance, which has no valid
23508 foundation. None of the negative emotions, no matter how powerful, have a
23509 solid foundation. On the other hand, the positive emotions, such as
23510 compassion or wisdom, have a solid basis: there is a kind of grounding and
23511 rootedness in reason and understanding, which is not the case with afflictive
23512 emotions like anger and hatred.
23514 The basic nature of the subtle consciousness itself is something neutral. So
23515 it is possible to purify or eliminate all of these negative emotions. That
23516 basic nature we call Buddha-nature. Hatred and negative emotions are
23517 beginningless; they have no beginning, but there is an end. Consciousness
23518 itself has no beginning and no end; of this we are certain.
23520 -- H.H. 14th Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
23521 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
23522 Snow Lion Publications
23524 When the sun is freed from clouds, the sun becomes clear and bright.
23525 Similarly, when obstructions to omniscience are abandoned, wisdom becomes
23527 How does wisdom that is like the sun in a sky free from clouds dawn? It
23528 is described as yogic direct perception. Between ordinary beings--those born
23529 in dependence upon their individual karma--and yogins, here we are considering
23530 yogins. Their wisdom is not speculation from an inferential point of view, as
23531 is the case with ordinary beings. Neither is it pensive and lacking in
23532 clarity. Rather, it sees directly, for which reason it is called yogic direct
23533 perception. When we ordinary beings think about a thing, there is something
23534 in the way, obstruction, due to which we do not see clearly and directly.
23535 When those obstructions--the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to
23536 omniscience--have been dispelled, then knowledge arises as yogic direct
23538 When yogic direct perception arises, how does it see? It sees phenomena
23539 in a conventional context and it also sees reality in an ultimate context. In
23540 the conventional context, wisdom sees the shapes, colors, and defining
23541 characteristics of whatever things exist in worldly realms, individually and
23542 without mixing them, just as they are. This wisdom knows the varieties of
23543 phenomena. Similarly, in the context of reality, wisdom sees the meaning of
23544 emptiness directly; this wisdom knows the mode of all phenomena. In
23545 dependence upon release from the afflictive obstruction and the obstruction to
23546 omniscience, the wisdoms knowing the modes and the varieties actually arise.
23547 Someone in whom those two wisdoms are present is a buddha.
23549 -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Essential Practice: Lectures on
23550 Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' ",
23551 translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
23553 Sometimes people mistakenly look on vows and pledges as if these were a
23554 type of punishment, but this is not at all the case. For example, just as
23555 we follow certain methods of eating and drinking to improve our health and
23556 certainly not to punish ourselves, so the rules the Shakymuni Buddha
23557 formulated are for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and ultimately for
23558 overcoming afflictive emotions, because these are self-ruinous. Thus, to
23559 relieve oneself from suffering, one controls the motivations and deeds
23560 producing suffering for one's own sake. Realizing from his own experience
23561 that suffering stems from one's own afflictive emotions as well as actions
23562 contaminated with them, he sets forth styles of behavior to reduce the problem
23563 for our own profit, certainly not to give us a hard time. Hence, these rules
23564 are for the sake of controlling sources of harm.
23565 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga Tantra:
23566 Paths to Magical Feats, published by Snow Lion Publications
23568 Giving with an open heart brings us joy and directly benefits others. Goods
23569 are then shared more equitably within our society and among nations, soothing
23570 the ill-feeling of social inequity and promoting world peace. Sharing is a
23571 source of our continued existence as a species. As His Holiness the Dalai
23572 Lama says, it is not survival of the fittest, but survival of those who
23573 cooperate the most, that makes a species prosper. None of us exists
23574 independently; we have to depend on others simply to stay alive. Thus,
23575 helping others and sharing wealth benefits both self and others. Generosity
23576 makes us happy now, enables our species to continue to prosper, and creates
23577 positive karma that brings us prosperity in the future. In addition, it is an
23578 essential trait of an enlightened being. Who ever heard of a stingy Buddha?
23579 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
23580 published by Snow Lion Publications
23582 I have made the point in the past that it is not necessary to consider
23583 someone one's guru from the very outset simply because one has heard the
23584 explanation of the Buddha's teachings from that person. At first, it is much
23585 better if one does not have that kind of attitude toward them, simply
23586 regarding them as a Dharma-friend. One gets teachings, and time goes by.
23587 Then, when one feels that one knows that person quite well, and can take them
23588 as one's guru without any danger of transgressing the commitments that
23589 accompany such a relationship, when one has that kind of confidence, then one
23590 can go ahead and take him or her as one's guru. The Lord Buddha himself made
23591 it quite clear in both the Vinaya sutras and in the Mahayana scriptures, and
23592 even in the Tantrayana, in a very detailed fashion, what the qualities of a
23593 teacher should be. This is why I often criticize the Tibetan attitude of
23594 seeing whatever the guru does as good, of respecting everything that the guru
23595 does right from the start without the initial period of examination. Of
23596 course, if the guru is really qualified, then to have such an attitude is
23598 Take the cases of Naropa and Marpa, for example. Sometimes it appears as
23599 though some of the things Tilopa asked of Naropa, or Naropa of Marpa, were
23600 unreasonable. Deep down, however, these requests had great meaning. Because
23601 of their great faith in their gurus, Naropa and Marpa did as instructed.
23602 Despite the fact that they appeared to be unreasonable, because the teachers
23603 were qualified, their actions had some meaning. In such situations, it is
23604 necessary that from the disciple's side all of the actions of the teacher be
23605 respected. But this cannot be compared to the case of ordinary people.
23606 Broadly speaking, I feel that the Buddha gave us complete freedom of choice to
23607 thoroughly examine the person who is to be our guru. This is very important.
23608 Unless one is definite, one should not take them as a guru. This preliminary
23609 examination is a kind of precautionary measure.
23610 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
23611 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
23613 13. Transforming suffering into the path
23614 Even if someone tries to cut off your head
23615 When you haven't done the slightest thing wrong,
23616 Out of compassion take all his misdeeds
23618 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
23619 -- from "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas"
23620 by Gyelsay Togme Sangpo
23621 Although we have done nothing to deserve it, someone may attack us, beat
23622 us, or perpetrate other forms of violence on us. Certainly it is tempting to
23623 get angry in such a situation, but our anger will do no good. In fact, this
23624 person is creating the cause for his own unfortunate rebirth by attacking us,
23625 and the karma he creates is even heavier if we hold any of the three sets of
23626 vows: pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, or tantric. Thus, we cultivate compassion,
23627 and wish to take the person's karma and resultant suffering on ourselves. For
23628 example, if a crazy person attacks a person who is sane, the latter will not
23629 only not fight back but try to help, by giving him medicine and wanting him to
23630 get well. The sane person sees that the crazy person does not know what he is
23631 doing. He is out of control.
23632 Similarly, when someone harms us, we should recognize that he too is out
23633 of control and is being led by his three poisonous attitudes. Similarly, we
23634 can remember that we are experiencing the ripening result of harmful actions
23635 we did in past lives, so why blame the other person? In addition, that person
23636 is causing our negative karma to be exhausted now, rather than later when the
23637 result could be much more difficult to bear. In this way, we will not be
23638 angry or retaliate, but will pray for and try to help the other. In "The
23639 Eight Verses of Thought Transformation," it says, "Whenever I meet a person of
23640 bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will
23641 hold such a rare one dear, as if I had found a precious treasure." People like
23642 this suffer greatly because they think only of themselves, not of others, and
23643 thus they are worthy of compassion, the wish that they be free from suffering
23645 Being patient when harmed by others does not mean that we take no action
23646 to prevent harm from occurring. Rather, patience frees our mind from the fog
23647 of anger and gives us the clarity and kindness to respond to a situation in a
23648 helpful way. Free of anger, we look for ways to resolve conflict other than
23650 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, in "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
23651 An Explanation of 'The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", edited
23652 by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
23654 Some people run a race to see who is the fastest.
23655 I run a race to see who has the most guts.
23656 -- Steve Prefontaine
23658 Shantideva expresses tremendous courage, which transcends all boundaries
23659 of space and time, in a verse of his "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
23660 (Bodhicaryavatara). He writes:
23661 As long as space endures,
23662 As long as sentient beings remain,
23663 Until then, may I too remain
23664 And dispel the miseries of the world.
23665 When the altruistic intention is supported by insight into emptiness, and
23666 particularly by the direct realization of emptiness, one is said to have
23667 attained the two dimensions of bodhichitta which are known as conventional and
23668 ultimate bodhichitta. With both these practices of compassion and wisdom, the
23669 practitioner has within his or her hands the complete method for attaining the
23670 highest spiritual goal. Such a person is truly great and worthy of
23672 If one is able to cultivate these spiritual qualities within oneself then,
23673 as Chandrakirti writes very poetically in his Entry to the Middle Way
23674 (Madhyamakavatara), with one wing of altruistic intention and another wing of
23675 insight into emptiness, one can traverse the whole of space and soar beyond
23676 the state of existence to the shores of fully enlightened buddhahood.
23677 ...make an effort to contemplate, study and meditate, but without any
23678 shortsighted expectations. You should have the same attitude as Shantideva --
23679 that as long as space exists you will remain to dispel suffering in the world.
23680 When you have that kind of determination and courage to develop your capacity,
23681 then a hundred years, an aeon, a million years are nothing to you.
23682 Furthermore, you will not consider that the different human problems we have
23683 here and there are in any way insurmountable. Such an attitude and vision
23684 bring some kind of real inner strength.
23685 -- H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama, in "Transforming the Mind: Teachings on
23686 Generating Compassion", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, edited by
23687 Dominique Side and Geshe Thupten Jinpa.
23689 The Tantric Way of Purifying One's Views
23690 The second important attitude is the Tantric way of purifying one's views,
23691 which means to transform one's ordinary and dualistic views and conceptions
23692 into a higher spiritual vision.
23693 For instance, you transform the place where teachings are received from an
23694 ordinary classroom into a complete and perfected mandala of the deities. You
23695 view the teacher as a pure form of Shen Lha Okar, the Buddha of Compassion, by
23696 mentally transforming him from an ordinary person into an enlightened one who
23697 has manifested in a human body to guide all sentient beings. You transform
23698 your companions and classmates from ordinary beings into deities and
23699 goddesses, and believe that they all have love, compassion, and care for all
23701 The purpose of transforming your views into pure visions toward these
23702 objects is to realize the extraordinary nature of this experience. This gives
23703 you a special reason to receive blessings and powers from the teacher (lama),
23704 the enlightened ones (Sangye), the deities (yidam), and the female
23705 manifestations of the enlightened ones (khadro), in order to develop your
23706 wisdom and stability. This is the essence of the practice of purifying one's
23707 view according to the Tantric ways.
23708 -- Latri Khenpo and Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, in "Opening the Door to
23709 Bon", published by Snow Lion Publications
23711 MENSA: My Ego Never Stops Aching
23713 ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria
23714 than by drinking alcohol.
23717 Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will
23718 satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
23721 Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more
23722 we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman
23723 told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making
23724 it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he
23725 had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to
23726 realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to
23727 reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he
23728 would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very
23730 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart",
23731 edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat and Dominique
23734 I--What Is a Treasure?
23735 According to the Nyingma School, the Treasures are most often comprised of
23736 spiritual instructions concealed by enlightened beings for the purpose of
23737 discovery at a later predestined time when their message will invigorate the
23738 Buddhist teaching and deepen spiritual understanding. Central to this process
23739 is the figure of the Treasure revealer (gter ston)--the person who acts as a
23740 medium for the re-emergence of this inspired material into the human world.
23741 Accordingly, beginning in the eleventh century and continuing into the
23742 present, the Nyingma School identifies a large number of Treasure revealers
23743 and grants authoritative status to their discoveries.
23744 The idea that religious truth lies concealed within the world of phenomena
23745 awaiting discovery by spiritually gifted people is by no means a concept
23746 exclusive to the Nyingma School or Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. Throughout
23747 Buddhist literature there are numerous descriptions of teachings being
23748 inherently present in the phenomenal world ready to be perceived by
23749 individuals possessing inspired levels of consciousness and, accordingly,
23750 spiritual revelations have surfaced on numerous occasions throughout the
23751 course of Buddhist history.
23752 -- Andreas Doctor, in "Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition,
23753 and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
23755 Patricia Churchland: But do you think that there is something, I am not sure
23756 what to call it--a kind of awareness that can exist independently of the
23757 brain? For example, something that survives death?
23759 Dalai Lama: Generally speaking, awareness, in the sense of our familiar, day-
23760 to-day mental processes, does not exist apart from or independent of the
23761 brain, according to the Buddhist view. But Buddhism holds that the cause of
23762 this awareness is to be found in a preceding continuum of awareness, and that
23763 is why one speaks of a stream of awareness from one life to another. Whence
23764 does this awareness arise initially? It must arise fundamentally not from a
23765 physical base but from a preceding continuum of awareness.
23767 The continuum of awareness that conjoins with the fetus does not depend upon
23768 the brain. There are some documented cases of advanced practitioners whose
23769 bodies, after death, escape what happens to everyone else and do not decompose
23770 for some time--for two or three weeks or even longer. The awareness that
23771 finally leaves their body is a primordial awareness that is not dependent upon
23772 the body. There have been many accounts in the past of advanced practitioners
23773 remaining in meditation in this subtle state of consciousness when they died,
23774 and decomposition of their body was postponed although the body remained at
23776 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
23777 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
23778 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion
23781 The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
23782 my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
23783 What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
23784 on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
23785 out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
23786 without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
23787 alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
23789 Let's continue with the previous example. You see that there is a dent in the
23790 car. What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify
23791 the police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply
23792 do it and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind
23793 further, to develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to
23794 become a Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp. Patience does not suddenly
23795 appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part of the whole process of
23796 awakening is to develop greater forbearance and equanimity in adversity.
23797 Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life,
23798 eloquently points out that there is no way to develop patience without
23799 encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable for our own growth on
23800 the path to awakening.
23801 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
23802 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
23804 In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous. -- Aristotle
23806 Now the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length
23807 ball gown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury.
23808 -- Groundskeeper Willie
23810 Dayata (Om) Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha.
23812 A mantra is that which protects the mind. Through this mantra, which is the
23813 perfection of wisdom itself, we can overcome the demon of ignorance that
23814 possesses us and find unsurpassable happiness. It protects the minds of those
23815 who practice it from all fears and describes how to make the transition from
23816 worldly existence to the supreme state beyond sorrow. It is a mantra of great
23817 knowledge because it saves us from the poison of ignorance and its imprints.
23818 It is an unsurpassable mantra because it frees us from suffering and its
23819 causes as no other path of insight can. The incomparable is the state beyond
23820 suffering. Since it helps us to attain that state, it is comparable to the
23821 incomparable. It totally pacifies suffering because it rids us of all the
23822 troubles of the world and their causes. The world here refers to ordinary
23823 beings like us. Our troubles are many but foremost are birth, aging,
23824 sickness, and death. This mantra does not deceive us and it is true because
23825 wisdom sees things as they actually are without any error or deception. It is
23826 therefore transcendent.
23827 -- from "The Heart Sutra: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
23828 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
23830 I am interested not in converting other people to Buddhism but in how we
23831 Buddhists can contribute to human society, according to our own ideas. I
23832 believe that other religious faiths also think in a similar way, seeking to
23833 contribute to the common aim....
23835 Just as Buddha showed an example of contentment, tolerance, and serving others
23836 without selfish motivation, so did Jesus Christ. Almost all of the great
23837 teachers lived a saintly life--not luxuriously like kings or emperors but as
23838 simple human beings. Their inner strength was tremendous, limitless, but the
23839 external appearance was of contentment with a simple way of life.
23841 ...the motivation of all religious practice is similar--love, sincerity,
23842 honesty. The way of life of practically all religious persons is contentment.
23843 The teachings of tolerance, love, and compassion are the same. A basic goal
23844 is the benefit of humankind--each type of system seeking in its own unique
23845 ways to improve human beings. If we put too much emphasis on our own
23846 philosophy, religion, or theory, are too attached to it, and try to impose it
23847 on other people, it makes trouble. Basically all the great teachers, such as
23848 Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Mohammed, founded their new teachings with a
23849 motivation of helping their fellow humans. They did not mean to gain anything
23850 for themselves nor to create more trouble or unrest in the world.
23852 Most important is that we respect each other and learn from each other those
23853 things that will enrich our own practice. Ever if all the systems are
23854 separate, since they each have the same goal, the study of each other is
23856 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", compiled
23857 and edited by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
23859 Our teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, is one among the thousand Buddhas of this
23860 aeon. These Buddhas were not Buddhas from the beginning, but were once
23861 sentient beings like ourselves. How they came to be Buddhas is this.
23862 Of body and mind, mind is predominant, for body and speech are under the
23863 influence of the mind. Afflictions such as desire do not contaminate the
23864 nature of the mind, for the nature of the mind is pure, uncontaminated by any
23865 taint. Afflictions are peripheral factors of a mind, and through gradually
23866 transforming all types of defects, such as these afflictions, the adventitious
23867 taints can be completely removed. This state of complete purification is
23868 Buddhahood; therefore, Buddhists do not assert that there is any Buddha who
23869 has been enlightened from the beginning.
23870 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet: The Dalai Lama",
23871 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
23874 ...everbody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has
23875 compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential
23876 instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the
23877 differences are extraordinarily important.
23878 Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In
23879 what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human
23880 beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel
23881 compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for
23882 humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the
23883 human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other
23884 countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone
23885 else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for
23886 those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line.
23887 We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our
23888 compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not
23889 necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion,
23890 and we can extend our compassion to everyone.
23891 -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of
23892 Meditation in the Middle Way School' ", translated by Jules B. Levinson,
23893 published by Snow Lion Publications
23895 4. Seven-Limbed Practice
23897 The seven parts of the practice are encompassed by two practices--the
23898 purification of negativities and the enhancing of the store of merit. When
23899 you engage in the practice, it is very important to understand that each and
23900 every one of the seven limbs has its individual purpose and significance, and
23901 only with such knowledge can you engage properly in the practice. The seven
23902 limbs are: prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn
23903 the wheel of the dharma, entreating not to enter into nirvana, and dedication
23905 ...For the practice of confession, which is the third of the seven limbs,
23906 it is very important to have the factor of regret; without this factor there
23907 is no possibility of purifying the negativities.... The great yogi Milarepa
23908 said: "When I examined whether or not confession could purify the
23909 negativities, I found that it is regret that cleanses them." In order to
23910 generate regret, it is important to see the destructive nature of negative
23911 actions and also to understand the law of causality.
23912 Based on a disciplined mind, we experience happiness; based on an
23913 undisciplined, untamed mind, we undergo suffering. We should think that if we
23914 are not able to make any progress from our present state of mind, which always
23915 indulges in negative thoughts, there is not much hope for us. So, if we are
23916 able to think in such terms, we will be able to really see the destructive
23917 nature of negative actions, and also that the store of negative actions that
23918 we have is inexhaustible, like a rich person's bank balance. Without the
23919 recognition of the destructive nature of the negative forces, we will never be
23920 able to develop the deep factor of regret from the depth of our hearts.
23921 If we do not engage in a proper practice of dharma, it seems that we may
23922 expend all our store of merit in mundane pleasures. It is very important to
23923 have this faculty of regret in our practice of purification and confession.
23924 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), in "The Path to Bliss: A Practical
23925 Guide to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa,
23926 edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
23928 9. Glorious Lama (excerpt)
23930 ...Those with faith have a refuge.
23931 Those with compassion have an altruistic attitude.
23932 Those with incisive knowledge have realization.
23933 Those with respect and devotion have blessings.
23935 Those with shame avoid carelessness.
23936 Those who avoid carelessness have a guarded mind.
23937 Those who have a guarded mind have vows and samaya.
23938 Those who have vows and samaya have spiritual attainments.
23940 Calm and self-control are signs of listening to the Dharma;
23941 Few passions, signs of meditation;
23942 Harmony with everyone is the sign of a practitioner;
23943 Your mind at ease, the sign of accomplishment.
23945 The root of phenomena is your own mind.
23946 If you tame your mind, you are a practitioner.
23947 If you are a practitioner, your mind is tamed.
23948 When your mind is tamed, that is liberation.
23949 -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, in "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
23950 Advice", translated by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
23952 The Special Features of Dzogchen
23954 In the early translation school of the Nyingma, a system of nine yanas is
23955 taught. Three of these--the paths of the Sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and
23956 bodhisattva--constitute the sutra tradition, while the tantric tradition
23957 consists of six levels--the three outer tantras and the three inner tantras.
23958 The tradition of Dzogchen, or Atiyoga, is considered to be the pinnacle of
23959 these nine yanas. The other, lower, yanas are said to be philosophical
23960 systems that depend on ordinary consciousness, and so the path is based on
23961 that ordinary consciousness. Here the distinction being made is between
23962 ordinary mind--sem--and pure awareness--rigpa. The ninth yana, the most
23963 majestic, is beyond ordinary consciousness, for its path is based on rigpa,
23964 not on the ordinary mind.
23965 Throughout beginningless time, there has always been present, within us
23966 all, a pure awareness--that in-dwelling rigpa which in Atiyoga is evoked in
23967 all its nakedness, and which constitutes the practice.
23968 ...The ground for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana is the
23969 fundamental innate mind of clear light, and these phenomena are its radiance
23970 or display. While we are following the path, in order for all the impure
23971 aspects of our experience to be purified on the basis of that rigpa--or, you
23972 can say, that fundamental innate mind of clear light--there is no other means
23973 apart from that fundamental and innate state itself, which is therefore the
23974 very essence of the path. Finally, when the fruition is made fully evident,
23975 it is just this fundamental innate mind of clear light itself, free from
23976 obscuration, that constitutes the attainment of fruition.
23977 ...Any given state of consciousness is permeated by the clear light of
23978 rigpa's pure awareness. However solid ice may be, it never loses its true
23979 nature, which is water. In the same way, even very obvious concepts... arise
23980 within the expanse of rigpa and that is where they dissolve. On this point,
23981 Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima says that all objects of knowledge are permeated
23982 by clear light, just as a sesame seed is permeated by its oil. Therefore,
23983 even while the coarser states of the six consciousnesses are functioning,
23984 their subtle aspect--that of clear light--can be directly introduced by means
23985 of those states themselves, through blessings and through pith instructions.
23986 Here lies the extraordinary and profound implication of the Dzogchen
23987 teachings. When you are basing your path on the fundamental innate mind of
23988 clear light, you will employ skilful means to block the coarse and subtle
23989 states of energy and mind, as a result of which the state of clear light
23990 becomes evident, and on this you base your path. But in Dzogchen, even while
23991 the six consciousnesses are fully functioning, by means of those very states
23992 you can be directly introduced to their subtle aspect of clear light in your
23993 immediate experience, and you then meditate by focusing one-pointedly on that
23994 aspect. As you meditate in this way, resting in this non-conceptual state,
23995 gradually your experience of clear light becomes increasingly profound, while
23996 coarser thoughts and concepts dwindle away.
23997 The most difficult task is to differentiate between ordinary mind and
23998 rigpa. It is easy enough to talk about it. You can say, for example, that
23999 rigpa has never been confused, while ordinary mind has fallen under the
24000 influence of concepts and is mired in confusion. But to be introduced to the
24001 direct experience of the essence of rigpa is far from being easy. And so
24002 Dodrupchen says that although your arrogance might be such that you assume you
24003 are meditating on the ultimate meaning of rigpa, there is a danger that "you
24004 could end up meditating on the clear, empty qualities of your ordinary mind,
24005 which even non-Buddhist practitioners are capable of doing." He is warning us
24007 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
24008 Perfection", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and Richard Barron
24009 (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, pub. by Snow Lion Publications
24011 Patience is like a beautiful ornament. When you become a person with
24012 great patience, it brings a certain element of charm to your life. You are
24013 loved by others, and you give no problems to your friends. You bring an
24014 element of joy, happiness, and calmness to other people's lives--your friends,
24015 your family, and the community. You do not have to ask to be accepted;
24016 everyone longs for your presence. Everyone looks up to you and respects you,
24017 not because you have worked for that or expected it, not because you were
24018 competing for their favor, but simply because of the nature of patience. You
24019 are respected and trusted, and you acquire dignity with the practice of
24020 patience. When you are honored, it is with sincerity, and it is something you
24022 ...Just hearing about patience does not mean you are experiencing it now
24023 or will easily develop it. To lay the ground for training the mind, you must
24024 first tame the mind. To tame the mind, it is extremely important to do the
24025 basic shamata [tranquility meditation, calm abiding] practice, which develops
24026 calmness and tranquility. Then you can add the practice of patience,
24027 understanding the benefits of patience and reminding yourself to take
24028 advantage of the available antidotes.
24029 -- Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
24030 Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
24033 No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
24034 policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
24037 We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
24038 -- Winston Churchill
24040 If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good
24041 education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave
24042 to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content
24043 itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children,
24044 and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay
24048 First, God created idiots.
24049 That was just for practice.
24050 Then He created school boards.
24053 Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course,
24054 we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in
24055 training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution,
24056 they are totally unfit.
24059 There are two types of education...
24060 One should teach us how to make a living,
24061 And the other how to live.
24064 We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or
24065 fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and
24066 do not know a thing.
24067 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
24069 The Sanskrit word for compassion, karuna, has the implication of "that
24070 which blocks or prevents bliss." In general, when we develop compassion, we
24071 develop very strongly the attitude that cannot bear the suffering of other
24072 beings. We wish for it to end and for them to become free. Although we do
24073 not actually experience others' suffering at that time, the strength of the
24074 attitude that cannot bear their suffering causes our mind also to become
24075 unhappy. This is the general sense in which compassion blocks bliss....
24076 Only the power of a union of method and wisdom--namely the union of
24077 compassion, as a greatly blissful awareness, and the discriminating awareness
24078 of voidness--allows us to attain the total release of supreme nirvana, namely
24080 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra", with
24081 Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications
24083 There is a tradition of reciting prayers of request to the spiritual
24084 teachers of the lineage at the beginning of each study session, starting with
24085 the Buddha Shakyamuni and ending with our own personal teachers. What do we
24086 request? As we chant each verse, we take to mind the inspiring qualities of
24087 the great masters mentioned in it and ask them to bless us to develop
24088 compassion, wisdom and power similar to their own. Blessings are experienced
24089 in the form of a transformation which affects our body, speech and mind. Our
24090 mind becomes more serviceable and flexible, our way of speaking and acting
24091 more constructive. We become more open to the message of how to bring about
24092 inner transformation that has been handed down through this long line of
24093 spiritual teachers.
24094 Our teachers pass on the instructions they have received from their own
24095 teachers, the knowledge they have culled from their reading and everything
24096 they have understood and experienced as a result of their personal practice,
24097 without holding anything back. They are motivated by compassion and their
24098 deep wish to help us. To communicate it to us they choose whatever means are
24099 most effective--sometimes stern, sometimes gentle. This process must take
24100 place in an atmosphere of mutual trust, something very rare in relationships
24101 today. In the past the relationship between students and teachers was even
24102 closer and more trusting than that between siblings--and in Tibet brothers and
24103 sisters generally enjoyed a close and loving bond. Today this is a dying
24104 tradition, yet a good relationship between student and teacher is vital even
24105 for the communication of secular knowledge, let alone where spiritual wisdom
24107 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment: An
24108 Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
24111 We have happiness of mind and freedom from anxiety to just the degree that
24112 our minds are tamed.... Once we want happiness and do not want suffering, we
24113 should engage in the means to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering.
24114 Practice is based on reasoning, not force; it is up to oneself.
24115 The time for engaging in these techniques is now. Some feel, "I did not
24116 succeed in this lifetime; I will ask a lama for help in my future life." To
24117 think that we will practise in the future is only a hope. It is foolish to
24118 feel that the next life will be as suitable as this. No matter how bad our
24119 condition is now, since we have a human brain, we can think; since we have a
24120 mouth, we can recite mantra. No matter how old one may be, there is time for
24121 practice. However, when we die and are reborn, we are unable even to recite
24122 om mani padme hum. Thus, it is important to make all effort possible at this
24123 time when we have obtained the precious physical life-support of a human.
24124 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Deity Yoga: In Action and
24125 Performance Tantra by Tsong-ka-pa", published by Snow Lion Publications
24127 How would we feel if one of our children was overpowered by a serious disease
24128 and did some terrible things without knowing what he or she was doing? We
24129 should try to view someone dear who suddenly hurts us in the same light. If
24130 we can see that person is out of control and sick with negative emotions, we
24131 will not feel so much hatred and disgust. There may be resentment, and we may
24132 not be able to love that person more than before, but almost automatically
24133 there will be a certain sympathy that will lessen or end our hatred and allow
24135 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
24136 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
24137 by Snow Lion Publications
24139 Compassion is a theme the Dalai Lama returns to over and over again. I
24140 also know he has meditated on compassion every morning without fail for the
24141 past half century. In an interview, I asked the Dalai Lama to give me his
24142 take on compassion. Lhakdor [his translator], as usual, was by his side.
24143 "Compassion is something like a sense of caring, a sense of concern for
24144 others' difficulties and pain," the Dalai Lama said. "Not only family and
24145 friends, but all other people. Enemies also. Now, if we really analyze our
24146 feelings, one thing becomes clear. If we think only of ourselves, forget
24147 about other people, then our minds occupy a very small area. Inside that
24148 small area, even a tiny problem appears very big. But the moment you develop
24149 a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they
24150 also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of
24151 concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems,
24152 even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in
24153 peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness,
24154 the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear."
24155 "I was thirty-two years old when I developed a strong experience of
24156 compassion," he told me.... "Often when I reflect on the meaning and benefits
24157 of altruistic mind, tears came." Lhakdor translated: "...When he meditated on
24158 compassion, he would sometimes be filled with joy and appreciation. And there
24159 is a strong sense of concern for others accompanied by a feeling of
24160 sadness.... And when His Holiness reflected on certain profound explanations
24161 on emptiness, this would also trigger a strong emotion."
24162 "I think that strong conviction or strong emotions actually give more
24163 inner strength," the Dalai Lama explained. "So when I face some problems or
24164 criticism, for example, criticism from the Chinese, of course, little
24165 irritation sometimes..." "But then he'll have this feeling of compassion for
24166 them," Lhakdor translated. "He'll regret they're not making positive
24167 connection with him. But his sentiment is, although there is this negativity,
24168 may it also give positive fruit."
24169 "Now, the understanding of emptiness helps a lot toward developing
24170 compassion. There's no doubt it reinforces compassion," the Dalai Lama said.
24171 Lhakdor elaborated: "Emptiness allows us to have an understanding about
24172 ultimate reality. It helps us to appreciate the wisdom of interdependence--a
24173 fundamental law of nature. We gain an appreciation that we are all basically
24174 related. It is because of this interrelatedness that we are able to empathize
24175 with the suffering of others. With empathy, compassion flows naturally. We
24176 develop genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove
24177 their pain. Emptiness thus strengthens positive emotions like compassion."
24178 Emptiness and compassion. Wisdom and method. These are the twin pillars
24179 of the Dalai Lama's practice--everything we need to know about spiritual
24180 practice. Both qualities are needed; they strengthen each other. Once we
24181 realize we are all interconnected, it is difficut not to feel some of
24182 compassion for the problems of our fellow human beings. And once we come by
24183 a feeling of compassion, we start to get a glimpse of the timeless truth of
24184 interdependence, of emptiness.
24185 The Dalai Lama looked thoughtful. After some time, he turned to me, "I
24186 think one thing I'm quite sure," he said. "I can tell you, the twin practice
24187 of emptiness and compassion is... effective." Then he lapsed into Tibetan
24188 again. Lhakdor translated. "His Holiness can say with conviction: if you
24189 meditate on emptiness and compassion, so long as you make the effort, then His
24190 Holiness is sure that, day in and day out, you will get tangible benefit.
24191 Your whole attitude will change." "....These things about compassion are
24192 something living--according to my own experience," the Dalai Lama went on. "I
24193 tell some of my experiences to other people, share some of my feelings, then
24194 other people understand: there is something real, something living."
24195 -- from "The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys by"
24196 His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, published by Snow Lion
24199 ...it is difficult to recognize an authentic teacher, because these
24200 qualities are internal. We can not depend upon external factors, but external
24201 factors are what we see. It is very difficult to see the inner qualities of
24202 another person. A businessman might be friendlier to us than our best friend,
24203 while his unseen motivation is merely to make a sale. Likewise, if a
24204 "teacher" acts in a very kind and loving manner towards us it does not
24205 necessarily mean that he is compassionate and selfless, because we cannot see
24206 his motivation. We also cannot determine a teacher's qualifications based
24207 upon her fame, or whether she has thousands of students. So the seeker is
24208 left with this paradox.
24209 There is no simple solution, but there are things we can do. First, it is
24210 important that we familiarize ourselves with the characteristics* discussed by
24211 Kongtrul Rinpoche. Second, we must maintain awareness of our own motivation
24212 during the process of finding a teacher. Am I seeking a teacher in order to
24213 attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, or am I seeking
24214 to fulfill my need to acquire the prestige associated with a famous teacher,
24215 or am I merely attracted to a lama's beautiful retreat land or the social
24216 scene of a hip sangha, and so on.
24217 These motivations need to be acknowledged if we are to recognize an
24218 authentic wisdom teacher, because the teacher you find is related to your
24219 karma, and your karma is intimately connected to your motivation.
24220 Fortunately, there are methods that help us purify our motivation and create
24221 the proper conditions for finding a wisdom teacher, such as bringing our
24222 awareness to our motivations as much as possible, doing daily meditation
24223 practice, and praying to the Triple Gem [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha] that we
24224 will meet and recognize an authentic wisdom teacher.
24225 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, in "The Teacher-Student Relationship: A
24226 Translation of 'The Explanation of the Master and Student Relationship,
24227 How to Follow the Master, and How to Teach and Listen to the Dharma' ",
24228 translated and introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Pub.
24230 * "Whatever lama is followed must definitely have these qualities: He holds a
24231 pure lineage since he has not contradicted the commitments and prohibitions of
24232 the three vows.... He should be very learned... clear about the sutras,
24233 tantras, and shastras. His mind-stream should be so saturated with compassion
24234 that he loves all the limitless sentient beings as his only child. He should
24235 be expert in the outer tripitakas and on the inner level he should be expert
24236 in the ritual of the four classes of tantras of the secret mantra. He should
24237 have manifested the outstanding noble qualities of abandomnent and realization
24238 in his mind-stream by having relied upon practicing the meaning of this. He
24239 gathers fortunate disciples by the four ways of attracting: generosity,
24240 pleasant speech, his conduct should benefit others, and he should act in
24241 accord with the dharma."
24244 ...when we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
24245 in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
24246 sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
24247 and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
24248 Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
24249 sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
24250 This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
24251 of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
24252 strongly seek this aim. In addition, the doctrine of Buddha-nature gives us a
24253 lot of encouragement and confidence because we realize that there is this
24254 potential within us which will allow us to attain the perfection that we are
24255 seeking. However, there are different types of sense of self which are rooted
24256 in a belief in a permanent, solid, indivisible entity called "self" or "I."
24257 There is the belief that there is something very concrete or objective about
24258 this entity. This is a false notion of self which must be overcome.
24259 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience
24260 from a Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa,
24261 published by Snow Lion Publications
24263 ...by respecting and serving your teachers you exhaust karma whose effects you
24264 would otherwise experience in the miserable realms. Your action of serving
24265 the teacher expends these miserable effects and replaces them with only slight
24266 harm to your body and mind in this lifetime, either in actuality or in dreams.
24267 In addition, the benefits of respecting and serving your teachers are
24268 tremendous, such as a collection of virtue which surpasses even the roots of
24269 virtue that you derive from making offerings to limitless buddhas, and so
24270 forth. As the Sutra of Ksitigarbha says:
24271 "Those whom the teachers care for will purify the karma that would
24272 otherwise cause them to wander through the miserable realms for ten million
24273 limitless eons. They purify this karma with harm to their bodies and minds in
24274 this lifetime. This harm includes sickness such as an infectious disease with
24275 fever and calamities such as famine. They may purify their karma by merely
24276 undergoing something as little as a dream or a scolding. They produce more
24277 roots of virtue in one morning than those who give gifts to, worship, or
24278 observe precepts from limitless tens of millions of buddhas. Those who
24279 respect and serve their gurus are endowed with unimaginable good qualities."
24280 -- Tsong-kha-pa, in "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
24281 Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
24282 Translation Committee under editorial guidance of Joshua Cutler and Guy
24283 Newland, foreword by Robert A.F. Thurman, Snow Lion Publications
24285 ...if we remain clinging to this life even for one day, we are misusing
24286 our time. In this way, we can waste months and years on end. Because we
24287 don't know when our lives will finish, we should remain mindful and well
24288 prepared. Then, even if we die tonight, we will do so without regret. If we
24289 die tonight, the purpose of being well prepared is borne out; if we don't die
24290 tonight, there is no harm in being well prepared, because it will still
24292 But when we leave the world of humans, we do so without a protector or
24293 supporter and the total responsibility falls on us. We only have our own
24294 intelligence to rely on at that time, so we must expend our own effort in
24295 order to protect ourselves. As the Buddha said, "I have shown you the path to
24296 liberation; know that liberation depends on you." We must put strenuous effort
24297 into gaining freedom from the lower migrations, liberation from samsara,
24298 freedom from conventional existence and solitary salvation.
24299 The body is compared to a guest house; it is a place to stay for just a
24300 short time and not permanently. At present, the guest of consciousness is
24301 staying in the guest house of the body, like renting a place to stay. When
24302 the day comes for consciousness to leave, the guest house of the body must be
24303 left behind. Not being attached to friends, the body, wealth and possessions
24304 is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.
24305 -- His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, in "The Heart of Compassion: A Practical
24306 Approach to a Meaningful Life"
24308 ...the Transcendent Conqueror presented the two truths with respect to all
24309 inner and outer things, like sprouts and everything else. Genuine truth is
24310 described as being simply the authentic object of the noble ones' original
24311 wisdom that sees what is authentic and true; there is no identity actually
24312 established there for conceptual mind to find. Relative truth is the false
24313 object seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is
24314 completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the case with ordinary
24315 beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object
24316 perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.
24317 Thus, the Teacher explained that every thing found holds two natures
24318 within: a genuine nature and a relative one. From among these two, the object
24319 of the noble ones' authentic vision is the precise nature of reality, genuine
24320 truth, and the object of false seeing is relative truth.
24321 -- Chandrakirti, in "The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's
24322 'Entering the Middle Way' with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo
24323 Dorje's 'Chariot of the Dagpo Kagyu Siddhas', translated by Ari Goldfield,
24324 Jules Levinson, Jim Scott and Birgit Scott under guidance of Khenpo
24325 Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
24327 ...we find Agastya, born to a family of Brahmans so illustrious as to be
24328 called "an ornament of the earth," living as an ascetic on the island of Kara
24329 in the Indian Ocean.... "On what accomplishment have you set your hopes?"
24330 Indra asked Agastya the Bodhisattva. "What is the object of your wishes that
24331 has led you to leave your sorrowful friends and relatives, desert a household
24332 and possessions that had been your happiness, and enter this way of life that
24333 destroys all pleasures?"
24334 The Bodhisattva replied according to the Dharma, in a way that immediately
24335 laid Indra's anxiety to rest. "Repeated births tend to great sorrow," he
24336 said. "So do the calamities of old age, sickness and death. All are just a
24337 disturbance to the mind. My vow is to save all sentient beings from these
24339 Relieved, Indra immediately offered, in return for such candid truth, the
24340 fulfillment of any desire Agastya might name. "May the fire of covetousness
24341 that burns insatiably even after obtaining a beloved wife, children, power and
24342 riches never enter my heart," Agastya said. "Excellent, excellent," applauded
24343 Indra and urged Agastya to request the fulfillment of still another desire.
24344 "May the fire of hatred burn far from me," Agastya said. Pleased by this
24345 game, in which Agastya so ingeniously taught the Dharma while appearing to
24346 request the fulfillment of his desires, Indra urged him to go on. But this
24347 time he was startled to hear Agastya's words. "May I never hear, see, speak
24348 to, nor endure the annoyance and pain of staying with a fool," Agastya said.
24349 "What do you mean?" Indra asked. "Those in distress deserve sympathy; the
24350 root of distress is foolishness. How can you claim to be compassionate when
24351 you abhor the very presence of those most due sympathy?"
24352 Then Agastya reasoned in this way, to prove to Indra that one should
24353 associate not with the foolish but with men of wisdom. "A fool cannot be
24354 cured even by medical treatment," he said. "Habituated to wrong conduct
24355 because of a deficiency in moral education, he urges his neighbors to follow
24356 his impetuous way, inflamed by self-conceit and the affectation of wisdom.
24357 When reprimanded, he becomes angry. There is no help for him." "How true,"
24358 Indra said. "Let me hear more jewellike, well spoken sentences."
24359 "May I see, hear, live with and converse with a wise man," Agastya said,
24360 "for these reasons: because the wise man, walking the path of virtue, draws
24361 others along with him, and is never roused to impatience by harsh words spoken
24362 for his own good." Again Indra was delighted.
24363 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by His Holiness the
24364 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories", translated by
24367 (2) What one has to abandon: how to get rid of arrogance by means of an
24369 "I'm not beyond my karma, the deeds I've done;
24370 I'll still fall ill, age, die, and leave my friends."
24371 Think like this again and yet again
24372 And with this remedy avoid all arrogance.
24373 "I will be sick, I will grow old, I will die, I will be separated from those
24374 I love, my relations and so forth. In such manner, the fully ripened effect
24375 of my actions will come to me and to no one else, and I am therefore not above
24376 depending on what I did in former lives." To think like this again and again
24377 is the antidote to such things as arrogance: make every effort not to become
24378 arrogant by meditating on this antidote.
24379 -- "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche
24380 by Nagarjuna", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
24381 by Snow Lion Publications
24383 For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
24384 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
24386 Inwardly, we defend against death by the very structure of our ego. Our ego
24387 claims to have the ability to provide us with happiness based on its belief in
24388 its own permanent existence. On the one hand, to believe in ego results in
24389 denying death. On the other, to accept death is to question the very nature
24390 of ego as a permanent, on-going structure and to confront very strong defense
24391 mechanisms. As a result, we have strong resistance to contemplating death.
24392 This resistance is also the same resistance that comes up when we meditate.
24393 Please recognize it for what it is and move on.
24394 -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
24395 Practitioner's Journey", published by Snow Lion Publications
24397 Question: Could you please say something on the three kinds of suffering?
24399 His Holiness: One kind of suffering is like a headache or like yesterday's
24400 flu: discomfort in the nose, watery eyes, and so forth. In short, it includes
24401 all of those kinds of gross physical and mental sufferings that in ordinary
24402 parlance we usually call "suffering." This is the first category.
24404 Then the second category is as follows. When we feel hungry and begin to take
24405 food, at first we feel very happy. We take one mouthful, then two, three,
24406 four, five... eventually, though it is the same person, the same food, and
24407 the same time period, we begin to find the food objectionable and reject it.
24408 This is what is meant by the "suffering of change." Practically every worldly
24409 happiness and pleasure is in this second category. Compared to other forms of
24410 suffering, at the beginning these more subtle forms of suffering seem
24411 pleasurable; they seem to afford us some happiness, but this is not true or
24412 lasting happiness, for the more we become acquainted with them, the more
24413 involved we become with them, the more suffering and trouble they bring us.
24414 That is the second category.
24416 Now as for the third category, I think it is fair to say that it is one's own
24417 body. Roughly speaking, this is what it is. It is the body which is the
24418 fruit of afflictions, a body originally created by afflictions. Because the
24419 body is created by such causes, it is of the very nature of suffering. It
24420 comes to act as the basis of suffering. This, then, is the third category.
24421 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
24422 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
24424 One point I should make here is that some people, especially those who see
24425 themselves as very realistic and practical, are sometimes too realistic and
24426 obsessed with practicality. They may think, "The idea of wishing for the
24427 happiness of all beings, of wanting what is best for every single one, is
24428 unrealistic and too idealistic. Such an unrealistic idea cannot contribute in
24429 any way to transforming the mind or to attaining some kind of mental
24430 discipline, because it is completely unachievable."
24431 ...They feel there is simply no point in thinking about all beings since
24432 there is an infinite number of them. They may conceivably be able to feel
24433 some kind of connection with some fellow human beings on this planet, but they
24434 feel that the infinite number of beings throughout the universe has nothing to
24435 do with their own experience as individuals.
24436 ...What is important here, however, is to grasp the impact of cultivating
24437 such altruistic sentiments. The point is to try to develop the scope of our
24438 empathy in such a way that we can extend it to any form of life with the
24439 capacity to feel pain and experience happiness. It is a matter of recognizing
24440 living organisms as sentient, and therefore subject to pain and capable of
24442 ...Such a universal sentiment of compassion is very powerful, and there is
24443 no need to be able to identify, in specific terms, with every single living
24444 being in order for it to be effective.
24445 ...Given patience and time, it is within our power to develop this kind of
24446 universal compassion.
24447 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life",
24448 edited by David Kittelstrom, sponsored by Richard Gere and the Gere
24452 Different body postures open or compress particular energetic channels and
24453 influence the flow of subtle energy. We use this understanding to aid
24454 specific processes in the practice. The Tibetan tradition considers the
24455 negative emotions to be more closely associated with the primary channel on
24456 the right side of the body in men and on the left in women. When a man sleeps
24457 on his right side, the channel that carries mostly negative prana is forced a
24458 little closed and the left channel opens. Also the lung, the physical organ,
24459 on that side is a bit compressed so the opposite lung is a little more
24460 responsible for the breath. You are probably already familiar with effects
24461 from lying on your side: when you lie on your right side you find it easier to
24462 breathe through your left nostril. For men, we consider this position
24463 beneficial to the movement of the positive wisdom prana through the left
24464 channel. Women benefit from the reverse, opening the wisdom channel that is
24465 on their right side by sleeping on their left. This affects dreams in a
24466 positive fashion and makes the dream practice easier. Opening the flow of the
24467 wisdom prana is a provisional expedient, as ultimately we want the balanced
24468 prana to move into the central channel.
24469 Furthermore, by paying attention to posture, awareness is kept more stable
24470 during sleep. Where I come from, most people sleep on a three-foot by six-
24471 foot Tibetan carpet. If one moves too much, one falls out of bed. But that
24472 does not usually happen, because when one sleeps on something small, the
24473 position of the body is held in the sleeping mind throughout the night....
24474 Here, in the big beds of the West, the sleeper can rotate like the hands of a
24475 clock and not fall, but holding the position anyway will help maintain
24477 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
24478 edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
24480 The term emptiness does not carry here any connotation of void or of absolute
24481 nothingness. It should be understood as the naturally open and serene state
24482 of the mind. Thus, to affirm the emptiness of phenomena does not in any way
24483 mean that they do not exist in the way that the horn of a hare or skyflowers
24484 do not exist. Instead, emptiness refers to the insight that, at the ultimate
24485 level, both interior phenomena--sensations, perceptions and the "I"--and
24486 exterior phenomena--all the appearances of the phenomenal world--have no real
24487 existence, although they do appear in different forms. The Heart Sutra
24488 summarizes this as follows:
24489 Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,
24490 Emptiness is not other than form,
24491 Form is not other than emptiness.
24492 -- Jerome Edou in "Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod", published
24493 by Snow Lion Publications
24495 Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the
24496 contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a
24497 way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others.
24498 Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a
24499 sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion.
24500 I strongly believe that we must promote such a concept of nonviolence at the
24501 level of the family as well as at the national and international levels. Each
24502 individual has the ability to contribute to such compassionate nonviolence.
24503 How should we go about this? We can start with ourselves. We must try to
24504 develop greater perspective, looking at situations from all angles. Usually
24505 when we face problems, we look at them from our own point of view. We even
24506 sometimes deliberately ignore other aspects of a situation. This often leads
24507 to negative consequences. However, it is very important for us to have a
24508 broader perspective.
24509 We must come to realize that others are also part of our society. We can
24510 think of our society as a body, with arms and legs as parts of it. Of course,
24511 the arm is different from the leg; however, if something happens to the foot,
24512 the hand should reach down to help. Similarly, when something is wrong within
24513 our society, we must help.
24514 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
24515 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
24518 According to Highest Yoga Tantra, some persons attain Buddhahood in one
24519 lifetime, and because these persons are not born with a body adorned with the
24520 major and minor marks they must achieve such a body through the practice of
24522 Meditation on oneself as undifferentiable from a deity is the special
24523 cause... for attaining Buddhahood. If one meditated only on emptiness and
24524 did not cultivate any method--either that of the Perfection or that of the
24525 Mantra Vehicle--one would fall to the fruit of a Hinayana Foe Destroyer. In
24526 order to attain the definite goodness of the highest achievement, Buddhahood,
24527 deity yoga is needed. Also, ...one must view one's body clearly as a divine
24528 body and train in the pride of being a deity. Without deity yoga the Mantra
24529 path is impossible; deity yoga is the essence of Mantra.
24530 -- H.H. Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Tantra in Tibet",
24531 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications
24533 Often we see other sentient beings as hassles: "This mosquito is
24534 disturbing me. Those politicians are corrupt. Why can't my colleagues do
24535 their work correctly?" and so on. But when we see sentient beings as being
24536 more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, our perspective completely
24537 changes. For example, when we look at a fly buzzing around, we train
24538 ourselves to think, "My enlightenment depends on that fly." This isn't
24539 fanciful thinking because, in fact, our enlightenment does depend on that fly.
24540 If that fly isn't included in our bodhicitta, then we don't have bodhicitta,
24541 and we won't receive the wonderful results of generating bodhicitta--the
24542 tremendous purification and creation of positive potential.
24543 Imagine training your mind so that when you look at every single living
24544 being, you think, "My enlightenment depends on that being. The drunk who just
24545 got on the bus--my enlightenment depends on him. The soldier in Iraq--my
24546 enlightenment depends on him. My brothers and sisters, the teller at the
24547 bank, the janitor at my workplace, the president of the United States, the
24548 suicide bombers in the Middle East, the slug in my garden, my eighth-grade
24549 boyfriend, the babysitter when I was a kid--my enlightenment depends on each
24550 of them." All sentient beings are actually that precious to us.
24551 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The
24552 Yoga Method of Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
24554 We think of ourselves as being the child of specific parents, as belonging
24555 to a certain gender and race, as a citizen of a specific nation, and as a
24556 member of a caste, class and community within that country, etc. Our
24557 identification with these transient reference points, be they racial,
24558 linguistic, cultural, conceptual, or gender-specific, can become lifelong love
24559 affairs, hate affairs, or guilt affairs. What Guru Rinpoche's birth
24560 symbolizes for me is the fact that, from the first moment, he recognized the
24561 unborn and undying nature of his mind, primordially pure awareness. He
24562 identified with that, rather than with his body, wherever it may have come
24563 from, be it a womb, a lotus, a stork, or a cabbage patch. Whatever physical,
24564 linguistic, or conceptual worlds he adopted, he wore as ephemeral ornaments on
24565 the infinite expanse of timeless awareness.
24566 ...Guru Rinpoche was not an individual who followed a spiritual path until
24567 illumination. He was an enlightened being who appeared in different guises
24568 entirely as a manifestation to help others, including the guise of an
24569 individual who followed the spiritual path.
24570 -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", published by
24571 Snow Lion Publications
24573 ...if a person is experiencing some kind of mental dysfunction, it is
24574 frequently understood that the mind itself has become too withdrawn in upon
24575 itself, and that there is a corresponding physiological process involving the
24576 energies themselves, which are closely associated with consciousness, also
24577 entering into a dysfunctional state.
24578 So, in the Buddhist view, it can happen, for example, that one's mind will
24579 become depressed because of some environmental event. As a result of the mind
24580 becoming depressed, there is a chemical, maybe an electrochemical,
24581 transformation in the brain that has now occurred. The mental dysfunction
24582 will then be aggravated. When that happens, there is a further chemical
24583 response, which then avalanches upon itself.
24584 ...on occasion, without any special external event taking place, there can
24585 simply be a dysfunction or disruption in the balance of the elements within
24586 the body. In that event, the internal circumstances are the dominant,
24588 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
24589 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism," edited by Zara
24590 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, published by
24591 Snow Lion Publications
24593 We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
24596 You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
24598 Enlightenment is not only... devoid of various types of contaminations,
24599 pollutions, suffering, and afflictive emotions... but is also free from
24600 various dualistic appearances. When you achieve such a state, you are
24601 unfettered from all elaborations in the form of subject-object duality and
24602 appearances of conventionality.
24603 You are free not because the subject-object duality or conventional
24604 appearances are objects of elimination in the sense that they are negative
24605 emotions. Rather, you are free because these elaborations cease to exist when
24606 you reach the state of enlightenment. In such a state, the mind of
24607 enlightenment or omniscience is such that it is totally merged with emptiness.
24608 To such a mind, no elaborations exist.
24609 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
24610 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
24613 When we meditate, things from the past come up, and we have to work with
24614 them. We may remember times when we treated others horribly--hurting their
24615 feelings, deceiving them, repaying their kindness with spite, manipulating
24616 them, cheating them. While regret for these actions is appropriate and
24617 necessary to purify these karmas, we often fall into guilt and shame instead.
24618 Guilt and shame are obstacles to overcome on the path, because they keep us
24619 trapped in our self-centered melodrama entitled "How Bad I Am." Regret, on the
24620 other hand, realizes that we erred, leads us to purify, and motivates us to
24621 refrain from acting like that in the future.
24622 How do we counteract guilt and shame? One way is to recognize that the
24623 person who did that action no longer exists. You are different now. Is the
24624 person who did that action five years ago the same person you are now? If she
24625 were exactly the same person, you would still be doing the same action. The
24626 present "you" exists in a continuum from that person, but is not exactly the
24627 same as her. Look back at the person you were with compassion. You can
24628 understand the suffering and confusion she was experiencing that made her act
24630 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
24631 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
24632 Snow Lion Publications
24634 Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted,
24635 the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the
24636 voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil
24640 If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
24641 that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered
24642 on a ten-foot chain.
24643 -- Adlai E. Stevenson
24645 Our relationship with our practice must be based on reason and common sense.
24646 The principal subject to be learned is the nature of the two levels of reality
24647 [conventional and ultimate], the stages of which can be approached through a
24648 combination of hearing, contemplation and meditation. It is very important
24649 always to remember contemplation, which is the analysis and investigation of
24650 the teachings through the use of reason. The two truths are speaking about
24651 reality, not some intellectual fabrication. To investigate the teaching
24652 critically is fully encouraged in the same way that medical students are
24653 encouraged to apply their theories to real life and thus to witness their
24654 validity.... Time may flow on, but the essential nature of the deeper
24655 problems and mysteries that human beings encounter in the course of their
24656 lives remains the same. Contemplation of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni
24657 is merely contemplation of certain facets of reality, and it will cause to
24658 unfold within us a deeper understanding of ourselves, our minds, and the
24659 nature of our sense of being. As the teachings are merely pointing out key
24660 facts of life, facts that, if realized, cause one to evolve in wholesome
24661 directions, a critical investigation of them will only inspire trainees with
24662 confidence. Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any
24663 need to look back with confusion and doubt.
24664 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", published by
24665 Snow Lion Publications
24667 b. Keeping bounteousness in mind
24669 Possessions are ephemeral and essenceless
24670 Know this and give them generously to monks,
24671 To brahmins, to the poor, and to your friends:
24672 Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.
24674 Having realized that possessions such as food are inconstant and fluctuate,
24675 that in changing and transforming they are devoid of essence, in order to make
24676 them meaningful try to use them properly, giving to those with good qualities
24677 (monks and brahmins), to those who suffer (the poor, the sick, and so forth),
24678 to those who help you (friends) and to those you venerate (spiritual teachers
24679 and parents). Even beyond the world there is no friend more sublime, more
24680 beneficial, than giving, because it gives rise directly and indirectly to
24681 ripened effects that are inexhaustible.
24683 -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
24684 Rinpoche", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by
24685 Snow Lion Publications
24687 A goloptious full-up pot, too,
24688 And I don't know where it's got to,
24689 No, I don't know where it's gone--
24691 -- A.A. Milne, "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"
24693 With a determination to accomplish
24694 The highest welfare for all sentient beings
24695 Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
24696 I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
24698 Never mind neglecting other sentient beings, you should take them as a
24699 treasure through which temporary and final aims can be achieved and should
24700 cherish them one-pointedly. Others should be considered more dear, more
24701 important than yourself. Initially, it is in dependence upon sentient
24702 beings--others--that you generate the altruistic aspiration to highest
24703 enlightenment. In the middle, it is in relation to sentient beings that you
24704 increase this good mind higher and higher and practice the deeds of the path
24705 in order to achieve enlightenment. Finally, in the end, it is for the sake of
24706 sentient beings that you achieve Buddhahood. Since sentient beings are the
24707 aim and basis of all of this marvelous development, they are more important
24708 than even a wish-granting jewel, and should always be treated with respect,
24709 kindness, and love.
24711 You might think, "My mind is so full of the afflictive emotions. How
24712 could I possibly do this?" However, the mind does what it is used to. What
24713 we are not used to, we find difficult, but with familiarity, previously
24714 difficult things become easy. Thus Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
24717 "There is nothing which, with time, you cannot get used to."
24719 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
24720 Clarity, and Insight," edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24721 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
24723 Eventually, through the power of stabilizing meditation in which the
24724 mind is set one-pointedly on its object of observation, an initial mental
24725 pliancy--a serviceability of mind--is generated. As a sign that mental
24726 pliancy is about to be generated, a tingly sensation is felt at the top of the
24727 head. This pleasant feeling is compared to that of a warm hand placed on top
24728 of the head after it has been shaved. When mental pliancy has been generated,
24729 a favorable wind, or energy, circulates in the body, engendering physical
24730 pliancy. Through this wind, or air, pervading the entire body, the
24731 unserviceability of the body such that it cannot be directed to virtuous
24732 activities in accordance with your wishes is removed. The generation of
24733 physical pliancy, in turn, engenders a bliss of physical pliancy, a sense of
24734 comfort throughout the body due to the power of meditative stabilization.
24735 The bliss of physical pliancy induces a bliss of mental pliancy, making
24736 the mind blissful. At first, this joyous mental bliss is a little too
24737 buoyant, but then gradually it becomes more steady; at this point, one attains
24738 an unfluctuating pliancy. This marks attainment of a fully qualified
24739 meditative stabilization of calm abiding.
24740 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga
24741 Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
24743 The more we generate an attitude of contentment in our lives, the happier
24744 we will be and the more open we will be to engage in genuine Dharma practice.
24745 Letting go of the eight worldly concerns brings mental peace right now.
24746 The defining characteristic of a thought or action being Dharma is whether
24747 or not we're attached to the happiness of this life. The eight worldly
24748 concerns are completely involved with attachment to the happiness of this
24749 life. How can we practice genuine Dharma when our self-centered mind is
24750 fixated on getting our own way and making everyone and everything around us
24751 suit our preferences and needs?
24752 That doesn't mean the happiness of this life is bad or wrong. The Buddha
24753 did not say that we should suffer in this life so that we'll get our reward in
24754 heaven. The objects we're attached to and have aversion for aren't the
24755 problem; there's nothing wrong with experiencing pleasure and happiness.
24756 Those aren't the issue. Rather, attachment to pleasant feelings and to the
24757 people, objects, and situations that cause them, and aversion to unpleasant
24758 ones--it is these emotions that create trouble. They make us unhappy and
24759 propel us to harm others in order to get what we want. The troublemakers of
24760 attachment and hostility are what we want to abandon, not people and things.
24761 There is nothing wrong with being happy. But when we're attached to it, we
24762 actually create more unhappiness for ourselves.
24763 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
24764 published by Snow Lion Publications
24766 When engaging in hearing, it is important to mix the mind, to familiarize the
24767 mind, with what is being heard. The study of religion is not like learning
24768 about history. It must be mixed with your mental continuum; your mind should
24769 be suffused with it. A sutra says that the practices are like a mirror; your
24770 actions of body, speech, and mind are like a face to be seen in the mirror;
24771 and through the practices you should recognize faults and gradually get rid of
24772 them. As it is said in the oral transmission, "If there is enough space
24773 between yourself and the practices for someone else to walk through, then you
24774 are not implementing them properly."
24775 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, in "Kindness,
24776 Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24777 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
24779 Question: What is the relationship of the mind and afflictive emotions?
24781 DL: The very entity of the mind, its nature of mere luminosity and knowing, is
24782 not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in the entity of the mind.
24783 Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very entity or nature of the
24784 mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because of this we are able to
24785 remove the afflictive emotions. If you agitate the water in a pond, it
24786 becomes cloudy with mud; yet the very nature of the water itself is not dirty.
24787 When you allow it to become still again, the mud will settle, leaving the
24788 water pure. How are defilements removed? They are not removed by outside
24789 action, nor by leaving them as they are; they are removed by the power of
24790 antidotes, meditative antidotes.
24791 -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
24792 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, published
24793 by Snow Lion Publications
24795 Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By
24796 no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from.
24797 The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of
24798 suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the
24799 time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from
24800 the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a
24801 bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary
24802 desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for
24803 happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that
24804 wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when
24805 we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the
24806 fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.
24807 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless
24808 Heart", edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
24810 No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it
24811 by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
24812 -- George S. Patton
24814 When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular
24815 experiences that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought. Sometimes you feel
24816 great joy, sometimes your mind is very clear, and sometimes there is complete
24817 equanimity. To experience these you do not need to meditate for a long time,
24818 although for a beginner these experiences will not last long because of the
24819 limited ability of a beginner's meditation.
24820 The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
24821 happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
24822 suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
24823 body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
24824 use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
24825 that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
24826 last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
24827 experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
24828 inside you remain very joyful.
24829 The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
24830 meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
24831 Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
24832 Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
24833 kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
24834 read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
24835 The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
24836 distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
24837 than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
24838 suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
24839 ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
24840 you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
24841 distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
24843 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, in "Opening to Our
24844 Primordial Nature", edited by Ann Helm and Michael White, published by
24845 Snow Lion Publications
24847 ...when you probe deeply you will find that no matter how high an
24848 existence a realm may be, even though it may be the highest state of
24849 existence, as long as it is in this cycle of existence the beings there are in
24850 the nature of sufferings, because they have the sufferings of pervasive
24851 conditioning and are therefore under the influence or command of contaminated
24852 actions and delusions. As long as one is not able to be free from such an
24853 influence, there is no place for permanent peace or happiness.
24854 Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and
24855 happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so forth, if
24856 they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be changeable and
24857 therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with temporary
24858 satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you regard them as
24859 experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them, they will again
24860 lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these pleasurable experiences
24861 are not really happiness in the true sense of the word, but only appear as
24862 pleasure and happiness in comparison to the obvious sufferings that you have.
24863 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide
24864 to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
24865 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
24867 Once the conventional nature of the mind has been identified, then,
24868 through analysing its nature, finally we will gradually be able to identify
24869 the ultimate nature of the mind. If that is done, there is great progress
24870 unlike anything else.
24871 At the beginning we should meditate for half an hour. When we rise from
24872 the session and various good and bad objects appear, benefit and harm are
24873 manifestly experienced. Therefore, we should develop as much as we can the
24874 realisation that these phenomena do not exist objectively and are mere
24875 dependent-arisings of appearances, like illusions [in that they only seem to
24876 be inherently existent]. We should meditate in this way in four formal
24877 sessions: at sunrise, in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
24878 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
24879 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
24881 Bodhichitta is the one practice we cannot do without. Even if we have been
24882 given the precious oral instructions on realizing the nature of mind, they
24883 will not be the sufficient cause for realization if we have not learned to
24884 generate Bodhichitta. The great Dzogchen yogi Patrul Rinpoche said,
24885 If we have only one thing, the precious Bodhichitta is enough.
24886 If we have nothing else, we must have the method of the precious
24888 We should learn to develop Bodhichitta in a twofold way: through our
24889 aspirations and through our actions. Aspiration Bodhichitta is our initial
24890 wish that all sentient beings be liberated from the vast ocean of samsara's
24891 suffering. Action Bodhichitta requires that we first generate aspiration
24892 Bodhichitta, and practice the Six Paramitas as the method to establish the two
24893 benefits of 1) attaining Buddhahood oneself to 2) be of ultimate benefit to
24894 others. The way to practice aspiration and action Bodhichitta was taught by
24895 the omniscient Patrul Rinpoche, who said,
24896 The instructions for aspiration [Bodhichitta] are to practice the
24897 Four Immeasurables;
24898 The instructions for action [Bodhichitta] are to practice the Paramitas.
24899 -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated by
24900 Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
24902 What are the techniques for heightening or lowering the mind? To heighten
24903 the mind, you think about something that enlivens it, but not an object that
24904 would generate desire. For instance, you could reflect on the value of
24905 developing the meditative stabilization of calm abiding or on the value of
24906 having attained a life as a human or on the value of having human
24907 intelligence. Through such reflection, your mind will gain courage, thereby
24908 causing its mode of apprehension to become heightened.
24909 If, despite such a technique, laxity is not cleared away, it is better to
24910 end the session and go to a place that is bright or that is high with a vast
24911 view where you can see a great distance. Or, expose yourself to fresh air, or
24912 throw cold water on your face. Then, return to the session.
24913 When the mind becomes too heightened and thus scattered, what will lower
24914 its mode of apprehension? As a technique to withdraw the mind inside, you
24915 should reflect on a topic that sobers the mind, such as the suffering of
24916 cyclic existence, or think "In the past I have been ruined by distraction, and
24917 again now I will be ruined by distraction. If I do not take care now, it will
24918 not be good." This will lower the mode of apprehension of the mind.
24919 Since this is the case, a person who is cultivating calm abiding needs to
24920 be in a state where such reflections will move the mind immediately.
24921 Therefore, prior to working at achieving calm abiding, it is necessary to have
24922 become convinced about many topics--such as those involved in the four
24923 establishments in mindfulness--through a considerable amount of analysis. In
24924 an actual session of cultivating calm abiding one is performing stabilizing
24925 meditation, not analytical meditation, but if one has engaged in considerable
24926 analysis of these topics previously, the force of the previous reflection
24927 remains with the mind and can be recalled. Thus, when you switch to such
24928 topics in order either to elevate or lower the mind, the mind will be
24929 immediately affected. In this way, if ascertainment has been generated
24930 previously, then reflecting on the value of meditative stabilization or the
24931 value of a human lifetime will immediately heighten the mind, and reflection
24932 on sobering topics such as the nature of the body or the ugliness of objects
24933 of desire will immediately lower its mode of apprehension.
24934 ...recognize when laxity and excitement arise and know the techniques for
24936 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
24937 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24938 published by Snow Lion Publications
24940 How is it that mistaken mind overwhelms the unmistaken mind, unmistaken
24941 reality? To give an example, during the day when the sun is shining one does
24942 not see any stars and thus one would think that there are no stars at all,
24943 that they just plain do not exist. Just so, afflictive emotions shine so
24944 brightly and are so powerful that it is as if unmistaken reality, unmistaken
24945 mind, does not exist at all. When you seek out this unmistaken mind from
24946 within, you come to understand that there is an unmistaken mind--a reality of
24947 the mind--that does not die, that does not scurry after pleasure and pain.
24948 This mind that does not follow after pleasure and pain has a mode of being
24949 that is emptiness--but not an emptiness in the sense of an empty house or an
24950 empty vessel; rather, it is endowed with the inconceivable self-effulgence of
24951 unmistaken reality, of pristine wisdom.
24952 When you search for this that is beyond mistaken mind, mistaken mind just
24953 stops; gradually like dawn there comes to be a time when pristine wisdom
24954 manifests a little. With the beginning of dawn there is not just darkness but
24955 some light, and so it is when the self-effulgence, the self-color, the self-
24956 nature of the pristine wisdom shows itself a little; one generates a suspicion
24957 that there is wisdom beyond mistaken mind. As Aryadeva says, "When you
24958 generate doubt thinking that there might be such a reality, cyclic existence
24959 is torn to tatters." How does cyclic existence come to be torn to tatters, or
24960 wrecked, made into a mess by doubt? For instance, if a table is wrecked,
24961 broken up, it cannot perform the function of a table; just so, when the self-
24962 effulgence of unmistaken pristine wisdom begins to dawn with this state of
24963 doubt, cyclic existence is wrecked and torn to tatters.
24964 -- Mi-pam-gya-tso, in "Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great
24965 Completeness", practical commentary by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay,
24966 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
24969 The Jewel in the Crown Sutra states, "Donning the armor of loving-
24970 kindness, while abiding in the state of great compassion, practice
24971 meditative stabilization that actualizes the emptiness possessing
24972 the best of all qualities. What is the emptiness possessing the
24973 best of all qualities? It is that which is not divorced from
24974 generosity, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilization,
24975 wisdom, or skillful means." Bodhisattvas must rely on virtuous
24976 practices like generosity as means to thoroughly ripen all sentient
24977 beings and in order to perfect the place, body, and manifold retinue.
24978 -- from "Stages of Meditation" by Kamalashila
24980 ...Note that practice of generosity and the other perfections is essential.
24981 This is because the fully enlightened state of Buddhahood is produced by the
24982 realization of favorable causes and conditions. There is no causeless
24983 production and nothing is produced by contrary causes. A Bodhisattva has many
24984 wonderful advantages to help enhance the welfare of sentient beings; every
24985 virtue performed by such a noble being is very powerful and effective.
24986 Therefore, Bodhisattvas earnestly engage in the practice of the method aspects
24987 of the path, including the six perfections, in order to swiftly actualize the
24988 state of Buddhahood.
24989 -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable Geshe
24990 Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
24991 published by Snow Lion Publications
24993 Of the three kayas, the Dharmakaya is linked to our mind, Sambhogakaya to
24994 our speech, or communicative principle, and the Nirmanakaya to our ordinary
24996 The process of the three blendings in brief is as follows.
24997 We experience the clear light of the waking state naturally during cIimax,
24998 and it can also be induced with yogic methods. Moreover, we naturally
24999 experience it at the moment of going to sleep, and at the moment of death.
25000 The principle here is that this clear light mind as experienced in each of the
25001 three occasions (waking, sleep and death) is the highest experience of our
25002 consciousness, and in it we dwell in a mental state of blissful, formless non-
25003 duality similar to that of the Dharmakaya wisdom of a buddha. Thus when we
25004 experience the clear light mind in any of these three occasions we should
25005 blend it with the Dharmakaya.
25006 The first movement from this clear light mind is likened to the
25007 Sambhogakaya experience. In the waking state this occurs in our meditation
25008 when we fall out of the clear light that is induced with yogic techniques and
25009 the conceptual mind is aroused. In sleep it occurs after the clear light of
25010 the moment of entering sleep passes and we begin to dream. At death it occurs
25011 when the clear light flash at the moment of death passes and we leave our body
25012 and enter the bardo realm.
25013 A buddha's Sambhogakaya is only visible to an arya, or saint, and not to
25014 an ordinary being; in the same way our thoughts, dreams, and bardo visions are
25015 not visible to ordinary beings but nonetheless are experiences of form. These
25016 subtle form experiences are to be linked to the natural realization of the
25017 illusory, blissful, and perfect nature of being; they are to be seen as an
25018 illusory theater made manifest for the benefit of the world. In other words,
25019 they are to be blended with the Sambhogakaya. This is the second set of three
25021 The third blending is that of blending rebirth with the Nirmanakaya.
25022 Rebirth from the bardo of the waking state occurs every time that we arise
25023 from a meditation session and once more go about our ordinary life; rebirth
25024 from the bardo of the sleep / dream state occurs when we wake up and once more
25025 enter the work-a-day world; and rebirth from the bardo of becoming, or death
25026 bardo, occurs when we complete the unwinding process of the afterlife state
25027 and once again are ready to enter into a new body.
25028 The basic principle underlying these three blendings is that what occurs
25029 to us at the time of death also occurs to us in miniature form at the time of
25030 going to sleep and can be induced in the waking state by means of the inner
25032 -- "Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa," translated, edited and introduced
25033 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
25035 If you want to tell people the truth,
25037 otherwise they'll kill you.
25040 In the beginning there was nothing.
25041 God said, "Let there be light!"
25042 And there was light.
25043 There was still nothing,
25044 but you could see it a whole lot better.
25047 Now, as [in the past], the concept of a transcendent god as creator has a
25048 powerful and inspiring impact on the lives of those who believe in it. The
25049 sense that their entire destiny lies in the hands of an all-powerful,
25050 omniscient and compassionate being leads them to try to understand the
25051 workings and key message of this transcendent being. Then, when they come to
25052 realise that this transcendent being embodies love and infinite compassion,
25053 they try to cultivate love and compassion towards their fellow beings as the
25054 qualities through which to express love for their creator. They also gain
25055 confidence and inspiration through a sense of intimacy or connectedness to
25056 this loving, transcendent being.
25057 Although, metaphysically speaking, Buddhists reject any notion of a
25058 transcendent creator or god, some individual Buddhists do relate to certain
25059 higher beings, such as the goddess Tara, as an independent and real being with
25060 power over their destiny. For these practitioners Tara is their sole refuge,
25061 their greatest object of veneration and their trusted guardian and protector.
25062 What this suggests is that the inclination to seek refuge in an external
25063 source is something deeply natural for us as human beings.
25064 But it is also clear that for other people the metaphysical concept of a
25065 transcendent being is unacceptable. Questions form in their minds, such as:
25066 who created the creator--in other words--where does the transcendent being
25067 come from? And how can we posit a true beginning? People with this type of
25068 mental disposition look elsewhere for explanations.
25069 -- The Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
25070 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
25072 Due to misunderstanding each other's needs and concerns, miscommunication
25073 occurs on the international level as well [as the personal level]. In all
25074 these situations--personal and international--freeing ourselves from our
25075 narrow understanding of a situation by seeing it from the other's viewpoint is
25076 an effective remedy for anger. We can ask ourselves, "If I had grown up in
25077 that person's family, society, time in history, and cultural conditions, what
25078 would my needs and concerns be in this situation?"
25079 When we look at the situation from the other person's viewpoint, sometimes
25080 we see that she perceives it differently than we thought she did. Other
25081 times, we realize that we have little idea of how a situation appears to
25082 another person or what her needs and concerns are. Therefore, we need to ask
25083 her; and when she responds, we need to listen, without interrupting. It is
25084 all too easy, when someone explains her view to us, to correct her or tell her
25085 that she should not feel the way she does. This only inflames the other
25086 person, and convinces her, with good reason, that we don't understand.
25087 Rather, we need to listen from our heart to what she says. After she has
25088 fully expressed herself, we can share our perspectives, and generally, a
25089 productive discussion will ensue.
25090 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion
25093 ...it is extremely important to look inward and try to promote the right
25094 kind of attitude, which is based on awareness of reality. A sense of caring
25095 for others is crucial. And it is actually the best way of caring for oneself.
25096 ...the moment you think of others, this automatically opens our inner door--
25097 you can communicate with other people easily, without any difficulties. The
25098 moment you think just of yourself and disregard others, then because of your
25099 own attitude, you also get the feeling that other people also have a similar
25100 attitude toward you. That brings suspicion, fear. Result? You yourself lose
25101 inner calmness. Therefore, I usually say that although a certain kind of
25102 selfishness is basically right--self and the happiness of that self are our
25103 original right, and we have every right to overcome suffering--but selfishness
25104 that leads to no hesitation to harm another, to exploit another, that kind of
25105 selfishness is blind. Therefore, I sometimes jokingly describe it this way:
25106 if we are going to be selfish, we should be wisely selfish rather than
25108 I feel that the moment you adopt a sense of caring for others, that brings
25109 inner strength. Inner strength brings us inner tranquility, more self-
25110 confidence. Through these attitudes, even though your surroundings may not be
25111 friendly or may not be positive, still you can sustain peace of mind.
25112 -- "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss Human Rights,
25113 Conflict and Reconciliation", by the Dalai Lama and other Nobel
25114 Laureates, edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
25116 If we do not uncover [our] problems--and I saw this in myself--we risk
25117 placing a veneer of spirituality over deeply buried emotional wounds from
25118 childhood that do not simply go away.
25119 ...When this happens there is greater potential for our spirituality to
25120 become simply another expression of our personal pathology. We can falsify
25121 the qualities valued in the path without realizing it. Renunciation can
25122 become another level of denial and avoidance; compassion can become a sickly
25123 sentimentality that has no substance to it. Our desire to help others can
25124 come from "compulsive caring," or a compulsion to sacrifice ourselves because
25125 we feel worthless. The Buddhist idea of emptiness can likewise be falsified
25126 by the desire to disappear psychologically and merge or lose ego boundaries.
25127 Lack of identity, formless vagueness, and absence of boundaries do not
25128 exemplify the Buddhist idea of emptiness. My own version of this
25129 misconception was to try to live an ideal of the pure and pious only to find
25130 it was a form of repression I could not ultimately sustain.
25131 At the heart of Buddhist practice is the search for a solution to our
25132 fundamental wounds. Healing the emotional damage we often carry within is
25133 truly the object of this practice. If we wish to resolve these problems, we
25134 need to be open and honest about their reality within us. Only when we do
25135 will any spiritual practice address what we need. The aim of Buddhist
25136 practice is not a spiritual transcendence that dissociates from our suffering.
25137 Nor is it the search for salvation in some form of external divine being that
25138 we hope will save us in our distress. As one of my teachers, Lama Thubten
25139 Yeshe, once said, "Buddhism is very practical; you just have to recognize that
25140 your mind is the cause of suffering. If you change your mind, you can find
25141 liberation." This message is very simple but by no means easy to follow. In
25142 order to do so, however, we must begin to recognize where we are
25143 psychologically wounded.
25144 -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
25145 Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
25148 In the Dzogchen teachings, a teacher explains methods that you can apply
25149 for discovering that state. When you say that you are practicing or following
25150 Dzogchen teachings, it doesn't mean that you are reciting some prayers or
25151 mantras, or doing some visualization. It means that, following a teacher and
25152 using methods, you discover that state. When you have discovered that state,
25153 then you still need many kinds of methods for realizing it. Discovering the
25154 state of your real nature and realizing it are completely different things.
25155 Many people have the idea that when they have had some experience or
25156 discovery, they are enlightened; however, this discovery does not mean they
25157 are enlightened. The state of enlightenment means you have direct knowledge
25158 of what the state of rigpa is, and you are not just learning through
25159 intellectual study. When you follow a teaching in an intellectual way, you
25160 have many ideas at first--thinking, judging, and making analysis. You can
25161 follow or reject these ideas; but when you have many problems, you discover
25162 that perhaps this is not real knowledge. It is like following something
25163 blindly because you haven't had any direct experience. Direct introduction
25164 and discovering our real nature mean we have direct experience through our
25165 senses, and that through these experiences we discover our real nature.
25166 For example, if I show you an object, you can look at it and know its form
25167 and color. Now if I ask you to forget about it, you can't. If I ask you to
25168 change your idea about that object, you can't. Why? Because seeing that
25169 object is your direct experience. Discovering your real nature is similar to
25171 When you are studying in an intellectual way, you are following another
25172 person's idea. For example, you can believe your teacher today, but maybe
25173 what your teacher says will not be true for you tomorrow. You can always
25174 change your ideas. You have this problem because you have not discovered your
25175 state. This is the weak point of intellectual study.
25176 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby and
25177 Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
25179 Howard Cutler: "Have there been situations in your life that you've
25181 Dalai Lama: "Oh, yes. Now for instance there was one older monk who lived
25182 as a hermit. He used to come to see me to receive teachings, although I think
25183 he was actually more accomplished than I and came to me as a sort of
25184 formality. Anyway, he came to me one day and asked me about doing a certain
25185 high-level esoteric practice. I remarked in a casual way that this would be a
25186 difficult practice and perhaps would be better undertaken by someone who was
25187 younger, that traditionally it was a practice that should be started in one's
25188 midteens. I later found out that the monk had killed himself in order to be
25189 reborn in a younger body to more effectively undertake the practice..."
25190 Surprised by this story, I remarked, "Oh, that's terrible! That must have
25191 been hard on you when you heard..." The Dalai Lama nodded sadly. "How did
25192 you deal with that feeling of regret? How did you eventually get rid of it?"
25193 The Dalai Lama silently considered for quite a while before replying, "I
25194 didn't get rid of it. It's still there. But even though that feeling of
25195 regret is still there, it isn't associated with a feeling of heaviness or a
25196 quality of pulling me back. It would not be helpful to anyone if I let that
25197 feeling of regret weigh me down, be simply a source of discouragement and
25198 depression with no purpose, or interfere with going on with my life to the
25199 best of my ability."
25200 At that moment, in a very visceral way, I was struck once again by the
25201 very real possibility of a human being's fully facing life's tragedies and
25202 responding emotionally, even with deep regret, but without indulging in
25203 excessive guilt or self-contempt. The possibility of a human being's wholly
25204 accepting herself or himself, complete with limitations, foibles, and lapses
25205 of judgment. The possibility of recognizing a bad situation for what it is
25206 and responding emotionally, but without overresponding. The Dalai Lama
25207 sincerely felt regret over the incident he described but carried his regret
25208 with dignity and grace. And while carrying this regret, he has not allowed it
25209 to weigh him down, choosing instead to move ahead and focus on helping others
25210 to the best of his ability.
25211 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
25212 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
25214 Train yourself in three hard disciplines.
25215 These are the difficult practices of mindfulness, of expulsion and of
25216 'interrupting the flow.'
25217 As for the first of these, the difficult practice of mindfulness, it is
25218 necessary to recognize afflictive emotions as soon as they arise and it is
25219 hard, at first, to remain sufficiently aware to be able to do this. However,
25220 when negative emotions arise, we should identify them as anger, desire or
25221 stupidity. Even when emotions have been recognized, it is not easy to drive
25222 them out with the antidote. If, for instance, an uncontrollably strong
25223 emotion comes over us, so that we feel helplessly in its power, we should
25224 nevertheless confront it and question it. Where are its weapons? Where are
25225 its muscles? Where is its great army and its political strength? We will see
25226 that emotions are just insubstantial thoughts, by nature empty: they come from
25227 nowhere, they go nowhere, they remain nowhere. When we are able to repel our
25228 defiled emotions, there comes the difficult practice of 'interrupting the
25229 flow.' This means that, on the basis of the antidote described, defiled
25230 emotions are eliminated just like a bird flying through the air: no trace is
25231 left behind. These are practices in which we should really strive.
25232 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, in "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
25233 Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by The Padmakara Translation
25234 Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
25236 Howard Cutler: "...am I right in assuming that you would consider solitary
25237 meditation to be a productive activity? Would you consider to be productive
25238 our example of a monk who is a hermit, who has little contact with anybody
25239 else and spends his or her life just in meditation, trying to achieve
25241 Dalai Lama: "Not necessarily. From my viewpoint, there can be both
25242 productive meditation and unproductive meditation."
25243 HC: "What's the difference?"
25244 DL: "[Some] practitioners and other kinds of meditators practice different
25245 techniques, some with closed eyes, sometimes open eyes, but the very nature of
25246 that meditation is to become thoughtless, in a state free of thoughts. But in
25247 a way, this is a kind of retreat, like they are running away from trouble.
25248 When they actually face trouble, carry on their daily life and face some real
25249 life problems, nothing has changed. Their attitudes and reactions remain the
25250 same. So that kind of meditation is just avoiding the problem, like going on
25251 a picnic, or taking a painkiller. It's not actually solving the problem.
25252 Some people may spend many years doing these practices, but their actual
25253 progress is zero. That's not productive meditation. Genuine progress occurs
25254 when the individual not only sees some results in achieving higher levels of
25255 meditative states but also when their meditation has at least some influence
25256 on how they interact with others, some impact from that meditation in their
25257 daily life--more patience, less irritation, more compassion. That's
25258 productive meditation. Something that can bring benefit to others in some
25260 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
25263 As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build some
25264 kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience is that if
25265 you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier. Whatever I feel, I can
25266 express; I can call you "my old friend". There is nothing to hide, and no
25267 need to say things in a way that is not straightforward. So this gives me a
25268 kind of space in my mind, with the result that I do not have to be suspicious
25269 of others all the time. And this really gives me inner satisfaction, and
25271 So I call this feeling a "genuine realization of the oneness of the whole
25272 of humanity". We are all members of one human family. I think that this
25273 understanding is very important, especially now that the world is becoming
25274 smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a small village, people were
25275 able to exist more or less independently. There was not so much need for
25276 others' co-operation. These days, the economic structure has completely
25277 changed.... We are heavily dependent on one another, and also as a result of
25278 mass communication, the barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today,
25279 because of the complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
25280 essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction. Consequently it
25281 is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one. Here barriers such as
25282 "this nation" or "that nation", "this continent", or "that continent" are
25283 simply obstacles. Therefore today, for the future of the human race, it is
25284 more important than ever before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood
25285 and sisterhood. I usually call this a sense of "universal responsibility".
25286 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the
25287 Great Perfection", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron
25288 (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
25291 ...several great Kagyu and Sakya masters... have expressed the stages [of
25292 sutra and tantra paths] in terms of the tradition known as "parting ourselves
25293 from the four forms of clinging."
25294 First we part from clinging to this life. Instead of total involvement
25295 with affairs of this life, we involve ourselves with future lives. We
25296 accomplish this by thinking about our precious human life with all its
25297 freedoms and endowments for spiritual growth, how we lose it because of death
25298 and impermanence, and then the karmic laws of behavioral cause and effect that
25299 shape our future lives. Next we part from clinging to future lives and
25300 involve ourselves, instead, in the quest for liberation. By thinking about
25301 all the suffering of uncontrollably recurring rebirth, or samsara, we generate
25302 sincere renunciation of it--the strong determination to be free and attain the
25303 total liberation that is nirvana.
25304 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, in "The Gelug/Kagyu
25305 Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
25308 When we say that we have knowledge, or that we have discovered our real
25309 nature and we are in this nature, that means that we are "being the mirror."
25310 You see, "being the mirror" or "looking in the mirror" are two completely
25311 different things. If we "are the mirror," then we have no concept of
25313 If a reflection manifests in the mirror, why is it manifesting? There are
25314 two reasons. One is because the mirror has the capacity to manifest infinite
25315 reflections. This is the mirror's quality. If there is an object in front of
25316 the mirror, whose capacity it is to reflect, naturally a reflection will
25317 appear in the mirror. Furthermore, the mirror has no idea of checking or
25318 accepting the object it is reflecting. The mirror doesn't need any program
25319 for that. This is what is called its qualification, or infinite potentiality.
25320 In the same way, when we have infinite potentiality, but we are ignorant
25321 of our real nature, then we always conceive that "I am here" and "the object
25322 is there," "I am looking and seeing an object," and so on. We do not discover
25323 that we are like a mirror, and if we never discover this, then of course there
25324 is no way that we can function like the mirror. When you discover that you
25325 are like the mirror, then there is a possibility that you will be the mirror.
25326 When you are the mirror, then you have no problems with reflections--they
25327 can be big, small, nice, ugly, any kind. For you, the reflections are only a
25328 manifestation of your quality, which is like that of a mirror. When you have
25329 no problems with reflections, then you understand self-liberation. You are
25330 not changing or transforming something. You are only being in your real
25332 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, from "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby
25333 and Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
25335 It is important to recognize the difference between an enlightened
25336 experience and the state of enlightenment. To penetrate the veil is to see
25337 the nature of reality for the first time. This enlightened experience in the
25338 Zen tradition might be called a satori. This is a powerful shift of insight
25339 that shakes our reality. No longer can we live with the delusion we may have
25340 once held. Our solidly held concepts about reality begin to crumble. Samsara
25341 shakes, as Lama Yeshe once put it. This experience may not be comfortable.
25342 To come so close to this existential threshold challenges our secure sense of
25343 identity and can be frightening. Indeed, as a Tibetan lama once said, this
25344 fear is a sign that we are close to the edge. We are beginning to recognize
25345 the lack of substance of our ego-identity. Our "wisdom eye" has opened to a
25346 new truth--an ultimate truth, as opposed to relative truth.
25347 When we penetrate the veil, however, the work is not yet done. We may
25348 have had an enlightened experience, but there is further to travel. As Gen
25349 Jhampa Wangdu once said while I was in retreat, it is not difficult to
25350 experience emptiness; the problem is holding it. For this insight to have its
25351 full effect, the mind needs to be able to sustain awareness for prolonged
25352 periods of time. Tibetan teachers will sometimes say we may hit the nail, but
25353 only with a quality of focused attention can we repeatedly do so. With the
25354 development of tranquil abiding, the veil can be cleared completely in the way
25355 the red ring of fire created by the incense burn[ing] slowly expands and
25356 consumes the entire film of tissue paper. The mind is gradually cleansed of
25357 the emotional turmoil and confusion that is generated by the misconceptions we
25358 have about reality.
25359 -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
25360 Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
25362 ...if we see others in trouble, although we cannot immediately take their
25363 suffering upon ourselves, we should make the wish to be able to relieve them
25364 from their misfortunes. Prayers like this will bear fruit eventually. Again,
25365 if others have very strong afflictive emotions, we should think, "May all
25366 their emotions be concentrated in me." With fervent conviction, we should
25367 persist in thinking like this until we have some sign or feeling that we have
25368 been able to take upon ourselves the suffering and emotions of others. This
25369 might take the form of an increase in our own emotions or of the actual
25370 experience of the suffering and pain of others.
25371 This is how to bring hardships onto the path in order to free ourselves
25372 from hopes and fears--hopes, for instance, that we will not get ill, or fears
25373 that we might do so. They will thus be pacified in the equal taste of
25374 happiness and suffering. Eventually, through the power of Bodhichitta, we
25375 will reach the point where we are free even from the hope of accomplishing
25376 Bodhichitta and the fear of not doing so. Therefore we should have love for
25377 our enemies and try as much as possible to avoid getting angry with them, or
25378 harbouring any negative thoughts towards them. We should also try as much as
25379 possible to overcome our biased attachment to family and relatives. If you
25380 bind a crooked tree to a large wooden stake, it will eventually grow straight.
25381 Up to now, our minds have always been crooked, thinking how we might trick and
25382 mislead people, but this [Bodhichitta] practice, as Geshe Langri Tangpa said,
25383 will make our minds straight and true.
25384 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
25385 Seven Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation
25386 Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
25388 Q: ...what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to
25391 A: ...If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from
25392 moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism
25393 also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness.
25394 From that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes
25395 strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no
25396 soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging,
25397 abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in
25400 Buddhism does not deny the continuum of consciousness. Because of this, we
25401 find some Tibetan scholars, such as the Sakya master Rendawa, who accept that
25402 there is such a thing as self or soul, the "kangsak ki dak" (Tib. gang zag gi
25403 bdag). However, the same word, the "kangsak ki dak," the self, or person, or
25404 personal self, or identity, is at the same time denied by many other scholars.
25406 We find diverse opinions, even among Buddhist scholars, as to what exactly the
25407 nature of self is, what exactly that thing or entity is that continues from
25408 one moment to the next moment, from one lifetime to the next lifetime. Some
25409 try to locate it within the aggregates, the composite of body and mind. Some
25410 explain it in terms of a designation based on the body and mind composite, and
25411 so on.... One of the divisions of [the "Mind-Only"] school maintains there is
25412 a special continuum of consciousness called alayavijnana which is the
25413 fundamental consciousness.
25414 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
25415 Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion
25418 In the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path Je Tsongkhapa says that
25419 when we are training ourselves in any of the perfections, for instance in
25420 generosity, we should make sure that we practice all the other five
25421 perfections--in this case ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort,
25422 concentration, and wisdom--and the six excellent factors. When we perform a
25423 generous action, ethical discipline will be included if we take care to
25424 refrain from doing anything unethical at the same time. In certain
25425 situations, for instance, we may be tempted to speak harshly or
25426 condescendingly as we give.
25427 Generosity gives rise to abundance, and by insuring that our practice is
25428 complete, we create the right environment to use these resources
25429 constructively. Sometimes when we give, people respond ungratefully. If we
25430 can resist getting upset, we are practicing patience. Giving not out of a
25431 sense of obligation or reluctantly nor with a wish to outdo others but with
25432 joy is the practice of enthusiastic effort. Directing our full attention to
25433 an act of generosity is concentration. Discerning and understanding what is
25434 appropriate to give and what is not, and remembering that the giver, the act
25435 of generosity, and the recipient are all interdependent and empty of inherent
25436 existence are the practice of wisdom. Including these different factors in
25437 our actions will bring many excellent results such as a good body and mind,
25438 the resources we need, a pleasant appearance, supportive companions, the
25439 ability to complete what we undertake, and the focus not to be distracted by
25440 the disturbing emotions and so forth. This is how to insure that we will
25441 enjoy many conducive conditions in a future human life. On the other hand,
25442 our miserliness or impatience now could make us face many difficult
25443 circumstances in the future.
25444 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent
25445 Arising", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
25447 Shakyamuni Buddha, even when he was a trainee on the path, was solely
25448 concerned in both thought and action with others' welfare. Whenever he found
25449 an opportunity to work for others, no matter what difficulties he faced, he
25450 was never discouraged. He never hated obstacles and hardships encountered on
25451 the way. Instead, the difficult situations facilitated his being more
25452 courageous and determined to accomplish others' welfare. Just because he was
25453 so determined to work for others in the past, even as a trainee on the path,
25454 it is needless to say how much more it is so with him now as a completely
25455 enlightened person.
25456 As the saying goes, "A past life story of a teacher is an enlightening
25457 practice for posterity."
25458 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV on
25459 the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories," translated by Tenzin Dorjee,
25460 edited by Dexter Roberts
25462 When you get tired, it is appropriate to repeat mantra. However, for a
25463 beginner the main part of the meditation revolves around the six deities*,
25464 which should be cultivated carefully and leisurely. This is because clear
25465 appearance of oneself as a deity must be achieved for the sake of amassing the
25466 two collections of merit and wisdom, achieving firm meditative stabilisation,
25467 and transforming all physical and verbal actions into powerful aids for
25468 others' welfare. Hence, before repeating mantra, the yoga of non-dual
25469 profundity (realisation of emptiness) and manifestation (appearance as a
25470 deity) should be sustained, developing clarity in observing the divine form
25471 and in ascertaining its lack of inherent existence. When, having done this
25472 one-pointedly, you become tired, then for the sake of resting begin repeating
25473 mantra. ...Tsong-ka-pa also says that in the approximation phase meditation
25474 is chief, mantra repetition is secondary.
25475 * ultimate, sound, letter, form, seal, and sign
25476 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga In
25477 Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
25479 There isn't a single one of us who has never felt hostile and angry, so we
25480 know about the effects of anger. Does it make us feel better or worse? It
25481 stirs us up, makes us miserable and destroys our tranquillity. It is quite
25482 easy to recognize anger as a foe and to see how it harms us because its
25483 destructiveness is apparent. But we find it much harder and are also
25484 reluctant to acknowledge the harm done by attachment because it is a foe
25485 masquerading as a friend. When desire or attachment first arises, it feels
25486 quite pleasurable but eventually it lands us in trouble. It wants to possess
25487 what it has fabricated and we reach out for something which, in fact, does not
25488 exist. Failure to get what we want frustrates us and anger quickly follows.
25489 The third of the poisons, confusion or ignorance, simply stimulates desire and
25490 anger and lies at the root of all the disturbing emotions.
25491 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "Eight Verses for Training the Mind", translated
25492 and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
25494 The Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Method
25495 If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
25496 many mothers to give birth to us. ...the first cause bringing about
25497 bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
25498 The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
25499 difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
25500 were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
25501 everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
25502 example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
25503 throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
25504 human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
25505 shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
25506 our appreciation. This is the second cause of bodhicitta.
25507 As we envision the present condition of all these beings, we begin to
25508 develop the desire to help them change their lot. This is the third cause,
25509 and out of it comes the fourth, a feeling of love cherishing all beings. This
25510 is an attraction toward all beings, similar to what a child feels upon seeing
25511 his or her mother. This leads us to compassion, which is the fifth cause of
25512 bodhicitta. Compassion is a wish to separate these suffering beings, our
25513 mothers of the past, from their miserable situation. At this point we also
25514 experience loving-kindness, a wish that all beings find happiness. As we
25515 progress through these stages of responsibility, we go from wishing that all
25516 sentient beings find happiness and freedom from suffering to personally
25517 assuming responsibility for helping them enter this state beyond misery. This
25518 is the final cause. As we scrutinize how best to help others, we are drawn to
25519 achieving the fully enlightened and omniscient state of Buddhahood.
25520 -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
25521 edited by Nicholas Vreeland
25523 Among the seven branches [qualities of Buddhahood]--complete enjoyment,
25524 union, great bliss, non-inherent existence, compassion, uninterrupted
25525 continuity, and non-cessation--three are found only in tantra--complete
25526 enjoyment, union, and great bliss--and the other four are common to both
25527 sutra and tantra, although non-inherent existence can also be put in the group
25528 specific to tantra when it is considered as the object ascertained by a bliss
25529 consciousness.... In Yoga Tantras the bliss arising from holding hands or
25530 embracing is used in the path; in Performance Tantras, from laughing; and in
25531 Action Tantras, from looking. The four tantras are similar in that they all
25532 use desire for the attributes of the desire realm on the path.
25533 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
25534 published by Snow Lion Publications
25536 How then does the mistaken idea, that things exist from their own side,
25537 operate? Whatever appears to the mind appears as if it existed truly from its
25538 own side. ...Now if the object existed as it appears to you, then, when you
25539 searched for it, you could actually find a real [object]. So, we must ask
25540 ourselves whether or not this object, when searched for, is to be found or
25541 not. If the object is not found when it is searched for, we must conclude
25542 that it does not exist from its own side, that when the label is applied to
25543 its basis, it is not so labeled because the basis somehow bears within it
25544 something which is the object. At this point, one must conclude that the
25545 object does not exist as it appears to, but then, one may wonder whether it
25547 Things, however, are not utterly non-existent. They do exist nominally.
25548 So things do exist, but they do not exist from the side of the basis of the
25549 label. And hence, though they do exist, because they do not exist within the
25550 object itself, they must exist only as they are labeled by the subject (the
25551 conceptual mind, for example). There is no other way for the object to exist
25552 apart from the way it is posited by conceptual thought. This is then what we
25553 mean when we say that all phenomena are merely labeled by conceptual thought.
25554 However, things do not appear to us as if they were mere conceptually labeled
25555 entities. Instead, they appear as if they existed from their own side.
25556 Therefore, it is a mistake to think that things exist as they appear.
25557 -- The Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
25558 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
25560 Meditation is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding thing we can do
25561 with our time. As we begin to see the mechanisms we previously took for
25562 granted and start to understand them, the knots inside our minds begin to
25563 loosen. We feel a tremendous sense of freedom, space and release inside us.
25564 As we begin to understand our warped thinking patterns and our neuroses, we
25565 see them directly. We begin to develop compassion for ourselves, for our pain
25566 and confusion. Now that we start to look with clarity, we can see the pain
25567 and confusion in the eyes of other people, and we naturally develop compassion
25568 for them. It doesn't matter how outwardly successful people may appear, we
25569 can see their pain when we look into their eyes. It is very rare to come
25570 across people whose eyes are truly sparkling with joy.
25571 -- Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical
25572 Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
25574 ...recognizing that we have certain obligations, and recognizing at the
25575 same time that spiritual practice is the core of a meaningful life, what do we
25576 do? There really is an answer. It is not easy, but it is tremendously
25577 fruitful, and it keeps on opening and opening further: transform those actions
25578 that are already obligations by applying Dharma to them.
25579 Take eating, for instance. We have to do it two or three times a day, but
25580 we don't have to wolf down the food. There is no one who cannot sit and pause
25581 first for thirty seconds. Even fast-food is worth the thirty seconds it takes
25582 to recognize the immense number of beings who have provided us with this food.
25583 Pausing like this ties us into the community of life, at least on planet
25584 earth, as we recognize that we are indebted to others. We have received, and
25585 as we take the food, let us do it with the aspiration, "May this be returned.
25586 May I use my abilities to the fullest to serve those who have served me." And
25587 that includes everyone, directly or indirectly. The service may occur on a
25588 very mundane level, but insofar as we mature spiritually, our responsibility
25589 increases according to our abilities. Not because someone tells us, "Now you
25590 have to do this," but simply as we gain insight into the nature and sources of
25591 suffering and of contentment, then we have something all the more valuable to
25593 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
25594 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
25596 The Paramita of Meditative Concentration
25597 It is said in the Teachings that without taking up the Paramita of
25598 Meditative Concentration, it would be impossible to realize the nature of
25599 mind. We should think of meditative concentration as the practice that brings
25600 stability to our minds, and creates the good conditions to practice unfocused
25601 meditation--in other words, resting in the uncontrived natural state.
25602 If we make a quick examination of our own mind, we can see the reason this
25603 kind of stability is so crucial. Although physics has observed light to be
25604 the fastest traveling phenomenon known to man, actually the speed at which our
25605 minds travel is even faster. We can circle the globe in a matter of seconds,
25606 and our minds generate doubts, emotions, and conceptual thoughts at a speed
25607 that defies that of all other phenomena. Because we lack basic mental
25608 stability, conceptual thoughts arise endlessly. So, if our goal is to realize
25609 the nature of mind, we first have to learn to still our minds, and free
25610 ourselves from distraction. The method for quieting the mind is called
25611 "meditative concentration." Once we have gained some initial mind stability,
25612 it is even more important that we continue our training so that this stability
25613 will increase. Without such stability, it is impossible for us to
25614 successfully learn to abide in the uncontrived view.
25615 -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated
25616 by Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
25618 5. Your present naked awareness
25622 Your present, naked awareness--
25623 Unspoiled by thoughts of past, present, or future,
25624 Not fettered by mind grasping to so-called "meditation"
25625 Nor falling into a pervasive blankness of so-called "non-meditation"--
25626 The natural state nakedly sustained,
25627 Is the practice of Great Perfection.
25629 Regardless of what thoughts arise during that practice,
25630 To reject negative ones or foster positive ones is unnecessary.
25631 Mere recognition liberates them in their own ground.
25632 Take this liberation upon arising as the path's key point.
25634 Destroy whatever meditative experiences arise, and relax.
25635 A tantric practitioner without fixation is deeply content.
25636 You've reached your goal of contentment right now.
25637 What is the use of numerous enumerations of Buddha's teachings
25638 When you discover Buddha Kuntu Zangpo within yourself?
25639 Keep the meaning of these words close to your heart.
25640 -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
25641 Advice", translated by Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book
25642 published by Snow Lion Publications
25644 The Buddhist view is that in the external world there are some elements
25645 that are material, and some that are nonmaterial. And the fundamental
25646 substance, the stuff from which the material universe arises, is known as
25647 space particles. A portion of space is quantized, to use a modern term; it is
25648 particulate, not continuous. Before the formation of the physical universe as
25649 we know it, there was only space, but it was quantized. And it was from the
25650 quanta, or particles, in space that the other elements arose. This accounts
25651 for the physical universe.
25652 But what brought about that process? How did it happen? It is believed
25653 that there existed other conditions, or other influences, which were
25654 nonmaterial, and these were of the nature of awareness. The actions of
25655 sentient beings in the preceding universe somehow modify, or influence, the
25656 formation of the natural universe.
25657 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
25658 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
25659 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
25660 Snow Lion Publications
25662 ...meditation on emptiness begins with gaining a sense of the inherent
25663 existence of which phenomena are empty, for without understanding what is
25664 negated, you cannot understand its absence, emptiness.
25665 ...Through carefully watching how you conceive your self, or "I," to be
25666 inherently established, you will determine that the "I" appears to be self-
25667 instituting without depending on the collection of the mental and physical
25668 aggregates, which are its basis of designation, or without depending on any of
25669 them individually, even though the "I" appears with those aggregates. Proper
25670 identification of this appearance is the first essential toward realizing
25671 selflessness--ascertaining the object of negation.
25672 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
25673 Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
25675 At the moment the world's spiritual traditions have greatly degenerated.
25676 It is very important in such times that the practitioners themselves make
25677 especially strong efforts to gain realization. To permit the lineages of
25678 transmission to disappear is to allow the world to plunge into darkness. The
25679 great Vasubandhu wrote, "Buddha, who is like the eye of the world, is no
25680 longer to be seen. His great successors, who realized the most profound
25681 teachings, also have passed away. Who equals them?" It might be asked, who
25682 is there today to equal the master Vasubandhu? Who practices as well as did
25683 Milarepa? Such people are rare. We should remember that everything but
25684 Dharma is useless at death, and instead of wasting our lives on meaningless
25685 activities, we should blend our mindstreams with the teachings and with
25686 practice. Doing so benefits us as individuals and benefits the world by
25687 strengthening its spiritual basis.
25688 Each of us has to be able to feel the pride that we ourselves can reach
25689 perfection, we ourselves can attain enlightenment. When even one person
25690 indulges in spiritual practice, it gives encouragement to the guardian spirits
25691 of the land, and to the celestial deities who have sworn to uphold goodness.
25692 These forces then have the ability to release waves of beneficial effects upon
25693 humanity. Thus our practice has many direct and indirect benefits. ...If we
25694 practice the teachings and live the ways of Dharma, all the natural forces of
25695 goodness will be behind us.
25696 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
25697 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
25699 Karmic potentials give rise to a broad array of impulses that affect our
25700 lives. Collective karmic potentials from previous actions of a huge number of
25701 beings--including ourselves--give rise, for example, to the impulse for a
25702 universe to evolve with specific environments and life forms into which we and
25703 these beings subsequently take rebirth. These collective potentials also give
25704 rise to the impulses that drive the physical and biological laws that govern
25705 that universe--ranging from the weather patterns of its planets to the life-
25706 cycle habits of each species on them. They also account for the impulses
25707 behind the instinctive daily behavior characteristic of each life form.
25708 -- Alexander Berzin, "Taking the Kalachakra Initiation", published by Snow
25711 Once the body, channels, and wind are balanced, the next step is to keep
25712 your mind in the natural state through meditation. By simply maintaining the
25713 mind as it is, without adding or subtracting anything, one will reach the
25714 inner nature, which is unchanging and indestructible.
25715 The instructions for this type of meditation are very simple. One begins
25716 by sitting with good posture on a cushion, because it is important to stay
25717 straight. Then, one simply maintains the natural clarity of the mind, without
25718 analyzing one's experiences or being disturbed by thoughts. In the dzogchen
25719 style of meditation, there is actually nothing to do except relax in the
25720 mind's nature of clarity and emptiness. Inner awareness is different than
25721 external awareness; it is called clear-light emptiness. It is helpful to use
25722 the sky as an analogy for the true nature of the mind--when you let your mind
25723 mingle with the open space of the sky, you do not need any particular focus.
25724 Simply maintain the mind naturally, without discrimination or judgments, and
25725 experience its nature as being spacious as the sky.
25726 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
25727 "Opening the Door to Our Primordial Nature", Snow Lion Publications
25729 Three things in human life are important.
25730 The first is to be kind.
25731 The second is to be kind.
25732 And the third is to be kind.
25735 Question: A person, particularly in the West, must have the foundation of
25736 humility, honesty and an ethical way of life. Once one has this foundation,
25737 what else does Your Holiness suggest that one cultivate in one's life, if
25738 there is the foundation of virtue, ethics and humility?
25739 DL: The next thing to be cultivated is mental stabilization. Ethics is a
25740 method to control oneself--it is a defensive action. Our actual enemy, you
25741 see, is within ourselves. The afflicted emotions (pride, anger, jealousy) are
25742 our real enemies. These are the real trouble makers, and they are to be found
25743 within ourselves. The actual practice of religion consists of fighting
25744 against these inner enemies.
25745 As in any war, first we must have a defensive action, and in our spiritual
25746 fight against the negative emotions, ethics is our defense. Knowing that at
25747 first one is not fully prepared for offensive action, we first resort to
25748 defensive action and that means ethics. But once one has prepared one's
25749 defenses, and has become somewhat accustomed to ethics, then one must launch
25750 one's offensive. Here our main weapon is wisdom. This weapon of wisdom is
25751 like a bullet, or maybe even a rocket, and the rocket launcher is mental
25752 stabilization or calm abiding. In brief, once you have a basis in morality or
25753 ethics, the next step is to train in mental stabilization and eventually in
25755 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology
25756 of Writings", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Forword by Sen.
25757 Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
25759 4. The power of abandonment. In this practice what is being abandoned is
25760 self-grasping. We are reminded again that since beginningless time beyond all
25761 imagination, self-grasping has lain at the very core of all mental distortions
25762 and afflictions. It has brought us to unfavorable rebirths and is responsible
25763 for all the undesirable circumstances that we encounter. It is self-
25764 centeredness that obstructs realization and prevents us from deriving the full
25765 benefit from our spiritual practice. Recognize when self-grasping manifests
25766 in daily life. It is important to notice it especially at times of passion,
25767 when we are aroused or irritated, and try not to succumb to it for even a
25769 To be free of self-centeredness continuously for a whole year may be
25770 difficult, but [rejecting it for] a moment is easy. ...the more of these
25771 moments we can saturate with the cherishing of others, the more we are molding
25772 ourselves into the bodhisattvas that we will become.
25773 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
25774 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
25776 As a friend, my request and wish is that... you try to promote a sense of
25777 brotherhood and sisterhood. We must promote compassion and love; this is our
25778 real duty. Government has too much business to have time for these things.
25779 As private persons we have more time to think along these lines--how to make a
25780 contribution to human society by promoting the development of compassion and a
25781 real sense of community.
25782 ...If someone who easily gets angry tries to control his or her anger, in
25783 time it can be controlled. The same is true for a selfish person; first that
25784 person must realize the faults of a selfish motivation and the benefit in
25785 being less selfish. Having realized this, one trains in it, trying to control
25786 the bad side and develop the good. As time goes by, such practice can be
25787 effective. This is the only alternative.
25788 Without love, human society is in a very difficult state; without love,
25789 in the future we will face tremendous problems. Love is the center of human
25791 -- His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity & Insight", published by
25792 Snow Lion Publications
25794 Love and Attachment
25796 People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
25797 with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
25798 Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
25799 others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
25800 expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
25801 others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
25802 open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
25803 because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
25804 previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number
25806 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
25809 According to some scientists, emotion is not necessarily negative. Emotion
25810 is a very strong feeling. While some emotions are destructive, others are
25811 constructive. In a meeting with scientists, we concluded that there are
25812 emotions even in the Buddha's mind. There is a strong sense of caring and
25813 compassion and also the realization of emptiness. In the beginning, there is
25814 just a vague feeling of emptiness. At that level, there is no emotion, but
25815 once you become more familiar with it, then that feeling increases. At a
25816 certain level, the realization of emptiness also becomes a kind of emotion.
25817 Therefore, in the practice of developing wisdom and loving-kindness
25818 / compassion, you strengthen these inner qualities and then reach a state
25819 where you have an upsurge of feeling called emotion. We can clearly see
25820 this link between intellect and emotions. Thus, the brain and heart can go
25821 side by side. I think this is the Buddhist approach.
25822 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
25823 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
25825 Both mindfulness and discriminative alertness are needed in responding to
25826 sensory input of the three types--attractive, unattractive and neutral.
25827 Once again, in this tradition mindfulness does not mean simply to witness.
25828 It is a more discriminative kind of thing. You are asking yourself, "What
25829 is my response?" and then actively responding by applying the antidotes to
25830 attachment and hostility. The word mindfulness is a little bit different in
25831 different contexts. Here, Mindfulness refers to the mental faculty of being
25832 able to maintain continuity of awareness of an object. Vigilance is concerned
25833 with the quality of mind, watching to see, for example, if the mind is veering
25834 off to other objects.
25835 -- Gen Lamrimpa (Ven. Jampal Tenzin, "Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist
25836 Teachings on Cultivating Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan
25837 Wallace, edited by Hart Sprager, published by Snow Lion Publications
25839 When we say that the ignorant mind is perverse or wrong, we are talking
25840 about the way it misconceives reality. Now the pertinent questions are: What
25841 is reality? How is this mind mistaken about reality? And in what way does
25842 the mind wrongly apprehend reality? Reality or emptiness of true existence is
25843 something that can be established logically. There are sound, or perfect,
25844 reasons to prove the emptiness of inherent existence, and we can gain
25845 conviction in these reasons. On the other hand, there is no logical way to
25846 prove true existence. True existence is what appears to an ordinary,
25847 untrained consciousness. But when it comes under logical scrutiny, true
25848 existence cannot be found. Even in our everyday life we often find
25849 contradictions between the way certain things appear and their actual mode of
25850 existence; that is, the way things actually exist is different from the way
25851 they appear to exist.
25852 ...Our perception of impermanent things like mountain ranges and houses
25853 does not conform to their actual mode of existence. Some of these things have
25854 existed for many centuries, even thousands of years. And our minds perceive
25855 them in just that way--as lasting and permanent, impervious to momentary
25856 change. Yet when we examine these objects on an atomic level, they
25857 disintegrate every moment; they undergo momentary change. Science also
25858 describes a similar pattern of change. These objects appear solid, stable,
25859 and lasting, but in their true nature, they constantly change, not keeping
25860 still even for a moment.
25861 -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Lobsang
25862 Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, published by
25863 Snow Lion Publications
25865 If there is someone who always harms us, and we discover that this person
25866 lives in our own house, we think, "This is too much!" Once we figure out
25867 that he is causing all our hardships, we kick him out; we do not see it as a
25868 laughing matter at all. Here, it is worse: we have been wandering in the six
25869 realms of cyclic existence since beginningless time, undergoing great pain and
25870 confusion. What is the main cause of all this? Self-centeredness and its
25871 basis, self-grasping ignorance. These two are right inside us, in our own
25872 mindstream. How can we continue to tolerate that? It is just too much! We
25873 definitely must evict these sources of harm. When we know the antidotes to
25874 them, we will use them, just as we would go to any length to evict a
25875 troublemaker from our home. With strong determination, we will find out what
25876 harms self-centeredness and self-grasping and then go ahead and destroy them.
25877 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
25878 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
25879 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
25881 No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
25882 policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
25885 There are many types of meditative stabilisation, but let us explain calm
25886 abiding (samatha) here. The nature of calm abiding is the one-pointed abiding
25887 on any object without distraction of a mind conjoined with a bliss of physical
25888 and mental pliancy. If it is supplemented with taking refuge, it is a
25889 Buddhist practice; and if it is supplemented with an aspiration to highest
25890 enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, it is a Mahayana practice.
25891 Its merits are that, if one has achieved calm abiding, one's mind and body are
25892 pervaded by joy and bliss; one can--through the power of its mental and
25893 physical pliancy--set the mind on any virtuous object one chooses; and many
25894 special qualities such as clairvoyance and emanations are attained.
25895 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
25896 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
25899 Apart from the perfection of wisdom,
25900 All virtuous practices such as
25901 The perfection of giving are described
25902 As skillful means by the Victorious Ones.
25904 The first five perfections--giving, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic
25905 effort and concentration--as well as meditation on impermanence, on the
25906 connection between actions and their effects and the cultivation of
25907 compassion, love and the altruistic intention are all skillful means. In fact
25908 all positive practices which do not constitute the cultivation of wisdom fall
25909 into the category of skillful means.
25912 Whoever, under the influence of familiarity
25913 With skillful means, cultivates wisdom
25914 Will quickly attain enlightenment--
25915 Not just by meditating on selflessness.
25917 When stability in practices which develop skillful means has been gained, the
25918 Bodhisattva meditates on the selflessness of persons and other phenomena and
25919 thereby overcomes clinging to their true existence. This leads swiftly to
25920 enlightenment. If we confine our efforts only to understanding reality, our
25921 understanding lacks the power to destroy all the obstructions that prevent
25922 omniscience and we may remain locked in a state of solitary peace.
25923 Cultivation of skillful means prevents this and adds such power to our
25924 understanding of reality that, like a blazing fire, it consumes all
25927 -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
25928 Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
25931 As I grow to understand life less and less,
25932 I learn to love it more and more.
25935 The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
25936 While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
25937 in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
25938 buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
25939 place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is
25940 basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You
25941 should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults
25942 from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that
25943 you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by
25944 cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who
25945 are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a
25946 path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.
25947 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
25948 Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
25949 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
25951 The entire environment we perceive around us arises, in part, in
25952 dependence upon our sense faculties. The environment we experience does not
25953 truly exist "out there." Sight is dependent upon visual faculties, hearing
25954 is dependent upon auditory faculties, and tactile sensations depend on nerve
25955 endings. Psychologically, all that we experience is dependent upon ourselves.
25956 We do not experience anything purely objectively. The arising and perceiving
25957 of experience is co-emergent between ourselves and the world around us. Yet,
25958 the deep belief persists that the world really exists "out there" now and eons
25959 before we were born.
25960 The Buddhist hypothesis extends beyond the psychological. The Buddhist
25961 hypothesis is this: that which is perceived arises in dependence upon the
25962 perception of it. Things are empty of independent, inherent existence. What
25963 appears to exist "out there" is empty of objective existence from its own
25964 side. This does not mean that nothing exists apart from our perceptions.
25965 Rather, it means that by probing the nature of existence of anything we
25966 experience perceptually or conceptually, we find that nothing exists by its
25967 own independent nature. Another way of phrasing this is that appearance
25968 extends all the way down to the root and there is nothing beyond the
25969 appearances. Appearances extend down to quarks; nothing is there purely
25970 objectively and nothing is there purely subjectively. This is the Buddhist
25972 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Seven-Point Mind-
25973 Training" , edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Publications
25975 I consider it very important for religion to have an influence on
25976 politicians. Politicians need religion much more than pious people who have
25977 withdrawn from the world need it. There is a constant increase in the
25978 scandals in politics and business that can be traced back to the lack of self-
25979 discipline on the part of the responsible parties. In India, the minister-
25980 president of West Bengal once said to me with what he considered a humble
25981 attitude that he was a politician and not a religious person. I responded to
25982 him: politicians need religion more than anyone else.
25983 When hermits in solitude are bad persons, the result is that they harm
25984 themselves alone and no one else. But when such influential people as
25985 politicians are full of bad intentions, they can bring misfortune to many.
25986 This is why religion, as continuous work on our inner maturity, is important
25987 for political rulers.
25988 A politician must have moral principles. I am convinced of this. Seen in
25989 this light, politics and religion belong together. In the United States,
25990 church and state may be separate, but when the president takes office, he
25991 makes a vow in the name of God with his hand on the Bible. This means that
25992 God should be the witness that the president will conscientiously fulfill his
25994 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of Wisdom,
25995 Path of Peace: A Personal Conversation", Foreword by Wei Jingsheng
25997 ...many people, critical of Dzogchen, question why we need to practice at all
25998 if, as according to Dzogchen, the primordial state is already the enlightened
25999 state. If our true nature is already Buddhahood, what is the need to
26000 cultivate enlightenment? We cannot side-step these criticisms since,
26001 according to Dzogchen, Buddhahood is indeed our natural state; we do not
26002 create it, but simply discover it through our meditation. But if we simply
26003 agree with our critics, this would mean there is no need to practice. These
26004 are important things to think about. We must answer that although the natural
26005 state of the mind is primordially pure, there are two ways of being pure.
26006 Defilements, or obscurations, are not in the nature of the mind (sems nyid)
26007 but in the moving mind (sems), so they can be purified. It is as in the
26008 Tibetan story of the old beggar woman who slept on a pillow of gold every
26009 night: she was rich, but since she did not appreciate the value of gold, she
26010 thought she was poor. In the same way, the primordial purity of our mind is
26011 of no use to us if we are not aware of it and do not integrate it with our
26012 moving mind. If we realize our innate purity but only integrate with it from
26013 time to time, we are not totally realized. Being in total integration all the
26014 time is final realization. But many people prefer thinking and speaking about
26015 integration to actualizing it.
26016 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
26017 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Foreword by H.H. the
26018 Dalai Lama, edited by Andrew Lukianowicz, published by Snow Lion
26021 External disarmament is very, very important. Already, there is some
26022 movement. My dream is that one day the whole world will be demilitarized, but
26023 we cannot achieve this overnight. Also, we cannot achieve it without a
26024 proper, systematic plan; however, it is important to make the target clear.
26025 Even though it may take one hundred years, or fifty years, that doesn't
26026 matter. Establish a clear idea or clear target; then try to achieve it step
26027 by step. As a first step, we have already started with the elimination of
26028 antipersonnel mines and biological weapons. Also, we are already reducing
26029 nuclear weapons; eventually, there should be a total ban on nuclear weapons.
26030 This is now foreseeable; the idea of its possibility is approaching. These
26031 are great, hopeful signs.
26032 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates
26033 Discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey
26034 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
26036 Bare awareness is not easy to develop and maintain because of the mind's
26037 disposition to be constantly preoccupied by thoughts. We easily lose
26038 attention because our mind is so busy. When we do, our emotional life can
26039 creep up on us and take us over. Without mindfulness, the capacity to
26040 maintain attention, disidentification is very difficult, and bare awareness
26041 even more so. Through meditation it is possible to cultivate a quiet,
26042 unintrusive awareness that greatly strengthens our capacity to remain with our
26043 feelings. We simply allow their presence without judging them, or needing to
26044 make them different.
26045 The early stage of meditation focuses attention and cultivates
26046 mindfulness. Mindfulness is our capacity to watch and remain conscious as
26047 emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise. We may begin in meditation by
26048 observing the breath and gradually quietening the mind from the constant
26049 discursive chatter that interrupts our attention. In time a quality of bare
26050 awareness is established free from the conceptual confusion that discriminates
26051 and evaluates what arises and parcels it up in conceptual boxes of good or
26052 bad. Furthermore, this quiet awareness does not become pulled into the
26053 contents of mental activity and drown in their confusion.
26054 -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", Foreword by Stephen
26055 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
26057 In the realm of matter, one and the same object can serve as a cause of
26058 happiness for some living beings, and a cause of suffering for others.
26059 Certain plants, for example, function as medicine for some creatures, but for
26060 other species they can be poisonous. From the point of view of the object
26061 itself there is no difference, but because of the physical constitution and
26062 the material state of the particular living being, that single self-same
26063 object can affect them in different ways. Then, in the sphere of our own
26064 experiences, the same holds true. A certain individual may appear to some as
26065 very friendly, kind and gentle, and so gives them feelings of happiness and
26066 pleasure. Yet to others that same person can appear harmful and wicked, and
26067 so cause them discomfort and unhappiness.
26068 What this kind of example points to is that, although external matter
26069 may act as a cause for our experience of pain and pleasure, the principal
26070 cause that determines whether we experience happiness or suffering lies
26071 within. This is the reason why, when Buddha identified the origin of
26072 suffering, he pointed within and not outside, because he knew that the
26073 principal causes of our suffering are our own negative emotions and the
26074 actions they drive us to do.
26075 -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
26076 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
26077 Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
26078 by Snow Lion Publications
26080 When you have many excuses not to do your work, ask yourself what guarantee
26081 you have of another chance to do what needs to be done. Time lost is lost for
26082 good. No matter how much you promise to improve, no matter what good
26083 intentions you have for making it up, the time is gone for good. Feeling
26084 sorry about the situation will not bring it back. You can never buy back that
26085 precious piece of time. You may think, "Well, that piece of time has passed,
26086 but I still have a long stretch of time left." No, you do not! What guarantee
26087 is there that you will have another piece of time like this one? Wake up and
26088 stop the excuses; they never made sense before and do not make sense now.
26089 Laziness and procrastination have never worked in a sound and helpful way. It
26090 is only sound and helpful to get things moving.
26091 -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup Burkhar
26092 and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
26095 Any sense of conceit or self-importance gets in the way of cultivating the
26096 genuine altruistic intention, and the most effective remedy against this is
26097 the cultivation of humility.
26098 I can tell you a more recent story to illustrate this point. The great
26099 nineteenth-century Tibetan Dzokchen meditator Dza Patrul Rinpoche always
26100 maintained a demeanour of true humility. At one time, when he was giving a
26101 series of teachings to a large crowd of students, he experienced a forceful
26102 yearning for solitude. So one day he quietly left his residence and
26103 disappeared, dressed like an ordinary pilgrim and carrying a walking staff and
26104 very little else. When he reached a nomadic camp he sought shelter for a few
26105 days with one of the families. While he was staying with them, his hostess
26106 asked him to read some texts and, since he looked just like an ordinary
26107 pilgrim, in return for his food and lodging she asked him to help with the
26108 household chores, which included the disposal of the contents of her chamber
26110 One day, while he was away from the camp attending to this task, some of
26111 his well-dressed monk students came looking for him. When his hostess heard
26112 their description of him, she suddenly realised this was the same person she
26113 had asked to throw away the contents of her chamber pot. (It is said she was
26114 so embarrassed that she just ran away!) Such was the humility of this great
26115 teacher, who had many thousands of students.
26116 ...great practitioners of the altruistic intention also possess a
26117 tremendous courage grounded in real inner strength.... This combination of a
26118 total lack of conceit yet possessing great depth of courage is what is
26119 required in a true practitioner of bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of
26121 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
26122 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
26124 Rejoicing in the actions of others is the major antidote to jealousy. When
26125 we admire the virtuous deeds of ourselves and of others, a great increase of
26126 merit is created. Jealousy is very harmful, and must be destroyed by
26127 rejoicing. If we rejoice in the virtue of someone whose understanding is less
26128 than our own, we gain greater merit than that person. If we rejoice in the
26129 merit of someone with understanding equal to ours, we gain equal merit. If we
26130 rejoice in the realization or virtue of someone more highly realized than we
26131 are, we accumulate some fraction of the merit that they do. We must rejoice
26132 in virtue because we have taken bodhisattva vows. If other beings practice
26133 well it helps us; therefore we should rejoice in their positive actions. This
26134 is the easiest way to accumulate merit with little hardship. With consistent
26135 effort the practice of rejoicing becomes very powerful and is greatly praised
26137 -- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, "Chod on the Ganden Tradition: the Oral
26138 Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche", edited by David Molk, published
26139 by Snow Lion Publications
26141 If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"
26142 then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
26143 -- Vincent Van Gogh
26145 ...there are various factors that contribute to attaining that level of
26146 joy and happiness which we conventionally also recognize as sources of
26147 happiness, such as good physical health, ...the wealth that we accumulate,
26148 ...and a circle of friends we trust and with whom we can relate emotionally.
26149 Now all of these are, in reality, sources of happiness, but in order for
26150 one to be able to fully utilize them with the goal of enjoying a happy and
26151 fulfilled life, one's state of mind is crucial. If one harbors hateful
26152 thoughts within, or strong or intense anger somewhere deep down, then it ruins
26153 one's health, so it destroys one of the factors. Even if one has wonderful
26154 possessions, when one is in an intense moment of anger or hatred, one feels
26155 like throwing them--breaking them or throwing them away. So there is no
26156 guarantee that wealth alone can give one the joy or fulfillment that one
26157 seeks. Similarly, when one is in an intense state of anger or hatred, even
26158 a very close friend appears somehow "frosty," cold and distant, or quite
26160 What this indicates is that our state of mind is crucial in determining
26161 whether or not we gain joy and happiness. So leaving aside the perspective of
26162 Dharma practice, even in worldly terms, in terms of our enjoying a happy day-
26163 to-day existence, the greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater
26164 our peace of mind, and the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful
26166 -- The Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
26167 Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
26170 Question: Is there a buildup of awareness that happens by the practice of
26171 recognizing or looking for your own basic nature so that, over time, it
26172 dispels the fear of these emotions?
26174 Rinpoche: Yes, awareness is developed through the discipline of meditation.
26175 Beginning with shamatha meditation, we develop lots of awareness and
26176 mindfulness on the path. Then, in Mahamudra and Dzogchen, we emphasize a
26177 different aspect of mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness and awareness
26178 come from the discipline of meditation, which continues in our everyday
26179 life. Therefore, formal sitting practice is very important for us. For
26180 that reason, many teachers tell us to sit at least 10-15 minutes every day.
26181 That helps us to generate this continuity of awareness in our everyday life.
26182 There is no easy solution for manifesting awareness or mindfulness in our
26183 everyday life without some discipline in practice. The only problem is
26184 that when a student hears a teacher say that they must sit every day,
26185 that's the time students usually begin to change their guru!
26187 -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
26188 Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26190 We ordinary individuals share the characteristic of having our attempts to
26191 gain happiness thwarted by our own destructive self-centeredness. It is
26192 unsuitable to keep holding onto the self-centered attitude while ignoring
26193 others. If two friends find themselves floundering in a muddy swamp they
26194 should not ridicule each other, but combine their energies to get out. Both
26195 ourselves and others are in the same position of wanting happiness and not
26196 wanting suffering, but we are entangled in a web of ignorance that prevents us
26197 from achieving those goals. Far from regarding it as an "every man for
26198 himself" situation, we should meditate upon the equality of self and others
26199 and the need to be helpful to other beings.
26200 -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, "Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of
26201 Enlightenment", translated by Ven. Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion
26204 Dalai Lama: "In the traditional [Tibetan] society, most people automatically
26205 did the types of work their families did--nomads, farmers, merchants, and so
26206 on. But some people still engaged in work that was not in keeping with the
26207 principle of nonharm, because there are butchers, metal smiths who make
26208 swords, and so on. But these kinds of work were also generally hereditary."
26210 Howard Cutler: "Speaking of work and the implementation of the concept of
26211 nonharm, ...you mentioned that there was a rule in Tibet that any new
26212 invention had to guarantee that it was beneficial or at least not harmful for
26213 at least seven generations."
26215 DL: "...there do seem to be certain practices and policies that successive
26216 Tibetan governments adopted in Tibet that reflect putting into practice
26217 certain Buddhist ideals, such as the Buddhist principle of respecting the
26218 natural world, particularly the animal world. For example, all the
26219 communities living near the Yamdrok Lake used to rely heavily on fishing in
26220 the past. Recently I heard about a policy that was adopted during the Fifth
26221 Dalai Lama's time where they were discouraged from fishing, and in order to
26222 compensate them, some other communities would band together and provide them
26223 an equivalent value in grain, so that they would be compensated against their
26224 loss. Similarly, in the area near Mount Kailash, around Lake Manasarovar
26225 during a particular season, a lot of waterfowl migrate there. They lay their
26226 eggs on the shores and apparently there was a government policy that during
26227 the egg-laying season, they would appoint people to watch over the eggs to
26228 make sure they were safe. Of course, there might be individuals who in
26229 addition to taking the salary probably ate some of the eggs as well. These
26230 things happen. But overall there is this kind of attitude of nonharm. "So,
26231 even though in Tibet, people didn't always follow the principle of nonharm in
26232 their work ...this principle was still deeply ingrained in the people. "In
26233 general, I think this could be applied in the West. Although not everybody
26234 has options about the work that they do, at least I think it is good to give
26235 serious thought to the kind of work one does, and the impact it has on others.
26236 I think it is best to choose work that does not cause harm to others, that
26237 does not exploit or deceive others, either directly or indirectly. I think
26238 that's the best way."
26239 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art
26240 of Happiness at Work"
26242 If we are feeling very nervous all the time, the first step toward doing
26243 something to remedy the situation is to take ourselves and the quality of our
26244 life seriously. Suppose we are walking down the street and we step on a bug
26245 and partially crush but have not actually killed it. If we continue walking
26246 and ignore the bug's experience of its leg being crushed or severed, we do so
26247 because we do not take the insect and its life seriously. We have no respect
26248 for it. If we treat ourselves no better than we do a bug and ignore our
26249 innermost pains and anguish, that is most unfortunate.
26250 Taking ourselves seriously means actually looking at how we are
26251 experiencing our life and, if there is something unsatisfactory about it,
26252 admitting it to ourselves. Our tension and stress do not go away by denying
26253 them or avoiding taking an honest look. And admitting that something is amiss
26254 is not the same as complaining about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. Nor
26255 does it imply that something is fundamentally wrong with us and we are guilty
26256 of being a bad person because we are nervous. Being objective, not
26257 melodramatic, and remaining non-judgmental are essential for any healing,
26259 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu
26260 Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26262 Wouldn't life be boring without attachment?
26264 No. In fact it's attachment that makes us restless and prevents us from
26265 enjoying things. For example, suppose we're attached to chocolate cake. Even
26266 while we're eating it, we're not tasting it and enjoying it completely. We're
26267 usually either criticizing ourselves for eating something fattening, comparing
26268 the taste of this chocolate cake to other cakes we've eaten in the past, or
26269 planning how to get another piece. In any case, we're not really experiencing
26270 the chocolate cake in the present.
26271 On the other hand, without attachment, we can think clearly about whether
26272 we want to eat the cake, and if we decide to, we can eat it peacefully,
26273 tasting and enjoying every bite without craving for more or being dissatisfied
26274 because it isn't as good as we expected. As we diminish our attachment, life
26275 becomes more interesting because we're able to open up to what's happening in
26277 -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
26280 My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses.
26281 Drinks right out of the bottle.
26284 We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident,
26285 bits of a star gone wrong.
26286 -- Sir Arthur Eddington
26288 Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. -- Milton Friedman
26290 I have the worst memory ever so no matter who comes up to me--
26291 they're just, like, "I can't believe you don't remember me!"
26292 I'm like, "Oh Dad I'm sorry!"
26295 Question: When a practitioner of the Great Vehicle vows not to enter into
26296 nirvana until all beings are liberated, how is it possible to fulfill this
26299 Answer: Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become
26300 enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd.
26301 In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after
26302 which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks
26303 to cross the river of suffering together with others. In the third, like a
26304 shepherd, one seeks to relieve the flock of suffering beings from pain first,
26305 oneself following afterward. These are indications of the style of the
26306 altruistic motivation for becoming enlightened; in actual fact, there is no
26307 way that a Bodhisattva either would want to or could delay achieving full
26308 enlightenment. As much as the motivation to help others increases, so much
26309 closer does one approach Buddhahood.
26310 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard",
26311 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
26314 A bodhisattva is someone who says from the depth of his or her heart, "I
26315 want to be liberated and find ways to overcome all the problems of the world.
26316 I want to help all my fellow beings to do likewise. I long to attain the
26317 highest state of everlasting peace and happiness, in which all suffering has
26318 ceased, and I want to do so for myself and for all sentient beings."
26319 According to the Buddha's teaching, anyone who makes this firm and heartfelt
26320 commitment is a bodhisattva. We become bodhisattvas from the moment we have
26321 this vast and open heart, called bodhichitta, the mind bent on bringing
26322 lasting happiness to all sentient beings.
26323 Buddhist literature defines three types of bodhisattvas: the kinglike
26324 bodhisattva, the captainlike bodhisattva, and the shepherdlike bodhisattva. A
26325 kinglike bodhisattva is like a good king who first wants everything luxurious
26326 for himself, like a big palace, a large entourage, a beautiful queen, and so
26327 on. But once his happiness has been achieved, he also wants to help and
26328 support his subjects as much as possible. Accordingly, a kinglike bodhisattva
26329 has the motivation, "First, I want to free myself from samsara and attain
26330 perfect enlightenment. As soon as I have reached buddhahood, I will help all
26331 other sentient beings to become buddhas as well."
26332 A captainlike bodhisattva would say, "I would like to become a buddha, and
26333 I will take all other sentient beings along with me so that we reach
26334 enlightenment together." This is just as the captain of a ship crosses the
26335 sea, he takes his passengers with him, and they reach the far shore
26337 A shepherdlike bodhisattva is inspired by thinking, "I want to help all
26338 sentient beings to reach enlightenment and see the truth. Only when this is
26339 achieved and samsara is emptied will I become a buddha myself." In actual
26340 fact it may not happen this way, but anyone who has this motivation is called
26341 a "shepherdlike bodhisattva." In the old days, sheep were not kept in fenced
26342 pastures, and the shepherds had to bring them down from the mountains to
26343 protect them from wolves. They would follow behind the sheep, guiding them
26344 into their pen and lock them in. A shepherd would take care of his sheep
26345 first, and only then would he go home and eat.
26346 The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara developed this shepherdlike motivation and
26347 is therefore considered to be the most courageous and compassionate of beings.
26348 He vowed, "I will not attain complete enlightenment until I have led all
26349 sentient beings to liberation without leaving a single one behind."
26350 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
26351 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
26352 published by Snow Lion Publications
26354 The practice of compassion begins at home. We have our parents, our
26355 children, and our brothers and sisters, who perhaps irritate us the most, and
26356 we begin our practice of loving-kindness and compassion with them. Then
26357 gradually we extend our compassion out into our greater community, our
26358 country, neighbouring countries, the world, and finally to all sentient beings
26359 equally without exception.
26360 Extending compassion in this way makes it evident that it is not very easy
26361 to instantly have compassion for "all sentient beings." Theoretically it may
26362 be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient beings," but through our
26363 practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is a collection of individuals.
26364 When we actually try to generate compassion for each and every individual, it
26365 becomes much more challenging. But if we cannot work with one individual,
26366 then how can we work with all sentient beings? Therefore it is important for
26367 us to reflect more practically, to work with compassion for individuals and
26368 then extend that compassion further.
26369 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Trainings in Compassion", translated by the
26370 Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
26372 It wouldn't be bad if you didn't have statues, but it has become indispensable
26373 to have Buddhist texts which deal with the structured path to train our mind.
26374 If you have Buddhist texts, read them for yourselves and to friends who visit.
26375 That way you can help others to understand Buddhist ideas. For instance, it
26376 is interesting to read Milarepa's life story and songs. We find in them many
26377 enlightening lessons. Buddha's image alone will not purify us of karmic
26378 obscuration.... It is very important to study the scriptures. They are not
26379 to be just stacked up on the altar. They must be cultivated in our mind.
26380 ...[we] take great interest in having the symbolic representations of Buddha's
26381 body, speech and mind. I feel it is more important to acquire and read
26382 scriptures, the symbolic representations of his speech. You can pay homage to
26383 them, you can make offerings to them; above all, you should study them.
26384 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai
26385 Lama XIV on the Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by
26386 Dexter Roberts, Snow Lion Publications
26388 From the Buddhist point of view, being in a depressed state, in a state of
26389 discouragement, is seen as a kind of extreme that can clearly be an obstacle
26390 to taking the steps necessary to accomplish one's goals. A state of self-
26391 hatred is even far more extreme than simply being discouraged, and this can be
26392 very, very dangerous. For those engaged in Buddhist practice, the antidote to
26393 self-hatred would be to reflect upon the fact that all beings, including
26394 oneself, have Buddha Nature--the seed or potential for perfection, full
26395 Enlightenment--no matter how weak or poor or deprived one's present situation
26396 may be. So those people involved in Buddhist practice who suffer from self-
26397 hatred or self-loathing should avoid contemplating the suffering nature of
26398 existence or the underlying unsatisfactory nature of existence, and instead
26399 they should concentrate more on the positive aspects of one's existence, such
26400 as appreciating the tremendous potential that lies within oneself as a human
26401 being. And by reflecting upon these opportunities and potentials, they will
26402 be able to increase their sense of worth and confidence in themselves.
26403 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
26404 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
26406 An instruction that matches examples and their meanings to show how the
26407 absolute nature permeates everything. (*SG)
26409 These various examples give a general idea of the absolute nature. (*DK)
26411 ...there are four examples and their meanings. Take the example of a
26412 Sugata's body: whichever way one looks at it, it is beautiful. (*Z)
26414 Similarly, everything a realized being does, since it is permeated with the
26415 realization of the unborn nature, is bliss, for he does not have ordinary
26416 attachment and aversion. (*Z & SG)
26418 Whether one looks at a Sugata's face or any other part of his body, one never
26419 feels one has looked enough. It is an example of ultimate beauty. Similarly,
26420 those for whom everything is backed by the realization of the unborn nature no
26421 longer have ordinary attachment and aversion, and such persons can therefore
26422 act like enlightened beings: whatever they do is bliss. Since they have fully
26423 realized the absolute nature, there is no question of telling them, "This is
26424 the right thing to do; that is something you should not do." They have no
26425 concepts or limits, so they can act as they wish. Everything they do will be
26426 nothing but bliss. (DK)
26429 Z: Zurchungpa's root text
26430 DK: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's commentary
26431 SG: Shechen Gyaltsap's notes
26433 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
26434 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice", translated
26435 by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
26437 Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
26438 nothing is going to get better. It's not.
26439 -- The Lorax, Doctor Seuss
26441 We do what we must, and call it by the best names. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
26443 These days an income is something you can't live without--or within.
26446 Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize
26447 until you have tried to make it precise.
26448 -- Bertrand Russell
26450 The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
26451 -- Flannery O'Connor
26453 The initial period of deity yoga is called prior approximation because one is
26454 accustoming to a deity through becoming closer and closer to its state,
26455 whereupon the deity grants the feat, either directly or in the sense of
26456 bestowing a capacity to the mind. Actually effecting the achievement of feats
26457 is done by way of carrying out prescribed burnt offerings or repetition of
26458 mantra, etc., after the approximation has been completed. These feats are
26459 then used for the welfare of others in the third stage, which involves
26460 activities of (1) pacification such as overcoming plague or relieving others
26461 of demons, (2) increase of lifespan, intelligence, wealth, and so forth, (3)
26462 control of resources, persons harmful to others' welfare, etc., and (4)
26463 ferocity, such as expelling or confusing harmful beings.
26464 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga
26465 in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26467 The bodhisattva, as the personification of individuation, discovers a unique
26468 capacity to awaken his or her potential to work for the welfare of others in
26469 whichever way most suits his or her individual disposition. When I consider
26470 my own teachers, one thing I particularly value is their capacity to be
26471 authentically themselves. They each have their unique personality and quality
26472 that is a genuine expression of their individuality. There is no
26473 contradiction between our Western need to be individuals and the Buddhist
26474 path. Buddhism does not demand that we become clones of some ideal. Rather,
26475 it asks us to respond to who we are and awaken our full potential, expressing
26476 it within our particular individual capacity. My Tibetan teachers have
26477 supremely individualistic personalities, something I love and value deeply.
26478 They respond to me as an individual with my own personality, which they would
26479 never ask me to relinquish. The fact that they were each on their own unique
26480 journey within the Buddhist path was, for me, a sublime example of the
26481 bodhisattva as an individuated person who has truly responded to the inner
26483 -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
26484 in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
26486 The view is to believe in and understand the buddha nature, the essence of all
26487 the buddhas. If one knows the buddha nature, then that is to know the
26488 unchanging essence which is free from any limitation, the original primordial
26489 nature of the mind as it is. This is not like a light bulb that suddenly
26490 comes on or something that is newly acquired. It is the nature as it has
26491 always been and always will be: primordially perfect. To recognize the buddha
26492 nature is the view. To fail to recognize the buddha nature is to deviate into
26493 confusion. If you recognize your buddha nature, this is the same as having an
26494 audience with all the buddhas. You will meet face to face with all your root
26496 -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
26497 translated by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
26500 ...when we ask, what is the substantial cause of the material universe way
26501 back in the early history of the universe, we trace it back to the space
26502 particles which transform into the elements of this manifest universe. And
26503 then we can ask whether those space particles have an ultimate beginning. The
26504 answer is no. They are beginningless. Where other philosophical systems
26505 maintain that the original cause was God, Buddha suggested the alternative
26506 that there aren't any ultimate causes. The world is beginningless. Then the
26507 question would be: Why is it beginningless? And the answer is, it is just
26508 nature. There is no reason. Matter is just matter.
26509 Now we have a problem: What accounts for the evolution of the universe as
26510 we know it? What accounts for the loose particles in space forming into the
26511 universe that is apparent to us? Why did it go through orderly processes of
26512 change? Buddhists would say there is a condition which makes it possible, and
26513 we speak of that condition as the awareness of sentient beings.
26514 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
26515 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
26516 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
26519 Q: Certain associates can say things to me that spark an aggressive reaction.
26520 Why is it so easy to spark this feeling of negativity if there is not an
26521 accumulation of energy behind it?
26523 A: This is because of your pattern of clinging to the idea that you should
26524 have all the good things, and nothing that bothers you should ever happen, as
26525 I explained earlier. This is wishful thinking, because the nature of the
26526 world is not like that at all. The ego game you have planned is itself the
26527 explanation for how easily your anger is sparked. Because you have planned
26528 such a delicate, impossible game, and there are many things that can happen,
26529 anything that jeopardizes the plan of your ego upsets you. It is not an
26530 accumulation of energy but the pattern of clinging that is at fault.
26532 -- Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
26533 Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow
26536 Suppose... you try to convert someone from another religion to the
26537 Buddhist religion, and you argue with them trying to convince them of the
26538 inferiority of their position. And suppose you do not succeed, suppose they
26539 do not become Buddhist. On the one hand, you have failed in your task, and on
26540 the other hand, you may have weakened the trust they have in their own
26541 religion, so that they may come to doubt their own faith. What have you
26542 accomplished by all this? It is of no use. When we come into contact with
26543 the followers of different religions, we should not argue. Instead, we should
26544 advise them to follow their own beliefs as sincerely and as truthfully as
26545 possible. For if they do so, they will no doubt reap certain benefits. Of
26546 this there is no doubt. Even in the immediate future, they will be able to
26547 achieve more happiness and more satisfaction.
26548 ...When I meet the followers of different religions, I always praise them,
26549 for it is enough, it is sufficient, that they are following the moral
26550 teachings that are emphasized in every religion. It is enough, as I mentioned
26551 earlier, that they are trying to become better human beings. This in itself
26552 is very good and worthy of praise.
26553 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
26554 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
26556 Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
26557 Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
26558 speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
26560 A Buddha's abandonment of defects is of three types: good, complete, and
26561 irreversible. Good abandonment involves overcoming obstructions through their
26562 antidotes, not just through withdrawing from those activities. Complete
26563 abandonment is not trifling, forsaking only some afflictions or just the
26564 manifest afflictions, but forsaking all obstructions. Irreversible
26565 abandonment overcomes the seeds of afflictions and other obstructions in such
26566 a way that defects will never arise again, even when conditions favourable to
26568 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
26569 published by Snow Lion Publications
26571 In commenting on the first instruction spoken by Manjushri, we considered the
26572 question of attachment to this lifetime and the faults that come from this
26573 attachment. However, the question of attachment goes deeper. It is not just
26574 a matter of giving up attachment to this life's rewards but of losing our
26575 taste and affinity for the whole of worldly existence. This is why it is
26576 necessary to contemplate and meditate upon the faults of conditioned
26577 existence. Otherwise, we may imagine that samsara possesses any manner of
26578 attractive qualities. Pondering the shortcomings of samsara should bring
26579 forth in us a tangible sense of disgust, as we are confronted with our own
26580 misguided pursuit of worldly ends.
26581 -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, "Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsun
26582 Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View",
26583 commentary translated by Thubten Choedak, Root Text and Lineage Prayer
26584 translated by H.H. Sakya Trizin and Jay Goldberg, compiled and edited
26585 by John Deweese, published by Snow Lion Publications
26587 Another problem we face today is the gap between rich and poor. In this
26588 great country of America, your forefathers established the concepts of
26589 democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, and equal opportunity for every
26590 citizen. These are provided for by your wonderful Constitution. However, the
26591 number of billionaires in this country is increasing while the poor remain
26592 poor, in some cases getting even poorer. This is very unfortunate. On the
26593 global level as well, we see rich nations and poor ones. This is also very
26594 unfortunate. It is not just morally wrong, but practically it is a source of
26595 unrest and trouble that will eventually find its way to our door.
26596 ...one of my elder brothers, who is no longer alive, would tell me of his
26597 experiences living in America. He lived a humble life and told me of the
26598 troubles, the fears, the killings, theft, and rape that people endured. These
26599 are, I think, the result of economic inequality in society. It is only
26600 natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to
26601 survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a
26602 luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the
26603 wealthy--the billionaires and millionaires--remain in constant anxiety. I
26604 therefore think that this huge gap between rich and poor is very unfortunate.
26605 ...So, for those of you who are poor, those who come from difficult
26606 situations, I strongly urge you to work hard, with self-confidence, to make
26607 use of your opportunities. The richer people should be more caring toward the
26608 poorer ones, and the poor should make every effort, with self-confidence.
26609 -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
26610 edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere
26613 Tibetans say that once upon a time all the yaks that live in Tibet were
26614 living in India as water buffalo. It was very, very hot in India so some of
26615 them decided if they were to keep walking to the north they would get to a
26616 place that would be nice and cool. So they climbed up in the mountains, and
26617 as they were climbing their hair started to grow. Because of this the water
26618 buffalo in India often turn their head and look out expectantly and they are
26619 waiting for their brothers who have wandered off. In a similar way at one
26620 time all the buffalo of samsara and nirvana were living together and one day
26621 some of them wandered off and came into samsara. They keep looking around to
26622 see who else is there and where the other half is, because the basic quality
26623 of our ordinary sense of self is that it is very lonely. Something is missing
26624 in our lives and we don't quite know what it is, but we keep looking and
26625 looking to find this missing part. We can look for it in terms of
26626 possessions, we can look for it in terms of the form of our body, trying to
26627 change it through dieting or hair style or whatever. You can look in terms of
26628 friends. Anything. And this keeps us very, very busy. Sometimes the
26629 busyness can be very exhausting, but when we stop then we feel lonely. So we
26630 get busy again. Dharma is very helpful here if you want distraction because
26631 there are many kinds of ways to be busy in the dharma. You can focus on
26632 having lots of dharma possessions. You can focus on learning the text by
26633 heart, on the mantras and mudras, on serving the tsog, on doing meditations.
26634 There is always something to be busy with.
26635 In Tibet many, many people practiced dharma but not so many seem to get
26636 enlightened. There are many kinds of dharma and if we practice in a way that
26637 doesn't focus on the essential point but on secondary and tertiary levels it
26638 is easy to get lost. It is really important, given that we have limited time,
26639 to focus on what is essential. Many people when they get a plate of food will
26640 eat the things they don't like so much first and leave the special thing to
26641 the end. But when when we apply this to life we can make a big mistake. The
26642 time for deep practice is now. You can learn all about Padmasambhava and what
26643 his clothes mean and what his hair style means but if you don't know the
26644 nature of your own mind then knowledge about Padmasambhava is just some more
26646 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
26647 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published
26648 by Snow Lion Publications
26650 Linguistics is arguably the most hotly contested property in the academic
26651 realm. It is soaked with the blood of poets, theologians, philosophers,
26652 philologists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and neurologists,
26653 along with whatever blood can be got out of grammarians.
26656 What is undistracted calm abiding? It is meditative absorption free of the
26657 six types of distraction. What are these six?
26659 (1) Inherent distraction refers to the eye consciousness and the other
26660 four collections of consciousness. Because they are naturally directed
26661 outward, they [cause one to] emerge from meditative absorption.
26662 (2) External distraction refers to a mental consciousness that reaches out
26663 towards or engages objects.
26664 (3) Internal distraction concerns dullness and agitation, as well as
26665 savoring one's meditative absorption.
26666 (4) The distraction of marks occurs when, trusting in meditative
26667 absorption, one apprehends marks of it and becomes attached.
26668 (5) Distraction brought about by negative tendencies is when directing the
26669 mind involves the apprehending of an ego. This is said to refer to the mental
26670 act of pridefully believing oneself to be superior to others, or [simply any
26671 mental act] that involves apprehending an "I".
26672 (6) The distraction of directing the mind occurs when one is caught up in
26673 the mindset of, and directs the mind in the style of, the Lesser Vehicle.
26675 The undistracted calm abiding that is determined by the elimination of
26676 those six is the unique calm abiding of the Great Vehicle. This is a state of
26677 one-pointed inner rest, a flawless calm abiding. In it, there is no
26678 apprehension of marks, as is the case when inner absorption alone is believed
26679 to bring liberation. Neither does it involve the ego apprehension that occurs
26680 in the concentrations of non-Buddhists. Further, one does not direct the mind
26681 as one would when cultivating the supports for the inferior paths [to
26682 liberation]. This is how the wise should understand the calm abiding of the
26684 -- "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's 'Madhyantavibhaga' with commentaries
26685 by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham", translated by the Dharmachakra
26686 Translation Committee, published by Snow Lion Publications
26688 Calm abiding is predominantly stabilizing meditation, in which the mind is
26689 kept on a single object, rather than analytical meditation, in which a topic
26690 such as impermanence or emptiness is analyzed with reasoning. The purpose of
26691 developing calm abiding is that, since a mind that is scattered to external
26692 objects is relatively powerless, the mind needs to be concentrated in order to
26693 become powerful. If you do not have concentration in which the mind is
26694 unfluctuatingly stable and clear, the faculty of wisdom cannot know its
26695 object, just as it is, in all its subtleties. Therefore, it is necessary to
26696 have a highly focused mind.
26697 ...In order to set the mind steadily on an object of observation, it is
26698 necessary initially to use an object of observation suited to counteracting
26699 your own predominant afflictive emotion, since its force remains with your
26700 mind now and can easily interrupt any attempt to concentrate the mind.
26701 Therefore, Buddha described many types of objects for purifying behavior:
26702 + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is desire, ugliness is
26703 a helpful object of meditation. Here, "ugliness" does not necessarily refer
26704 to distorted forms; the very nature of our body--composed of blood, flesh,
26705 bone, and so forth--might seem superficially to be very beautiful with a good
26706 color, solid and yet soft to touch, but when it is investigated, you see that
26707 its essence is quite different--substances like bone, blood, urine, feces,
26709 + For someone who has predominantly engaged in hatred, the object of
26710 meditation is love.
26711 + For someone who was predominantly sunk in obscuration, the meditation is
26712 on the twelve links of the dependent-arising of cyclic existence because
26713 contemplating its complexity promotes intelligence.
26714 + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is pride, the
26715 meditation could be on the divisions of the constituents because, when
26716 meditating on the many divisions, you get to the point where you realize that
26717 there are many things you do not know, thereby lessening an inflated sense of
26719 + Those dominated by conceptuality can observe the exhalation and
26720 inhalation of the breath because, by tying the mind to the breath,
26721 discursiveness diminishes.
26722 A particularly helpful object for all personality types is a Buddha body,
26723 since concentration on a Buddha's body causes your mind to mix with virtuous
26724 qualities. No matter what the object is, this is not a case of meditating
26725 within, looking at an external object with your eyes, but of causing an image
26726 of it to appear to the mental consciousness.
26727 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
26728 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published
26729 by Snow Lion Publications
26731 ...an understanding of the doctrine of emptiness is fundamental to tantric
26732 practice. Every sadhana begins with, is structured around, and ends with
26733 meditation upon emptiness. To practice Vajrayana without the wisdom of
26734 emptiness can be very dangerous. For example, a main tantric technique is the
26735 cultivation of a subtle divine pride, a confidence that one is an enlightened
26736 tantric deity, the Lord of the Mandala. One's mind is the Wisdom Body of a
26737 Buddha, one's speech is the Beatific Body, one's form is the Perfect Emanation
26738 Body, and the world and its inhabitants are seen as a mandala inhabited by the
26739 various forms of tantric deities. Thus we have to utterly change our sense of
26740 "I." To do so involves the subject of emptiness. To practice the yoga of
26741 divine pride without an understanding of emptiness will not only be useless,
26742 but could lead to identity problems and other undesirable psychological
26743 effects. Therefore it is said that although the Vajrayana is a quick path
26744 when correctly practiced on the proper spiritual basis, it is dangerous for
26745 the spiritually immature. This type of danger area is one of the reasons why
26746 the Vajrayana must be practiced under the supervision of a qualified vajra
26748 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
26749 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
26751 Self-discipline brings us into relationship with one of the six
26752 perfections of the bodhisattva, that of enthusiastic perseverance, which
26753 implies the willingness to engage in a process with effort and enthusiasm over
26754 a prolonged period. No material or spiritual qualities are gained without
26755 some degree of effort. Perseverance enables the practitioner to carry on and
26756 trust in the process, even when it feels hopeless. It makes it possible to
26757 face difficulties and obstacles in the path with confidence and courage,
26758 rather than giving up because it feels too hard. Self-discipline helps us
26759 remain in the vessel and not run away.
26760 My Tibetan retreat guide described the maintenance of self-discipline over
26761 time like keeping a pot heating on a stove. If we continually remove it from
26762 the heat the pot never boils. Similarly he felt that when someone enters into
26763 the discipline of retreat, it should be maintained as rigorously as possible.
26764 In doing so the alchemical vessel will be maintained, and the "cooking" can
26765 take place. Transformation only occurs when the vessel is maintained in this
26767 -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
26768 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
26770 Installation programs are where programming
26771 and the IT department meet... and fight.
26774 Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the
26775 distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just
26776 an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Because of
26777 this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not
26778 change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our
26779 own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other:
26780 irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long
26781 as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome
26782 suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem.
26783 This is genuine compassion. For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to
26784 develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of
26785 another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe.
26786 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
26788 Buddha traveled and taught widely for some forty-five years after his
26789 enlightenment, and his audiences were diverse. Even though India at the time
26790 was a highly literate society, nothing of what he said was written down during
26791 his lifetime. Instead, various individuals were entrusted with memorizing the
26792 gist of each discourse. The work of transcribing his words took place only
26793 with the passage of generations.
26794 Tibetans believe that this reluctance on the part of the Buddha and his
26795 immediate followers to commit the enlightenment teachings to paper, and
26796 instead to preserve them as oral traditions, was a purposeful strategy gauged
26797 to maintain the maximum fluidity and living power of the enlightenment
26798 experience. It only became necessary to write things down when the darkness
26799 of the changing times threatened the very survival of the legacy. An oral
26800 tradition becomes lost to history should its holders pass away without first
26801 passing on their lineages.
26802 This intended fluidity, and the according safeguard against the
26803 establishment of an "enlightenment dogma" is perhaps best demonstrated by a
26804 verse that the Buddha himself said shortly before his death:
26805 Do not accept any of my words on faith,
26806 Believing them just because I said them.
26807 Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns,
26808 And critically examines his product for authenticity.
26809 Only accept what passes the test
26810 By proving useful and beneficial in your life.
26811 This simple statement empowered future generations of Buddhist teachers to
26812 accept and reject at will anything said by Buddha himself as well by his early
26813 disciples. If something that was said by them did not pass the test of
26814 personal analysis, one could simply discard it as being limited in application
26815 to particular times, people, or situations, and therefore as only contextually
26817 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lamas on Tantra", translated, edited and
26818 introduced by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
26820 Many places have been totally changed through the use of police force and
26821 the power of guns--the Soviet Union, China, Burma, the Philippines, many
26822 communist countries, countries in Africa and South America. But eventually,
26823 you see, the power of guns and the power of the will of ordinary human beings
26824 will change places. I am always telling people that our century is very
26825 important historically for the planet. There is a big competition between
26826 world peace and world war, between the force of mind and the force of
26827 materialism, between democracy and totalitarianism. And now within this
26828 century, the force of peace is gaining the upper hand. Still, of course, the
26829 material force is very strong, but there is a kind of dissatisfaction about
26830 materialism and a realization or feeling that something is missing.
26831 ...entering the twenty-first century, I think the basic concerns are human
26832 values and the value of truth. These things have more value, more weight now.
26833 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
26834 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
26835 Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
26837 An inexpressible, self-arisen expanse
26838 Without the names "samsara" and "nirvana."
26840 Here, "self-arisen" means the primordial state. It is not something we
26841 can fully express with words or concepts. It's beyond words or concepts. The
26842 nature of all is not biased; it is not restricted to one or another. The
26843 nature of all exists in one identical state. That ground, that nature, does
26844 not have any name such as samsara or nirvana. That is the foundation, that is
26845 the ground. It is beyond samsara and nirvana. Not knowing the ground means
26846 wandering in samsara. If you recognize this ground, if you truly experience
26847 this ground, buddhahood is attained. That is the fruition. That is the
26848 result of our practice and our path.
26849 ...The ground, that fundamental state of simplicity, is the origin of all
26850 elaborations. This pure basic state is like a simple artist's canvas. We
26851 paint different images on this canvas. We can paint the image of a buddha,
26852 and it becomes very pure, beautiful, and inspiring to look at. We can also
26853 paint a devil on the same canvas, which can create our fundamental suffering,
26854 our basic pain. However, the basis of both is the same simple state of canvas
26855 that is completely pure and totally free from the images we project on it. It
26856 is totally free, whether that image is a buddha or a devil. That is the
26858 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
26859 Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26861 Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
26862 -- Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh
26864 Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice
26865 We should think about how we can make the best use of our practice so that
26866 we get the most out of it in the short time we have in this life. We do not
26867 have the leisure of wasting our time here by delaying the benefits of our
26868 practice. We have to use these situations as effectively as we can.
26869 Before you begin any practice, first think very carefully about your
26870 motivation. When we are engaged in the threefold process of study,
26871 contemplation and meditation, we should be very specific, very clear about why
26872 we are doing it. We should remind ourselves, "I am doing this to transcend my
26873 negative emotions and my ego-clinging." This is a general example of a
26874 specific intention. However, to be more precise, we need to consider the
26875 unique make-up of our own individual kleshas [intense states of suffering, and
26876 ignorance]. Once we have identified our strongest emotion, then we can focus
26877 on the practices that will alleviate it. We begin with whichever emotion is
26878 strongest for us and then we move on to the next strongest, followed by the
26880 It is important for us to prioritize our practice in this way. We have
26881 to keep our intention very clear in all three phases--in our study, in our
26882 contemplation and in our meditation. During shamatha or other practices, when
26883 thoughts come up, we recall that our purpose is to overcome our disturbing
26884 emotions and kleshas. We have to have a sense of willpower or determination
26885 in our minds. In order for the remedy to work, we must tell ourselves, "Yes,
26886 I am going to transcend this anger. I am going to work with it." Otherwise,
26887 if we do not have a clear idea, if we simply sit there with an indefinite or
26888 vague intention, then the effect also will be vague. We may have sat for one
26889 hour and although that time will not have been wasted, because it was not
26890 directed in an intentional way, the experience will not be so sharp, to the
26891 point or effective.
26892 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion
26895 ...particularly in Buddhism while we practice we must use the brain as
26896 well as the heart. On the ethical side, we must practice the quality of a
26897 good and warm heart; also, since Buddhism is very much involved in reasoning
26898 and logic--the wisdom side--intelligence is important. Thus, a combination of
26899 mind and heart is needed. Without knowledge, without fully utilized
26900 intelligence, you cannot reach the depths of the Buddhist doctrine; it is
26901 difficult to achieve concrete or fully qualified wisdom. There may be
26902 exceptions, but this is the general rule.
26903 It is necessary to have a combination of hearing, thinking, and
26904 meditating. The Kadampa teacher Dromton ('brom ston pa, 1004-1064) said,
26905 "When I engage in hearing, I also make effort at thinking and meditating.
26906 When I engage in thinking, I also search out more hearing and engage in
26907 meditation. And when I meditate, I don't give up hearing and don't give up
26908 thinking." He said, "I am a balanced Kadampa," meaning that he maintained a
26909 balance of hearing, thinking, and meditating.
26910 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity,
26911 and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by
26912 Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
26914 If through listening to this explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training we
26915 come to recognise how important Bodhichitta is, this will be an infallible
26916 cause of our enlightenment. Of all the eighty four thousand different
26917 sections of the doctrine, the precious Bodhichitta is the very essence. By
26918 hearing the words of such a teaching, it is impossible even for demons, whose
26919 nature it is to kill and to do harm, not to have positive thoughts! Kham, a
26920 region in East Tibet, was haunted in the past by many ghosts and evil spirits,
26921 and this was one of the reasons why Patrul Rinpoche used to explain the
26922 Bodhicharyavatara continually to his disciples. Before long, there were no
26923 more ghosts--or at least, no one came to any more harm. Such is the hidden
26924 power of Bodhichitta!
26925 --Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven
26926 Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group,
26927 published by Snow Lion Publications
26929 Sometimes we face certain situations where, although we have done
26930 something good for others, we may not be able to reap the consequences within
26931 this lifetime. When we are talking about the law of causality, we are not
26932 limiting its operation to the confines of this life alone, but rather are
26933 taking into account both this lifetime and the future. Occasionally people
26934 who do not have a proper knowledge of karmic law say that such and such a
26935 person is very kind and religious and so forth, but he always has problems,
26936 whereas so and so is very deceptive and negative, frequently indulging in
26937 negative actions, but always seems very successful. Such people may think
26938 that there is no karmic law at all. There are others who go to the other
26939 extreme and become superstitious, thinking that when someone experiences
26940 illness, it is all due to harmful spirits.... It is also possible for very
26941 negative people to experience their positive karma ripening immaturely due to
26942 the very strong force of negative actions, and thus to exhaust the potentials
26943 of their virtuous actions. They experience a relative success in this life,
26944 while others who are very serious practitioners, as a result of the force of
26945 their practices, bring upon this lifetime the consequences of karmic actions
26946 which might have otherwise thrown them into rebirth in lower realms of
26947 existence in the future. As a result, they experience more problems and
26948 illnesses in this life.
26949 Just resolving not to indulge in a negative action is not enough. It
26950 should be accompanied by the understanding that it is for your own benefit and
26951 sake that you must live with awareness of the law of karma: if you have
26952 accumulated the causes, you will have to face the consequences; if you desire
26953 a particular effect, you can work to produce its causes; and if you do not
26954 desire a certain consequence, you can avoid engaging in actions that will
26955 bring it about. You should reflect upon the law of causality as follows: that
26956 there is a definite relation between causes and effects; that actions not
26957 committed will never produce an effect; and that once committed, actions will
26958 never lose their potentiality simply through the passage of time. So, if you
26959 wish to enjoy desirable fruits, you should work for the accumulation of the
26960 appropriate causes, and if you want to avoid undesirable consequences, you
26961 should not accumulate their causes.... [Karma] is a natural law like any
26963 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
26964 Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
26965 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
26967 Generally speaking, there are two forms of meditation on emptiness. One
26968 is the space-like meditation on emptiness, which is characterised by the total
26969 absence or negation of inherent existence. The other is called the illusion-
26970 like meditation on emptiness. The space-like meditation must come first,
26971 because without the realisation of the total absence of inherent existence,
26972 the illusion-like perception or understanding will not occur.
26973 For the illusion-like understanding of all phenomena to occur, there needs
26974 to be a composite of both the perception or appearance and the negation, so
26975 that when we perceive the world and engage with it we can view all things and
26976 events as resembling illusions. We will recognise that although things appear
26977 to us, they are devoid of objective, independent, intrinsic existence. This
26978 is how the illusion-like understanding arises. The author of the "Eight
26979 Verses for Training the Mind" indicates the experiential result when he
26980 writes: "May I, recognising all things as illusion, devoid of clinging, be
26981 released from bondage."
26982 When we speak of cultivating the illusion-like understanding of the nature
26983 of reality, we need to bear in mind the different interpretations of the term
26984 'illusion-like'.... For example, the Buddhist realist schools explain the
26985 nature of reality to be illusion-like in the sense that, although we tend to
26986 perceive things as having permanence, in reality they are changing moment by
26987 moment and it is this that gives them an illusion-like character.
26988 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
26989 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
26991 Actually, we are all part of the community of humanity. If humanity is
26992 happy, has a successful life, a happy future, automatically, I will benefit.
26993 If humanity suffers, I too will suffer. Humanity is like one body, and we are
26994 part of that body. Once you realize this, once you cultivate this kind of
26995 attitude, you can bring about a change in your way of thinking. A sense of
26996 caring, commitment, discipline, oneness with humanity--these are very relevant
26997 in today's world. I call this secular ethics, and this is the first level to
26998 counter negative emotions.
26999 The second level in this connection is taught by all major religious
27000 traditions, whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu. They all carry
27001 the message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and
27002 discipline. These are countermeasures for negative emotions. When anger is
27003 about to surface, when hatred is about to flare up, think of tolerance. It is
27004 important to stop any mental dissatisfaction when we feel it because it leads
27005 to anger and hatred.
27006 Patience is the countermeasure for mental dissatisfaction. Greed and its
27007 self-centeredness bring unhappiness, and also destruction of the environment,
27008 exploitation of others, and increases the gap between the rich and the poor.
27009 The countermeasure is contentment. So practicing contentment is useful in our
27011 ...All religious traditions talk about methods of compassion and
27012 forgiveness. If we accept religion, we should take the religious methods
27013 seriously and sincerely and use them in our daily lives. Then, a meaningful
27015 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
27016 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
27018 Actually, if we look around, people whom we don't like and people who harm
27019 us are in the minority. Let's say we're at work, at a social gathering, or at
27020 a Dharma center with thirty people. How many of them do we really dislike?
27021 We may have problems with a few people here and there, but we manage to stay
27022 in a room together, don't we? It's not like we despise them and they hate us.
27023 The number of people we can't stand in this world is actually very small.
27024 These people are rare. To practice patience we need the people that we don't
27025 like. We can't practice patience with our friends or with people who are kind
27026 to us. Finding people that we don't like or who threaten us is not so easy.
27027 So, when we finally find them, they are a precious treasure! They are rare to
27028 find. When we meet them, we can think, "Fantastic, I get to practice patience
27030 They say that high-level bodhisattvas pray to meet disgusting,
27031 uncooperative people because they want to practice patience. Of course, when
27032 you really want to meet obnoxious people, they don't show up! Why don't they
27033 turn up for high-level bodhisattvas? Because high-level bodhisattvas don't
27034 have any anger. We could be sitting in a room with many people whom we
27035 consider unbearable, but high-level bodhisattvas don't see them that way at
27036 all. To them, these people appear lovable. Bodhisattvas have such a hard
27037 time finding detestable people, whereas we come across them so easily! So,
27038 when we find people whom we don't like, feel threatened by, or find
27039 despicable, we should recognize that there aren't so many of them around.
27040 Therefore, we should cherish them and take the opportunity to practice
27041 patience with them.
27042 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
27043 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
27044 Snow Lion Publications
27046 Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
27049 ...to have greater self-awareness or understanding means to have a better
27050 grasp of reality. Now, the opposite of reality is to project onto yourself
27051 qualities that are not there, ascribe to yourself characteristics in contrast
27052 to what is actually the case. For example, when you have a distorted view of
27053 yourself, such as through excessive pride or arrogance, because of these
27054 states of mind, you have an exaggerated sense of your qualities and personal
27055 abilities. Your view of your own abilities goes far beyond your actual
27056 abilities. On the other hand, when you have low self-esteem, then you
27057 underestimate your actual qualities and abilities. You belittle yourself, you
27058 put yourself down. This leads to a complete loss of faith in yourself. So
27059 excess--both in terms of exaggeration and devaluation--are equally
27060 destructive. lt is by addressing these obstacles and by constantly examining
27061 your personal character, qualities, and abilities, that you can learn to have
27062 greater self-understanding. This is the way to become more self-aware.
27063 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
27066 Phowa is a practice which should be done repeatedly, all through our lives so
27067 that we can do it naturally and purposefully at the time of death. I have
27068 heard a story about a Tibetan who was dying and his family called the lama to
27069 be with him. The lama sat beside him and told him to think only of his root
27070 guru and forget everything else. He said, "I can't recall my guru, I can only
27071 think of a sizzling sausage being warmed in the ashes of a fire." The lama was
27072 very skillful: "That is excellent!" he said. "Dewachen, the paradise of the
27073 Amitaba Buddha, is full of sausages; they grow on every tree. You only have
27074 to open your mouth and you will have all the sausages you want. The color of
27075 Amitaba is like the embers of a fire, so think of him and you will go to his
27076 realm." It is said that the man went straight to the pure land of Dewachen.
27077 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
27078 by Snow Lion Publications
27080 "Yogis should at all times avoid fish, meat, and so forth,
27081 should eat with moderation, and avoid foods that are not
27082 conducive to health." --Kamalashila
27084 Meditators need to be physically healthy. Therefore, proper diet is
27085 essential. On the other hand, their minds should be clear and strong and this
27086 will also contribute to physical health. For these reasons, it is recommended
27087 that they give up eating fish, meat, garlic, onions, etc. Appropriate food
27088 should be eaten in moderation, for indigestion can cause havoc with
27089 meditation. What's more, those who overeat can hardly stay awake.
27090 ...If a vegetarian diet does not result in protein deficiency, it is a
27091 wholesome way of living. Even if you cannot be a strict vegetarian, at least
27092 moderating the amount of meat you eat is beneficial. Within the southern
27093 schools of Buddhism eating meat is not strictly prohibited, but the meat of
27094 certain animals, such as those that are not cloven-hoofed or those that have
27095 been slaughtered specifically for your consumption, is forbidden. This means
27096 that meat bought casually in the market is acceptable.... However, certain
27097 scriptures... strictly prohibit eating meat at all times, whereas other
27098 scriptures... seem to permit it.
27099 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
27100 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
27101 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
27103 It would be wrong to say, as some do, that if we don't recite prayers while
27104 being aware of their meaning and merely repeat the words mindlessly, it has no
27105 benefit whatsoever--like prayer flags flapping in the wind. However, there
27106 are indeed differences in the level of benefits and blessings derived from
27107 prayers according to the way we recite them. Therefore, keeping this in mind,
27108 at the beginning of the practice, generate bodhicitta. During the main
27109 practice, some will use an object of concentration and some will practice
27110 without an object of concentration; each person should do what is best
27111 according to their level. At the end, one should dedicate the merit in a way
27112 that is pure from the three conceptual spheres to the best of one's ability.
27113 The most important and essential thing in making [prayer] meaningful is to
27114 depend on those three stages of practice--generation of bodhicitta, the main
27115 practice and dedication of merit. All must do the complete three stages of
27117 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced, and
27118 annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
27120 "When the thought of the internal
27121 And the external as 'I' and 'mine'
27122 Has perished, grasping ceases
27123 And through that cessation birth ceases.
27125 When actions and afflictions cease, there is liberation;
27126 They arise from false conceptions, these arise
27127 From the elaborations [of false views on inherent
27128 Existence]; elaborations cease in emptiness."
27131 Inherent existence has never been validly known to exist; therefore, it is
27132 impossible for there to be any phenomenon that exists through its own power.
27133 Since it is experienced that mere dependent-arisings, which are in fact empty
27134 of inherent existence, do cause all forms of help and harm, these are
27135 established as existent. Thus, mere dependent-arisings do exist. Therefore,
27136 all phenomena exist in the manner of appearing as varieties of dependent-
27137 arisings. They appear this way without passing beyond the sphere or condition
27138 of having just this nature of being utterly non-inherently existent.
27139 Therefore, all phenomena have two entities: one entity that is its superficial
27140 mode of appearance and one entity that is its deep mode of being. These two
27141 are called respectively conventional truths and ultimate truths.
27142 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
27143 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
27145 The cloistered environment stands in stark contrast to the uncontrolled
27146 environment of everyday active life in the modern world. When I was a
27147 graduate student living in a family housing unit at Stanford University, I
27148 meditated early in the morning. At about 7:00 outside our window, a group of
27149 little girls would begin shrieking and driving their plastic tractors and
27150 tricycles across the bricks. I was meditating and these girls were disturbing
27151 my peace. I got to feeling pretty sorry for myself so I phoned my lama,
27152 Gyatrul Rinpoche, and asked for advice. He gave me a one-liner, "Just view
27153 it." This was not just Rinpoche's way of telling me to quit whining, but a
27154 reminder of the more encompassing teaching to embrace obstacles in practice.
27155 And carry on. We can't always control our environment, but we can embrace it,
27156 the good, the bad, and the loud, and integrate it into Dharma practice.
27157 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
27158 Mind-Training", edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Pub.
27160 He who throws mud only loses ground. -- Fat Albert (Bill Cosby)
27162 Grow old along with me!
27163 The best is yet to be.
27166 It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
27167 it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
27170 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic,
27171 we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One
27172 might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the
27173 mathematics of probability.
27176 I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. --Richard Diran
27178 Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
27179 that man can never learn anything from history.
27180 -- George Bernard Shaw
27182 America believes in education: the average professor earns more
27183 money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
27186 We are more ready to try the untried
27187 when what we do is inconsequential.
27188 Hence the fact that many inventions
27189 had their birth as toys.
27192 Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion,
27193 for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
27194 -- Bertrand Russell
27196 Man is most nearly himself when he achieves
27197 the seriousness of a child at play.
27200 If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
27201 many mothers to give birth to us.... the first cause bringing about
27202 bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
27203 The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
27204 difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
27205 were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
27206 everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
27207 example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
27208 throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
27209 human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
27210 shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
27212 ...if all other sentient beings who have been kind to us since
27213 beginningless time are suffering, how can we devote ourselves to pursuing
27214 merely our own happiness? To seek our own happiness in spite of the suffering
27215 others are experiencing is tragically unfortunate. Therefore, it is clear
27216 that we must try to free all sentient beings from suffering.
27217 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
27218 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
27221 3.2.4 The way in which experiences dawn through practicing [Mahamudra]
27223 In beginners, this is similar to water [gushing down] a gorge.
27224 In between, it is the gentle flow of the river Ganga.
27225 Finally, all waters meet like a mother and her child. -- Tilopa
27227 The meditative equipoise of beginners entails intense movement of
27228 thoughts, similar to water gushing down a narrow gorge. The reason for this
27229 is as follows. Though there is some slight resting in equipoise, thoughts
27230 proliferate. Right at that point, through the remedy of alertness and by
27231 considering that you like resting in meditative concentration and dislike not
27232 resting in it, you rest in meditative equipoise again. Through such an
27233 approach, your mind becomes somewhat uplifted.
27234 The meditative equipoise of those who have attained a little bit more
27235 stability than that and are of middling faculties is similar to the gentle
27236 flow of the river Ganga. The reason is as follows. Even if some thoughts
27237 come up, a little here and there, their own face is immediately recognized, so
27238 that the movement of thoughts does not run wild. Without various notions that
27239 chase after these [subtle thoughts] or any physical and mental effort, all
27240 thoughts that come up will dawn slowly. There is also no need to make great
27241 effort in [applying] their remedies. Rather, these happen naturally or of
27243 Finally, in the meditative equipoise of those with highest faculties,
27244 neither thoughts to be relinquished arise nor is there any need to newly
27245 create some remedial wisdom, because there is nothing to be relinquished.
27246 Since existence and peace have become one taste, mother and child luminosity
27247 blend, or, expanse and wisdom have become indifferentiable. Once the
27248 tributary waters and the ocean have become one taste, like a mother and her
27249 child meeting, they cannot be disturbed.
27250 -- The Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
27251 Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
27252 by Snow Lion Publications
27254 The theory of interdependence allows us to develop a wider perspective.
27255 With wider mind, there is less attachment to destructive emotions like anger,
27256 therefore more forgiveness. In today's world, every nation is heavily
27257 interdependent, interconnected. Under these circumstances, destroying your
27258 enemy--your neighbor--means destroying yourself in the long run. You need
27259 your neighbor. More prosperity in your neighbor, you'll get the benefit.
27260 Now, we're not talking about the complete removal of feelings like anger,
27261 attachment, or pride. Just reduction. Interdependence is important because
27262 it is not a mere concept; it can actually help reduce the suffering caused by
27263 these destructive emotions.
27264 We can say the theory of interdependence is an understanding of reality.
27265 We understand that our future depends on global well-being. Having this
27266 viewpoint reduces narrow-mindedness. With narrow mind, one is more likely to
27267 develop attachment, hatred. I think this is the best thing about the theory
27268 of interdependence--it is an explanation of the law of nature. It affects
27269 profoundly, for example, the environment.
27270 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of Forgiveness:
27271 Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
27273 The Suffering of Change
27274 Feelings of suffering change into those of happiness. Feelings of
27275 happiness change into suffering. Both arise in dependence upon internal and
27276 external causes which change. For example, we see food as pleasurable, but if
27277 we eat too much, then it causes suffering. When we are young, we see our
27278 bodies as a source of pleasure. As we become older, the same body becomes a
27279 source of suffering.
27280 Just as a wave is always changing, so the nature of suffering is always to
27281 change. It may be experienced as pleasure or as suffering, but it arises from
27282 the same source. Pleasure arises from suffering. Seeing pleasure as
27283 happiness constitutes suffering.
27284 ...Pain and pleasure are of the same nature. Although they look different
27285 at different times, they both arise from the same sea of delusion and karmic
27286 action. Pleasure or pain, one or the other, arises and then falls back into
27287 the ocean. Thus we can conclude that pleasure and pain within the ocean of
27288 samsara are basically suffering, and dissolve into suffering.
27289 This becomes evident in the wide variety of sudden changes of experience
27290 depicted in films. Love and hatred, happiness and family strife, peace and
27291 war, follow each other in rapid succession. The continuous change, although
27292 exaggerated in films, is characteristic of life in general.
27293 -- Ven. Gen Lobsang Gyatso, "The Four Noble Truths", translated by Ven.
27294 Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion Publications
27296 We feel money and power can bring happiness and solve problems, but they
27297 are not definite causes of those desired states. If that were so, it would
27298 follow that those who have wealth would necessarily have happiness, and those
27299 who do not have wealth would always experience suffering. Money and power
27300 facilitate, but it is clear that they are not the primary causes of, happiness
27301 and solving our problems. It is justified for us to make material and
27302 financial development for building our nation and providing shelter, etc. for
27303 ourselves; we need to do that. But we also need to seek inner development.
27304 As we can see, there are many people who have wealth and power who remain
27305 unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking
27306 medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who
27307 always remain peaceful and happy.
27308 Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and
27309 a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain
27310 states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to
27311 make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind
27312 that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
27313 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", the
27314 Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
27316 Focusing the Mind on the Deity
27318 Those with superior mental capacity should refine their ability by
27319 practicing the development stage without any sense of clinging or fixation.
27320 In this approach, the appearance of the deity and its ornaments are visualized
27321 in such a way that they are totally complete, vivid, and distinct from the
27322 very beginning. This is the form of great wisdom, the union of development
27323 and completion. Beyond being an identifiable entity with a precise nature, it
27324 appears clearly yet is devoid of any essence. In other words, clarity and
27325 emptiness are indivisible. Like the reflection of the moon in a lake, its
27326 very nature is to appear in a distinct manner, down to the pupils of the eyes,
27327 while in reality it is empty.
27328 Those with moderate mental capacity should begin their meditation with a
27329 sudden recollection of the deity's complete appearance. The next step is to
27330 meditate on the clear appearance of the head, and, once this is stable, to
27331 then meditate progressively on the right arm, left arm, torso, right and left
27332 legs, and finally on the complete form of the deity and its seat. Training in
27333 the development stage of illusory clear appearance keeps one from straying
27334 into the view of nihilism. When one grows weary of this, the practitioner
27335 should recollect purity and refine his or her ability in the essence of this
27336 process, the vajra-like absorption. This key point keeps one from straying
27337 into the belief in permanence.
27338 For beginners with less mental capacity, it may be difficult to visualize
27339 in either of these ways. When not yet familiar with this process, one's
27340 ability should be refined using a permanent form. Take a consecrated and
27341 well-formed representation of the yidam deity, such as a painting or clay
27342 statue made by a skilled artisan, and place it before you. Without
27343 intentionally meditating, look directly at it from top to bottom without
27344 blinking. This is referred to as the auxiliary practice of setting
27345 mindfulness into motion. At first, the agitated movement of conditioned
27346 thought patterns will be experienced. This is the experience of movement,
27347 which is said to be "like water cascading off a cliff."
27348 -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
27349 and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
27350 translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
27351 Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion
27354 The reason why we find so much discussion of epistemology, or how to
27355 define something as a valid cognition, in Buddhist writings is because all our
27356 problems, suffering and confusion derive from a misconceived way of perceiving
27357 things. This explains why it is so important for a practitioner to determine
27358 whether a cognitive event is a misconception or true knowledge. For it is
27359 only by generating insight which sees through delusion that we can become
27361 Even in our own experience we can see how our state of mind passes through
27362 different stages, eventually leading to a state of true knowledge. For
27363 instance, our initial attitude or standpoint on any given topic might be a
27364 very hardened misconception, thinking and grasping at a totally mistaken
27365 notion. But when that strong grasping at the wrong notion is countered with
27366 reasoning, it can then turn into a kind of lingering doubt, an uncertainty
27367 where we wonder: "Maybe it is the case, but then again maybe it is not". That
27368 would represent a second stage. When further exposed to reason or evidence,
27369 this doubt of ours can turn into an assumption, tending towards the right
27370 decision. However, it is still just a presumption, just a belief. When that
27371 belief is yet further exposed to reason and reflection, eventually we could
27372 arrive at what is called 'inference generated through a reasoning process'.
27373 Yet that inference remains conceptual, and it is not a direct knowledge of the
27374 object. Finally, when we have developed this inference and constantly
27375 familiarized ourselves with it, it could turn into an intuitive and direct
27376 realization--a direct experience of the event. So we can see through our own
27377 experience how our mind, as a result of being exposed to reason and
27378 reflection, goes through different stages, eventually leading to a direct
27379 experience of a phenomenon or event.
27380 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
27381 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
27382 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
27385 Not recognizing their own face, but letting them run wild, one thought leads
27386 to many kinds of [other] thoughts. If you fall into letting this continue,
27387 you wander around in confusion. Through directly looking at the face of
27388 whatever thought that comes up at the very start [of a potential train of
27389 thought], without being able to stand its own ground, just like a rainbow
27390 fading away in space, this thought vanishes into emptiness. Since you arrive
27391 at such within the previous experience of stillness, if you become familiar
27392 with it, the stream of confusion is severed through thoughts coming to rest on
27393 their own and vanishing on their own. Hence, if you know how to sustain this,
27394 even if you regard movement as a flaw and [try to] stop it, you need neither
27395 stop it nor [apply] any other remedy for the movement of thoughts. Rather, by
27396 sustaining the state of realizing their own essence, you realize the essential
27397 point that all the various appearances of happiness and suffering emerge from
27398 the mind and dissolve back into the mind. Through this, you realize the
27399 essential point that all of cyclic existence and nirvana is produced by the
27400 mind, the mind resting naturally settled without being affected by thoughts
27401 about the three times.
27402 -- "Straight From the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
27403 introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
27405 It's a dangerous business going out your front door. -- JRR Tolkien
27407 The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them. -- Kin Hubbard
27409 Never face facts; if you do,
27410 you'll never get up in the morning.
27414 I hate it as much as I hate peanuts.
27415 But I can't stop eating peanuts.
27418 One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a human. -- Goethe
27420 The opposite of talking isn't listening.
27421 The opposite of talking is waiting.
27424 Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal
27425 with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
27426 you are the one who gets burned.
27427 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
27429 Question: Western religions use the term "God", and Buddhism does not. Could
27430 emptiness or nirvana be considered God? If the afflictive obstruction that is
27431 the conception of inherent existence is eliminated, does one realize that
27434 Dalai Lama: If God is interpreted as an ultimate reality or truth, then
27435 selflessness may be considered as God and even as a creator in the sense that
27436 within the nature of emptiness things appear and disappear. In this sense,
27437 emptiness is the basis of everything; because of emptiness, things can change,
27438 and things can appear and disappear. Thus, voidness--emptiness,
27439 selflessness--is this kind of basis.
27441 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
27442 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
27443 published by Snow Lion Publications
27447 Because such love and compassion have not arisen in their mindstreams,
27448 people don't understand that all sentient beings are their kind mothers. They
27449 hold on to them as friends or foes, and the power of bad karmic action causes
27450 them to experience the immeasurable suffering of cyclic existence. "Wouldn't
27451 it be a joy if I could carry the suffering of those mothers, and if all beings
27452 could have all of my happiness and virtue? In order to establish these
27453 mothers in happiness, what a joy it would be if, until cyclic existence is
27454 empty, their suffering and the cause and effect of suffering, their sins and
27455 the cause and effect of sins, would all ripen in me and these mothers would
27456 become abundantly happy. I give my body, enjoyments, power, prestige, and
27457 roots of virtue in all times for the sake of these mothers. I won't pursue my
27458 own peace and happiness for even a moment. I will work for the welfare of
27459 beings without regard for life or limb. These mothers must have the entire
27460 range of happiness and the causes of happiness." With that thought, meditate
27462 "Furthermore, I will not shrink away from the specific harm done to
27463 sentient beings, or any kind of sickness, suffering, misfortune, enemies, and
27464 obstructions that happen to me for their sakes. What a joy if all the
27465 suffering of beings ripened in me, so that I would have that kind of
27466 suffering. And even a greater joy when those suffering beings are free of
27467 suffering and dwell in exceptional happiness."
27468 Generate an extraordinary attitude with that thinking. It is important
27469 that such joy does not stray into any kind of bias. And if you know it all to
27470 be like a dream or an illusion, free of fixation to true existence, it is
27471 called immeasurable joy.
27472 -- "Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod (Dharma)",
27473 translated and edited by Sarah Harding, a Tsadra Foundation Series
27474 book published by Snow Lion Publications
27476 Curiosity is the very basis of education
27477 and if you tell me curiosity killed the cat
27478 I say only that the cat died nobly.
27479 -- Arnold Edinborough
27481 Knowledge will forever govern ignorance
27482 and a people who mean to be their own governors
27483 must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives...
27486 Question: What should you say to a loved one who is talking about a third
27487 person with hatred or anger? On the one hand, you want to show compassion for
27488 the feelings being experienced by the loved one. On the other hand, you don't
27489 want to reinforce or lend approval to that hatred. What might one say?
27491 Dalai Lama: Here I would like to tell a story. Once there was a Kadampa
27492 master called Gampowa who had many responsibilities. One day he complained to
27493 the Kadampa master Dromtonpa that he had hardly any time for his meditation or
27494 for his Dharma practice. So Dromtonpa responded by agreeing with him, "Yes,
27495 that's right. I don't have any time either." Then once an immediate affinity
27496 was established, Dromtonpa skillfully said, "But, you know what I am doing is
27497 for the service of the Dharma. Therefore, I feel satisfied." Similarly, if
27498 you find one of your beloved ones speaking against someone out of anger or
27499 hatred, maybe your initial reaction should be one of agreement and sympathy.
27500 Then once you have gained the person's confidence, you can say, "But...."
27501 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
27502 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
27503 by Snow Lion Publications
27505 ...if you have not purified ordinary appearances into emptiness, how could
27506 you possibly meditate on the mandala circle? The fact that all phenomena are
27507 emptiness, that samsara and nirvana are inseparable, is the very reason we are
27508 able to actualize this by meditating on the mandala circle. In other words,
27509 emptiness is the basis for the development stage. As it is said, "For the one
27510 to whom emptiness is possible, anything is possible." If all phenomena were
27511 not empty and ordinary appearances were truly present, development stage
27512 meditation would be impossible, as the following quotation points out: "Even
27513 though one might empower wheat to be rice, rice won't actually appear."
27514 However, even if all phenomena are realized to be empty in this way, without
27515 the momentum of great compassion you will not be able to manifest the
27516 rupakayas to benefit others. This is similar to the listeners and solitary
27517 buddhas, who enter into a state of cessation and do not benefit others with
27518 rupakaya emanations.
27519 Once one understands this point, it will be like the following saying:
27520 "All these phenomena are like an illusion and birth is like taking a stroll
27521 in a park...." Said differently, one will no longer dwell in existence, while
27522 through compassion, one will not get caught up in a state of peace either.
27523 This is the great, universal path of the offspring of the victorious ones.
27524 For all these reasons, making sure the three absorptions are not isolated from
27525 one another is a vitally important point.
27526 -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
27527 and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
27528 translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
27529 Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Pub.
27531 We can experience things without confusion and without being tense. Even
27532 the most disturbed, nervous person has moments of clarity and calmness--even
27533 if only when he or she is peacefully asleep and dreaming pleasant or innocuous
27534 dreams. This demonstrates that confusion and tension are not integral parts
27535 of the nature of mind. Thus confusion can be removed. Not only can it be
27536 removed, but since confusion cannot be validated and can be totally replaced
27537 by understanding, which can be verified, confusion can be eliminated forever.
27538 Thus it is possible for a total absence of confusion to exist. Furthermore,
27539 since confusion limits mind from using its full potentials, once confusion is
27540 gone, a utilization of all potentials can also exist. Therefore, since we all
27541 have a mind, and all minds have the same nature of being able to experience
27542 whatever exists, we can all realize and experience the definitive Three
27544 Thus, if we aim to remove our confusion and realize our potentials as
27545 indicated by the Buddhas, their achievement, their teachings, what they have
27546 built up along the path and those who are progressing along it, we are
27547 traveling through life with a safe, reliable and positive direction. Taking
27548 refuge, then, means to put this realistic, safe direction in our life.
27549 Without it, our practice of mahamudra either has no direction and leads
27550 nowhere, or an unsound direction leading to more confusion and trouble. In
27551 addition, the further we travel in this safe direction through the mahamudra
27552 techniques--in other words, the more we realize the nature of mind and its
27553 relation to reality--the more confident we become in the soundness of this
27554 direction and our ability to reach its goal. The stronger our confidence, the
27555 further we progress along the path.
27556 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
27557 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
27559 The Rolling Stones have a song that goes,
27560 "Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
27561 Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day."
27562 That is the level that we have to reach, where wild horses cannot drag us
27563 away from the present moment of awareness. Once we have reached that level of
27564 training, then even in the bardos of death we will be able to guide our mind
27565 steadily past all difficulties toward awakening, toward freedom from samsara.
27566 There is another well-known image; it compares our wild minds to a mad
27567 elephant in a china shop. When untamed, this elephant can very easily destroy
27568 many things in the shop, and even the shop itself. With one move, the
27569 elephant can destroy a wall; and with another move, another wall. In only
27570 four moves, this elephant can destroy the whole structure. In the same way,
27571 if our minds are not tamed, they can easily destroy our whole collection of
27572 virtue--all the merit and wisdom we have accumulated through the
27573 accomplishment of countless positive deeds.
27574 Vipashyana meditation is the process of taming and training our minds.
27575 How do we do it? We catch our minds with shamatha and we train them with
27576 vipashyana. Then we ride our minds with mindfulness while remaining aware of
27577 the greater environment. Following these methods, we will reach our goal
27578 quite quickly--especially when we remember the thought of impermanence, which
27580 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
27582 With or without religion, you would have good people doing
27583 good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good
27584 people to do evil things, that takes religion.
27587 Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
27590 I was born not knowing and have had only a little
27591 time to change that here and there.
27594 As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
27595 I feel as young as I ever did.
27598 It is possible to understand the Buddhist teachings as a method of
27599 psychological healing, comparable to psychotherapy, that teaches us how we can
27600 master destructive forces like anger, envy, and greed. Human beings seem to
27601 be a bundle of different qualities and psychological processes. We should
27602 attentively examine our qualities and be alertly aware of our experiences in
27603 order to recognize what we truly feel and think. At the same time, the
27604 personality of human beings is not seen as a unified whole. According to
27605 these teachings, the heart of consciousness is composed of various elements,
27606 the five types of attachment, or skandhas: body, sensations, perceptions,
27607 instinctual forces, and consciousness.
27608 These inner forces impart the false concept of an ego-consciousness. The
27609 basic problem of emotional disorders therefore lies in a false concept of
27610 identity. This I-blindness should therefore be abolished through self-
27611 study.... The goal is not self-realization but selflessness.
27612 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of
27613 Wisdom, Path of Peace", foreword by Wei Jingsheng
27615 Life would be unbearable if everything stayed the same because human beings
27616 find situations that are fixed and predictable very hard to tolerate. Even in
27617 small matters, we become uneasy if we feel there is no end in sight. I know
27618 of couples who live harmoniously together for ten years then marry and are
27619 divorced within a year. As soon as they feel bound to each other for the rest
27620 of their lives, they begin to fight. Impermanence removes our reasons for
27621 quarrelling with each other. Arguments only break out if we imagine that our
27622 relationships are endless. When we appreciate that our time with our
27623 families, partners, and friends may be shorter than we think, we get on better
27624 with each other. Awareness of impermanence gives us extraordinary inner
27625 strength and resilience.
27626 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published by
27627 Snow Lion Publications
27629 Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.
27632 The ability to look at events from different perspectives can be very
27633 helpful. Then, practicing this, one can use certain experiences, certain
27634 tragedies, to develop a calmness of mind. One must realize that every
27635 phenomenon, every event, has different aspects. Everything is of a relative
27636 nature. For example, in my own case, I lost my country. From that viewpoint,
27637 it is very tragic--and there are even worse things. There's a lot of
27638 destruction happening in our country. That's a very negative thing. But if I
27639 look at the same event from another angle, I realize that as a refugee, I have
27640 another perspective. As a refugee there is no need for formalities, ceremony,
27641 protocol. If everything were status quo, if things were okay, then on a lot
27642 of occasions you merely go through the motions; you pretend. But when you are
27643 passing through desperate situations, there's no time to pretend. So from
27644 that angle, this tragic experience has been very useful to me. Also, being a
27645 refugee creates a lot of new opportunities for meeting with many people.
27646 People from different religious traditions, from different walks of life,
27647 those whom I may not have met had I remained in my country. So in that sense
27648 it's been very, very useful.
27649 It seems that often when problems arise, our outlook becomes narrow. All
27650 of our attention may be focused on worrying about the problem, and we may have
27651 a sense that we're the only one that is going through such difficulties. This
27652 can lead to a kind of self-absorption that can make the problem seem very
27653 intense. When this happens, I think that seeing things from a wider
27654 perspective can definitely help--realizing, for instance, that there are many
27655 other people who have gone through similar experiences, and even worse
27656 experiences. This practice of shifting perspective can even be helpful in
27657 certain illnesses or when in pain. At the time the pain arises it is of
27658 course often very difficult, at that moment, to do formal meditation practices
27659 to calm the mind. But if you can make comparisons, view your situation from a
27660 different perspective, somehow something happens. If you only look at that
27661 one event, then it appears bigger and bigger. If you focus too closely, too
27662 intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable. But if you
27663 compare that event with some other greater event, look at the same problem
27664 from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming.
27665 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
27666 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
27668 Three Forms of Compassion
27670 Chandrakirti explained three types of compassion: compassion aimed at
27671 suffering, aimed at phenomena, and unaimed. With the first, we look at
27672 animate beings in light of their suffering and develop the wish for them to be
27673 free from both that suffering and its causes. One source of their suffering
27674 is their unawareness that they even have any problems, let alone their not
27675 knowing the causes of their problems. For example, our friend becomes upset
27676 at the slightest thing that goes wrong and sees this as normal. He or she
27677 does not understand that hypersensitivity is to blame and that something can
27678 be done to remedy this. When we see this sad situation, our compassion for
27679 our friend becomes even stronger.
27680 Compassion aimed at phenomena looks at beings in light of their moment-to-
27681 moment changes. With it, we wish others to be free of suffering and its
27682 causes based on the understanding that these both are impermanent. We also
27683 see that others are unaware of this fact and so, when depressed, for example,
27684 they make their sufferings worse by imagining that they will last forever.
27685 Realizing this further enhances compassion for them.
27686 Unaimed compassion looks at beings in terms of their voidness. It has the
27687 same wish as the other two forms, but is based on not identifying others
27688 concretely with their suffering. Seeing that others do not have this insight
27689 and that consequently they identify themselves with their problems intensifies
27690 our compassion for them even more.
27691 -- Alexander Berzin, "Developing Balanced Sensitivity: Practical Buddhist
27692 Exercises for Daily Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
27694 Don't be confused; the point of Scrum and XP and other agile methodologies is
27695 the same point behind any management technique of the past 100 years--squeeze
27696 every drop of work out of your workers until they are empty husks and can be
27697 thrown away. If you're a programmer and you think Scrum is going to "empower"
27698 you, you could not be more mistaken. Management will hide behind the
27699 principles of Scrum when it suits them and then still do whatever they want
27700 otherwise. When it's pointed out to them that they're violating the agile
27701 principles, they will simply claim that this is how the system is tailored
27702 for our company's "needs" and that we shouldn't blindly follow it. But if you
27703 need to break with an agile practice, oh no, the process is *God* and we must
27704 follow it to the exact letter.
27707 I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
27708 responsibility for humanity as a whole....
27709 Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
27710 This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with
27711 my philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
27712 philosophy, but I feel all right. So long as I see that a human being suffers
27713 or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
27715 -- Dalai Lama XIV, "Consciousness at the Crossroads", edited by Zara
27716 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
27717 Snow Lion Publications
27719 A Song on Impermanence
27721 With this spouse and these near and dear ones you desire to live together,
27722 Inseparable for all times, but there is no doubt that you will be separated.
27724 From this excellent home you would like to be inseparable forever
27725 And take root in it, but you will surely depart.
27727 From this happiness, well-being, and wealth you want to be inseparable forever
27728 So you can relish them, but it is certain you will lose them.
27730 From this supreme human body with its freedoms and riches you wish to be
27732 And own it until the end of times, but there is no way that you won't die.
27734 From this really great teacher you yearn to be inseparable
27735 And listen to the dharma for all eternity, but there is no question that you
27738 From these good friends you wish to be inseparable forever
27739 So you can hang out together, but it's a sure thing that you will be parted.
27741 Therefore, from today on, don your armor of vigor--
27742 The time has come to travel to the land of inseparable great bliss.
27743 You friends who have developed weariness from the depths of your hearts,
27744 I, a dharma-beggar, request you to do so.
27746 -- The Omniscient Longchen Rabjam, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
27747 Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
27748 by Snow Lion Publications
27750 The wisdom that realizes emptiness, that has gained insight into the
27751 nature of reality, is of varying kinds, depending upon the level of subtlety
27752 of the consciousness perceiving the emptiness. In general, there are rough
27753 levels of consciousness, more subtle levels, and then the innermost subtle
27754 level of consciousness. It is the uncommon characteristic of Tantric practice
27755 that through it one can evoke this most subtle consciousness at will and put
27756 it to use in a most effective way. For example, when emptiness is realized by
27757 this subtlest level of mind, it is more powerful, having a much greater effect
27758 on the personality.
27759 In order to activate or make use of the more subtle levels of
27760 consciousness, it is necessary to block the rougher levels--the rougher or
27761 grosser levels must cease. It is through specifically Tantric practices, such
27762 as the meditations on the chakras and the channels, that one can control and
27763 temporarily abandon the rougher levels of consciousness. When these become
27764 suppressed, the subtler levels of consciousness become active. And it is
27765 through the use of the subtlest level of consciousness that the most powerful
27766 spiritual realizations can come about. Hence, it is through the Tantric
27767 practice involving the most subtle consciousness that the goal of
27768 enlightenment can most quickly be realized.
27769 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
27770 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
27772 By building up good habits of the mind in meditation, our behavior in daily
27773 life gradually changes. Our anger decreases, we are better able to make
27774 decisions, and we become less dissatisfied and restless. These results of
27775 meditation can be experienced now. But we should always try to have a broader
27776 and more encompassing motivation to meditate than just our own present
27777 happiness. If we generate the motivation to meditate in order to make
27778 preparation for future lives, to attain liberation from the cycle of
27779 constantly recurring problems, or to reach the state of full enlightenment for
27780 the benefit of all beings, then naturally our minds will also be peaceful now.
27781 In addition, we'll be able to attain those high and noble goals.
27782 -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
27785 ...all four tantra sets make use of deity yoga, the special tantric means
27786 for amassing the collections of merit and wisdom quickly. Highest Yoga Tantra
27787 has, in addition, techniques for generating subtler minds that realise
27788 emptiness and for using the winds or currents of energy that are the mounts of
27789 these subtler minds as the substantial cause of an actual divine body.
27790 Through this enhancement of the wisdom consciousness the obstructions to
27791 omniscience are quickly removed and Buddhahood is attained.
27792 In the three lower tantras--Action, Performance, and Yoga--deity yoga is
27793 used to bring about the speedy achievement of many common feats and to come
27794 directly under the care of Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas, receiving their
27795 blessings, and so forth. This is done through a threefold process known as
27796 prior approximation, effecting the achievement of feats, and using the feats
27797 in the performance of activities for the welfare of others.
27798 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga in
27799 Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
27801 If you are able to think about the meaning of cyclic existence in general and
27802 human life in particular, then it is possible to discipline the mind through
27803 religious practice which is the process of becoming peaceful and anxiety-free.
27804 Otherwise, if too much emphasis is put on the sufferings of the hells and the
27805 imminence of death, there is a chance of falling into paralysing fear. There
27806 is a story in Tibet about an abbot of a monastery who went to give a
27807 discourse. A fellow asked the abbot's servant where the abbot had gone, and
27808 the servant said, "He has gone to frighten old men and women." If you fulfil
27809 the value of a human lifetime through engaging in religious practice, then
27810 there is no point in worrying about death.
27811 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
27812 published by Snow Lion Publications
27814 ...if a fire which consumes
27815 One house moves to another,
27816 It is right to throw out anything
27817 Like straw which could ignite.
27819 Likewise anything to which the mind
27820 Is attached ignites the fire of anger.
27821 Fearing our merit will be consumed,
27822 It should be discarded at once.
27824 If a house is on fire and the fire is spreading, we need to clear away straw,
27825 wood or anything else which is highly flammable and could cause a conflagration
27826 that would consume our entire home and property. Similarly, one way to prevent
27827 desire and attachment is to avoid contact with the objects that stimulate it.
27828 If anything comes between us and what we desire or if the thing to which we're
27829 attached is harmed or threatened, we instantly feel angry. This destroys the
27830 positive energy we've created.
27831 Another way is not to avoid the objects but to contemplate their unappealing
27832 aspects, because desire results from focusing only on their attractive side.
27833 The third way is to contemplate their lack of true existence, since desire and
27834 clinging are based on seeing them as very real and objectively existent.
27835 Whichever technique we employ, the aim is to prevent desire and attachment,
27836 since they bring many other problems.
27837 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
27838 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
27840 Usually when we breathe, we breathe in and, as soon as we have finished
27841 breathing in, we immediately start breathing out. And as soon as we have
27842 finished breathing out, we start breathing in again. There is never any space
27843 or gap in between the in-breath and the out-breath. Now, many different ways
27844 of focusing the mind on the breathing have been taught.... There are
27845 basically six methods taught in the abhidharma. But here we have something
27846 different from any of those. This is called gentle threefold breathing. It
27847 is called gentle because there is no particular attempt to manipulate the
27848 breathing, except that instead of breathing in and then immediately breathing
27849 out, after breathing in, you wait before you breathe out...here the duration
27850 of the inhalation, of the retention, and of the exhalation should all be
27851 equal, three equal periods within each complete breath.
27852 In doing this, some people combine the phases of the breath with the
27853 mental repetition of the three mantra syllables: OM AH HUM (HUNG)--OM
27854 coordinated with the in-breath, AH with the retention of the breath, and HUM
27855 (HUNG) with the out-breath. But what is most important here is simply to
27856 recollect, as they occur, the inhalation, retention, and exhalation, so that,
27857 while you are inhaling, you are aware that you are doing so; while you are
27858 retaining the breath, you are aware that you are doing so; and while you are
27859 exhaling, you are aware that you are doing so. In the beginning, it is
27860 recommended that beginners start with doing, for example, twenty-one of these
27861 breaths as a series, and it is important to practice with enough mindfulness
27862 so that, while you breathe in, and so forth, you maintain an awareness of what
27863 part of the breathing process you are in.
27864 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
27865 Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
27866 published by Snow Lion Publications
27868 Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal
27869 drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.
27870 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
27872 ...though the emptiness of an impure phenomenon and the emptiness of a
27873 pure phenomenon are the same, there is a difference. What is the difference?
27874 The continuum of an impure substratum will later cease, not existing in
27875 Buddhahood, whereas a pure substratum's continuum of similar type will exist
27876 right through Buddhahood. Since the deity as whom you are imaginatively
27877 meditating yourself is a divine figure that exists in the state of Buddhahood
27878 when all defilements have been abandoned, this substratum is, for your
27880 Hence, it is important when doing deity yoga to put great effort into:
27881 * working at realizing emptiness as much as you can,
27882 * then imagining that the wisdom realizing emptiness appears itself
27883 as a compassionately directed divine body with a face, arms, and
27885 * and then taking this divine figure as the substratum and
27886 continuously meditating on its emptiness.
27887 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
27888 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
27889 Snow Lion Publications
27891 ...when you explain or hear the teachings, if your mind and the teachings
27892 remain separate, then whatever is explained will be inconsequential. Hence,
27893 listen in such a way that you determine how these teachings apply to your
27894 mind. For example, when you want to find out whether or not there is some
27895 smudge, dirt, or whatever, on your face, you look in a mirror and then remove
27896 whatever is there. Similarly, when you listen to the teachings, your faults
27897 such as misconduct and attachment appear in the mirror of the teachings. At
27898 that time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work
27899 to clear away those faults and establish good qualities. Hence, you must
27900 train in the teachings.
27901 --Tsong-kha-pa, "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
27902 Enlightenment: The Lamrim Chenmo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
27903 Translation Committee, Joshua Cutler, Editor in Chief, published
27904 by Snow Lion Publications
27906 if god exists, then god doesn't need me to believe in god. it will not
27907 harm god if i do not believe, because god's existence is not dependent on
27908 my belief. god could contact me directly if god existed and actually cared
27909 what i believed, thus i see no reason to believe in god until then. since
27910 i don't need to believe in god, this frees me from wasting any mental
27911 effort *believing* when that belief will not create god if god doesn't
27912 exist, and when my disbelief will not destroy god if god does exist.
27913 i can't change the state of god's existence one way or the other--i have
27914 realized this limitation in my capabilities.
27915 instead, god needs to believe in me. it's my existence that presumably
27916 requires god's participation in some way, if god does exist. but regardless
27917 of any effort to placate a deity, i feel that i need to be the kind of person
27918 who is worth believing in, by god or by anyone else. my seeking perfection
27919 should not come from fear of an ignored and needy deity. i must build the
27920 best moral and ethical system that i can come up with for myself in this life.
27921 it is my own self-control and my behavior towards others that is the final
27922 word on whether i am worth believing in.
27925 Sometimes doing nothing is doing something.
27926 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27928 Enjoy now, another now is coming.
27929 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27931 Less pain, more gain.
27932 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27934 The pause is a part of the walk.
27935 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27937 Go ahead, look around.
27938 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27940 You better wait for the unexpected.
27941 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27943 Making a mistake is also an achievement.
27946 Leave for tomorrow what you can't do today.
27949 The further you are from a problem, the smaller it gets.
27952 If you think you know it all, you are missing something.
27955 Proper rules are not written.
27956 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27958 Sometimes a step forward needs a step back.
27961 If you get to the top on your own, who'll take the picture?
27962 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
27964 When a man says his word is as his bond--get his bond.
27965 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
27967 Never invest in a going concern until you know which way it is going.
27970 The quality of the article should be its greatest achievement.
27971 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27973 If you do not advertise, you fossilize.
27974 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27976 Yesterday's success belongs to yesterday.
27979 In charity there is no excess.
27982 The greatest mistake you can make is to be
27983 continually fearing you will make one.
27986 Life is a one-way street and you're not coming back.
27987 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27989 Fish stimulates the brain, but fishing stimulates the imagination.
27992 Respectability is the state of never being caught
27993 doing anything which gives you pleasure.
27996 Of two evils, choose the more interesting.
27999 There is no traffic congestion on the straight and narrow path.
28002 We have a great regard for old age when it is bottled.
28005 A philosopher is a man who can look at an empty glass with a smile.
28006 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28008 A teetotaller is one who suffers from thirst instead of enjoying it.
28009 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28011 Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else.
28014 Ability without enthusiasm is like a rifle without a bullet.
28017 You can send a boy to college but you can't make him think.
28020 If we are here to help others, I often wonder what the others are here for.
28023 Don't question your wife's judgment; look who she married.
28026 I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we may succeed in
28027 building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in
28028 doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
28029 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech,
28030 Oslo, December 1989, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
28033 Benefiting living beings is my main practice, and I would like to give a brief
28034 introduction to the three qualities that are its basis: pure love, compassion,
28035 and bodhichitta, the awakened mind. Pure love is the desire that all living
28036 beings have happiness and its causes. Compassion is the desire that living
28037 beings be free of suffering and its causes, such as unwholesome actions.
28038 Bodhichitta is the desire that all living beings be free of suffering and that
28039 we will be able to place them on the unsurpassed level of awakening, or
28041 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa
28042 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
28045 How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience?
28046 Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we
28047 possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that the events life
28048 throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other
28049 distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn
28050 give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted
28051 in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in the wisdom
28052 that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root
28053 of distortion, negative karma and sorrow.
28054 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", translated and
28055 edited by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
28057 It is important to realize that there is nobody else who can wake us up and
28058 save us from samsara. There is no such thing in Buddhism. That may be
28059 Buddhism's biggest drawback, and at the same time its greatest advantage.
28060 This view shows us that there is nobody else in control of our lives, our
28061 experiences, our freedom or our bondage. Who is responsible? Who is in
28062 control? It is us. We are in control. We can bind ourselves further in
28063 samsara or we can free ourselves from it right now. It is all up to us. We
28064 are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature
28065 of our mind. There is no guru, deity, buddha or bodhisattva out there to look
28066 for it for us. Although they would happily do this, it would not help us; it
28067 would only help them. We have to do it for ourselves. That is the key point.
28068 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
28070 ...mistakenly apprehending inherent existence in all phenomena
28071 serves as the root of all other delusions...
28073 The opponent force powerful enough to eliminate the delusions should be a
28074 wisdom which combines calm abiding and special insight. In order to cultivate
28075 an advanced meditative stabilization that is free of both subtle mental
28076 sinking and mental excitement, first of all there should be a basis: the
28077 practice of morality, an abstaining from negative actions. Therefore, the
28078 path leading to liberation is comprised of the three higher trainings: the
28079 training of morality as the foundation, the training of meditative
28080 stabilization as the complementing factor, and the actual path which is the
28081 training of wisdom. By enhancing the practice of wisdom and by developing it
28082 to its fullest extent, you will be able to eliminate totally the delusions,
28083 particularly ignorance which misapprehends the mode of being of phenomena.
28084 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
28085 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
28087 There is considerable ongoing debate regarding the traditional view of the
28088 guru-disciple relationship, which asserts that seeing the guru as Buddha,
28089 impeccable and without failings, is vital to ripen the disciple's potential to
28090 attain the fruits of the path. This is reinforced by the admonition that to
28091 see faults in one's own guru will result in karmic downfalls and future
28092 suffering for the disciple. Any faults in the teacher should be seen as the
28093 disciple's aberrations projected outside. The tantric teachings insist this
28094 pure view should be held at all times to protect the disciple from accruing
28096 However, underlying this is also the need to preserve the integrity,
28097 authority, and status of the teacher. This leads to a great deal of confusion
28098 when students begin to see evident flaws in teachers, and it would be folly to
28099 explain them away as the students' impure perception. Consequently it has
28100 become necessary to cultivate a less dogmatic, more pragmatic view. A teacher
28101 may not be a perfect carrier of the projection, but this does not contradict
28102 the tantric view that essentially the guru, an inner phenomenon projected
28103 outside, is Buddha.
28104 If we literalize this principle of the teacher as the embodiment of
28105 perfection, we are in danger of blinding ourselves to the reality that most
28106 teachers are human, and therefore not perfect. An individual can have deep
28107 insights into the nature of reality and still have human failings, a shadow
28108 that has not been fully eradicated. According to the teachings on the Ten
28109 Grounds or Stages of the Bodhisattva, until the final ground is reached, there
28110 are still subtle obscurations to full enlightenment that can manifest in
28111 flawed behavior. Believing without question that the outer guru is Buddha
28112 also traps the teacher in an unrealistic, unconscious position. The Dalai
28113 Lama has commented that too much deference harms the teacher, because we never
28114 challenge him or her.
28115 When disciples become devoted to teachers, considerable power and
28116 authority is entrusted to them. While a teacher's role is to support and
28117 empower disciples to discover their own potential, sometimes this does not
28118 happen. Some teachers become caught in the powerful position they have been
28119 endowed with and are unaware of their own desire for power and authority.
28120 They may begin to enjoy their power too much and take advantage of it for
28121 their own needs. This keeps their disciples disempowered, and ultimately does
28122 not allow growth and individual responsibility to emerge. Teachers may be
28123 unconsciously afraid to empower their disciples and allow them to gain a sense
28124 of their own authority and autonomy. They may try to hold on to their
28125 disciples, when to genuinely empower them could lead to their leaving to
28126 engage in their own journey.
28127 --Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
28128 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
28130 Attachment increases desire, without producing any satisfaction. There
28131 are two types of desire, unreasonable and reasonable. The first is an
28132 affliction founded on ignorance, but the second is not. To live, you need
28133 resources; therefore, desire for sufficient material things is appropriate.
28134 Such feelings as, "This is good; I want this. This is useful," are not
28135 afflictions. It is also desirable to achieve altruism, wisdom, and
28136 liberation. This kind of desire is suitable; indeed, all human development
28137 comes out of desire, and these aspirations do not have to be an affliction.
28138 ...when you have attachment to material things, it is best to desist from
28139 those very activities that promote more attachment. Satisfaction is helpful
28140 when it comes to material things, but not with respect to spiritual practice.
28141 Objects to which we become attached are something to be discarded, whereas
28142 spiritual progress is something to be adopted--it can be developed
28143 limitlessly, even in old age.
28144 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love", translated and edited by
28147 Some people find it helpful to set a determination of a reasonable period
28148 of time during which they will sit in meditation without moving. If you do
28149 this, do not make it into a contest in which you grit your teeth in pain just
28150 to say that you sat without moving for a certain length of time. That isn't
28151 conducive for focusing with wisdom on the object of meditation. On the other
28152 hand, avoid moving whenever you feel the slightest bit of restlessness or
28153 discomfort. Doing that isn't conducive for developing concentration either.
28154 Rather, note when there is the urge to move but don't move. Observe the
28155 sensation: Is it really pain or is it simply restless energy in the body?
28156 Learn to differentiate between these two. Learn, also, to differentiate
28157 between pain and discomfort. Watch and study both of those when they arise in
28158 your field of experience.
28159 In general, when attachment, anger, jealousy, or other distracting
28160 emotions arise, observe them without getting involved in their stories.
28161 Experience the feeling, rather than repeat the story to yourself again and
28162 again. Be aware of what it feels like in your body when you are angry,
28163 jealous, arrogant, or clingy. Be aware of the feeling tone in your mind when
28164 one of these emotions is present. Observe how the feeling changes, never
28165 remaining the same.
28166 ...It is important to avoid criticizing yourself when your mind is
28167 distracted or dull. Do not fall into discouraging thoughts or self-hatred
28168 because these are unproductive and are to be abandoned on the path. Remember
28169 that internal transformation takes time and rejoice in your opportunity to
28170 learn and practice the Dharma. "Slowly, slowly," as Lama Thubten Yeshe used
28171 to say. Learn to be satisfied with what you are able to do now while you
28172 aspire to improve in the future.
28173 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
28174 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
28176 A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these
28177 minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden.
28178 But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm
28179 that plays havoc with the garden.
28180 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
28182 You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.
28183 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
28185 Buddhists take a vow of morality in the context of first taking refuge--in
28186 Buddha, in the states of realization, and in the spiritual community. Refuge
28187 is the foundation for the practice of morality. Buddha teaches us how to find
28188 refuge from suffering and limitation, but the chief refuge, or source of
28189 protection, is found in the states of realization achieved through practicing
28190 morality, concentrated meditation, and wisdom. ...A lama from the Drukpa
28191 Kagyu tradition and I were very close. We met frequently and always used to
28192 joke, teasing each other back and forth. On one occasion I asked him about
28193 his spiritual experience. He told me that when he was young, he was staying
28194 with his lama who had him perform the preliminary practice of making a hundred
28195 thousand prostrations to the Buddha, the doctrine, and the spiritual
28196 community. Early in the morning and late in the evening he had to make
28197 prostrations on a low platform the length of his body. His lama was
28198 meditating in the dark in the next room; so to trick him into thinking he was
28199 making prostrations he would tap with his knuckles on the prostration
28200 platform. Years later, after his lama passed away, he was taking a meditation
28201 retreat in a cave, during which he recalled his lama's great kindness over
28202 years of training him, and he wept and wept. He almost fainted, but then
28203 experienced the clear light, which he continuously practiced. Subsequently,
28204 after successful meditations he occasionally would remember past lives in
28205 vivid reflections before him.
28206 --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
28207 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
28208 http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=HOPRPA
28210 A practitioner needs faith, or trust.... Guru Rinpoche said that we
28211 should meditate in the same way that a sparrow enters a nest. A sparrow
28212 spends some time investigating whether or not it is safe to enter. Once his
28213 examination is over, he then enters unhesitatingly. That's a wonderful
28214 metaphor for practice. First clear up all your doubts about your technique,
28215 then throw yourself into the technique with no separation or self-
28216 consciousness. Of course, it's easy to say, but that is the direction toward
28217 which we should be moving.
28218 Another necessary quality is determination. It's easy to gear oneself up
28219 for counting mantras or prostrations. For some, physical discipline is also
28220 easy. But the determination of the meditator is different. We must be
28221 determined to strive to purify our obscurations until they're completely
28222 gone--in other words, until our buddha-nature unobstructedly shines through.
28223 When we sit, we decide to do our best not to be swayed by our negativity. We
28224 should cultivate this attitude at the beginning of our session. Otherwise, no
28225 matter how much we practice, we will daydream a lot and our meditation will
28226 always be wishy-washy. I know this from experience--I may do my session of
28227 meditation, but it is tepid. Why? I don't have that inner strength to remain
28228 unmoved by the arising of the various mental contents.
28229 -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
28230 Snow Lion Publications
28232 This is the way of peace:
28233 "Overcome evil with good,
28234 falsehood with truth, and
28238 The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a "thing" seen). It cannot be seen
28239 by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is
28240 Truth. "All Else is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living"
28243 An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet,
28244 who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.
28245 -- Nicholas Chamfort
28247 A joke's a very serious thing.
28248 -- Charles Churchill
28250 You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
28253 The five subtler aggregates* will eventually be transformed into the
28254 Buddhas of the five lineages. They are now as if accompanied by mental
28255 defilements. When the defilements are removed, these factors do not become
28256 any coarser or subtler; their nature remains, but [when they] become separated
28257 from the faults of mental pollution, they become the Buddhas of the five
28258 lineages. So if you ask whether the Buddhas of the five lineages are present
28259 now in our continuums, these factors are currently bound by faults, and since
28260 there cannot be a Buddha who has a fault, they are not Buddhas. One is not
28261 yet fully enlightened, but that which is going to become a Buddha is present;
28262 therefore, these factors presently existent in our continuums are Buddha seeds
28263 and are called the Buddha nature, or the essence of the One Gone Thus
28265 * The five consituents that are included within a person's continuum--earth,
28266 water, fire, wind, and space--that will be purified into the five Buddha
28267 lineages [the exalted manifestations of these constituents].
28268 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
28269 Clarity, and Insight", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
28270 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
28272 ...an inherently existent "I" appears to us, but instead of assenting to
28273 that appearance and holding it to be true, we analyze how the "I" actually
28275 At those times in our life when there's a very solid feeling of "I," it's
28276 helpful to examine how that "I" appears. I remember the first time I stayed
28277 out all night in college and my mother didn't know. I came home the next day
28278 with this feeling that "I" really existed: "I did this and my mother doesn't
28279 know!" The feeling of "I" was just enormous, incredibly solid, because I did
28280 something I wasn't supposed to do.
28281 Examine how that "I" appears, that big "I," especially when you have a
28282 strong emotion. Get familiar with that sense of "I." When somebody criticizes
28283 us or accuses us of doing something that we didn't do, this feeling comes up
28284 very quickly. Usually, we're focused not on the feeling of "I," but on
28285 attacking the other person or escaping from him. But if we can step back,
28286 it's an incredible opportunity to study the feeling of "I." The person who
28287 irritates us the most can be our best Dharma asset, because he gives us an
28288 opportunity to look at this sense of "I."
28289 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
28290 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
28291 Snow Lion Publications
28293 One time when I was giving an exposition on Nagarjuna's "Fundamentals of the
28294 Middle Way," which deals explicitly with the topic of emptiness, one student
28295 who did not have a prior background of learning in great treatises made a
28296 comment to another colleague. He said: 'Today's teaching was a little
28297 strange. His Holiness began with the presentation of the Buddha's path and
28298 built up the edifice one layer at a time. Then, all of a sudden, he started
28299 talking about emptiness and the absence of inherent existence, so that this
28300 whole edifice he had spent much time building was completely dismantled.'
28301 He couldn't really see the point. There is that danger. However, if we
28302 understand the importance of the need to generate wisdom into emptiness as a
28303 means of bringing about the cessation of the afflictions, particularly
28304 fundamental ignorance, then we recognise the value of deepening our
28305 realisation of emptiness. Also, as Dharmakirti points out, emotions such as
28306 loving kindness and compassion cannot directly challenge fundamental
28307 ignorance. It is only by cultivating insight into no-self that we can
28308 directly overcome our fundamental ignorance.
28309 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
28310 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
28312 Having committed yourself to certain practices, be steadfast and never
28313 transgress the promises you have made. Let go of everything that could tempt
28314 you to do so and devote yourself entirely and single-mindedly to the
28315 accomplishment of your aims. For six years the Buddha did not waver from his
28316 practice of the meditative stabilization known as "Pervading Space." This
28317 meditation focuses on the fundamental nature of phenomena, which is present
28318 wherever there is space. Everywhere throughout space there are suffering
28319 living beings on whom this meditation also focuses with the compassionate wish
28320 to relieve their suffering and the loving wish to give them happiness. Thus
28321 it combines essential wisdom and skillful means.
28322 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An Oral
28323 Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
28326 If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled
28327 remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
28328 -- John Alejandro King
28330 Only fools are positive. -- Moe Howard
28332 Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace
28333 that wasn't immune to bullets.
28336 We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by
28337 selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a
28338 shadow that never leaves them.
28341 If you find a good companion, who is following the same spiritual
28342 path, travel together, overcoming obstacles as they arise.
28345 Man is harder than rock and more fragile than an egg.
28346 -- Yugoslav Proverb
28348 That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness.
28349 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28351 Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.
28354 A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.
28355 -- Christopher Morley, Human Being
28357 The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so,
28358 this purpose has any similarity to ours.
28359 -- Bertrand Russell
28361 Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a
28362 world made for man--who has no gills.
28365 Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
28368 Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.
28369 -- John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
28371 In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with
28372 humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive
28376 Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.
28379 We are perverse creatures and never satisfied.
28382 Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
28385 Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological
28386 clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant
28387 perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are
28388 still in the early morning of our April day.
28389 -- Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
28391 Such is the human race, often it seems a pity
28392 that Noah... didn't miss the boat.
28395 There are too many people, and too few human beings.
28398 It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be
28399 nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a
28401 -- David Ormsby Gore
28403 Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge,
28404 virtue, and abiding love.
28405 -- George Bernard Shaw
28407 The disastrous history of our species indicates the futility of all attempts
28408 at a diagnosis which do not take into account the possibility that homo
28409 sapiens is a victim of one of evolution's countless mistakes.
28410 -- Arthur Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up
28412 Men! The only animal in the world to fear.
28415 The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.
28418 Man embraces in his makeup all the natural orders;
28419 he's a squid, a mollusk, a sucker and a buzzard;
28420 sometimes he's a cerebrate.
28421 -- Martin H. Fischer
28423 Men are cruel, but Man is kind.
28424 -- Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
28426 Humanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind.
28427 -- David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978
28429 Human nature, if healthy, demands excitement; and if it does not obtain its
28430 thrilling excitement in the right way, it will seek it in the wrong. God
28431 never makes bloodless stoics; He makes no passionless saints.
28434 Cabbage: a familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as
28435 large and wise as a man's head.
28436 -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
28438 Monkeys are superior to men in this:
28439 When a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.
28440 -- Malcolm de Chazal
28442 It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.
28443 -- Mariane Moore, "A Grave," Collected Poems, 1951
28445 The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
28446 procession but carrying a banner.
28447 -- Mark Twain, "Reflections on Being the Delight of God."
28449 Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache.
28450 -- Hungarian Proverb
28452 Why was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride
28453 possesses him: God created the gnat before thee.
28456 Man--a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.
28459 I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated His ability.
28462 O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.
28463 -- Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol. I, book II, chapter 1
28465 God pulled an all-nighter on the sixth day.
28468 Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.
28471 The progress of evolution from President Washington to
28472 President Grant [is] alone enough to upset Darwin.
28473 -- Henry Adams, Education, 1907
28475 Man--a being in search of meaning. -- Plato
28477 Ultimately, aren't we all just talking monkeys with an attitude problem?
28478 -- "Uncle" Ben, as seen on quotes-r-us.org
28480 The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
28481 -- Gustave Flaubert
28483 Nothing feebler does earth nurture than man,
28484 Of all things breathing and moving.
28487 Everyone is as God made him, and often a good deal worse.
28488 -- Miguel de Cervantes
28490 Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting
28491 on the wall until his back is up against it.
28494 It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
28497 God doesn't measure His bounty, but oh how we do!
28498 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28500 The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary;
28501 men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
28502 -- Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911
28504 The human race is governed by its imagination.
28507 Man uses his intelligence less in the care of his own species than he does in
28508 his care of anything else he owns or governs.
28509 -- Abraham Meyerson
28511 Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite
28512 nonsense, till death stares them in the face.
28515 Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him
28516 when he shows no mercy to what is under him?
28517 -- Pierre Troubetzkoy
28519 The small percentage of dogs that bite people is monumental proof that the dog
28520 is the most benign, forgiving creature on earth.
28521 -- W.R. Koehler, The Koehler Method of Dog Training
28523 Man was created a little lower than the angels,
28524 and has been getting lower ever since.
28527 We have no choice but to be guilty.
28528 God is unthinkable if we are innocent.
28529 -- Archibald MacLeish, JB, 1958
28531 Human beings invent just as many ways to sabotage their lives
28532 as to improve them.
28533 -- Mark Goulston, Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating
28536 As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a
28537 man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
28540 What is man's greatest bane? His brother man alone.
28541 -- Bias of Priene, Maxims
28543 Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.
28544 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28546 The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself.
28547 -- Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945
28549 Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery
28550 but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again
28551 like pimples on an angel's arse?
28552 -- John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, 1960
28554 God has given a great deal to man, but man would like something from man.
28555 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28557 I was surprised just now at seeing a cobweb around a knocker;
28558 for it was not on the door of heaven.
28559 -- Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth,
28560 by Two Brothers, 1827
28562 I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us.
28563 A single sentence will suffice for modern man:
28564 He fornicated and read the papers.
28567 Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.
28568 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28570 Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it
28571 into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will
28572 convert it into a desert.
28573 -- Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1792
28575 Our behavior is human with a sliver of animal,
28576 our souls animal with a sliver of human.
28579 Occident: The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.
28580 It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the
28581 Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which
28582 they are pleased to call "war" and "commerce." These, also, are the
28583 principal industries of the Orient.
28584 -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
28586 Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal
28587 that is struck with the difference between what things are and what
28589 -- William Hazlitt, The English Comic Writers, 1819
28591 Nature is neutral. Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a
28592 desert or to make the deserts bloom. There is no evil in the atom; only in
28596 A simple and irrefutable argument to knock creationism on its ass: (1) Humans
28597 are a mistake--subproof: opposable thumbs and enlarged brain capacity are the
28598 combined number one factor in the increasingly speedy destruction of planet
28599 Earth. (2) God doesn't make mistakes. (3) Therefore, God couldn't have
28601 -- Cassus Garrulitas
28603 Man talks about everything, and he talks about everything as though the
28604 understanding of everything were all inside him.
28605 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28607 My dog is usually pleased with what I do, because she is not infected
28608 with the concept of what I "should" be doing.
28611 Man will do many things to get himself loved;
28612 he will do all things to get himself envied.
28613 -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897
28615 We are all parasites; we humans, the greatest.
28616 -- Martin H. Fischer
28618 Suppose some mathematical creature from the moon were to reckon up the human
28619 body; he would at once see that the essential thing about it was that it was
28620 duplicate. A man is two men, he on the right exactly resembling him on the
28621 left. Having noted that there was an arm on the right and one on the left, a
28622 leg on the right and one on the left, he might go further and still find on
28623 each side the same number of fingers, the same number of toes, twin eyes, twin
28624 ears, twin nostrils, and even twin lobes of the brain. At last he would take
28625 it as a law; and then, where he found a heart on one side, would deduce that
28626 there was another heart on the other. And just then, where he most felt he
28627 was right, he would be wrong.
28628 -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "The Paradoxes of Christianity," Orthodoxy
28630 It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.
28631 -- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
28633 God is less careful than General Motors, for He floods the world
28634 with factory rejects.
28635 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
28637 Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external
28638 circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
28639 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28641 So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He
28642 can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but
28643 give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty
28644 billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million
28645 miles up in the sky.
28646 -- Russell Baker, New York Times, 21 July 1969
28648 Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is
28649 a problem which he has to solve.
28650 -- Erich Fromm, Man for Himself, 1947
28652 When freedom from want and freedom from fear are achieved,
28653 man's remains will be in rigor mortis.
28654 -- Martin H. Fischer
28656 Man is nature's sole mistake.
28659 The average man's judgment is so poor, he runs a risk every time he uses it.
28662 Man--a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
28663 -- Alexander Hamilton
28665 We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all
28666 his noble qualities, still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
28667 stamp of his lowly origin.
28668 -- Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871
28670 We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our
28671 whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.
28672 -- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
28674 Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not
28675 depend on us. We are not the only experiment.
28676 -- R. Buckminister Fuller
28678 Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
28679 -- David Herbert Lawrence, White Peacock, 1911
28681 The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel?
28682 I am on the side of the angels.
28683 -- Benjamin Disraeli
28685 I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.
28686 -- Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
28688 Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she
28689 desires discord. Man wants to live easy and content; but nature compels him
28690 to leave ease... and throw himself into roils and labors.
28691 -- Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan
28694 The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist.
28695 -- T.H. Huxley, "Evolution and Ethics," 1893
28697 Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature,
28698 when they are only repelled by man.
28699 -- William Ralph Inge
28701 People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful;
28702 up close, all beady little eyes.
28703 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28705 Evolution is individual--devolution is collective.
28706 -- Martin H. Fischer
28708 I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-
28709 contain'd. I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and
28710 whine about their condition.... Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
28711 with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
28712 that lived thousands of years ago, not one is respectable or unhappy over the
28714 -- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
28716 As long as people believe in absurdities
28717 they will continue to commit atrocities.
28720 I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me
28721 a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape.
28722 I myself most assuredly know of none.
28723 -- Carl Linnaeus, 1788
28725 In creating the human brain, evolution has wildly overshot the mark.
28728 Evolution: that last step was a doozy!
28731 We have a world for each one, but we do not have a world for all.
28732 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28734 Evolution: one small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind.
28735 -- The Quote Garden
28737 I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of
28738 man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place
28739 where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.
28740 -- Henry David Thoreau, journal, 2 April 1852
28742 Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
28743 -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762
28745 It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
28746 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
28748 Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees
28749 that it is old enough to know better.
28752 Question: How can one work with deep fears most effectively?
28754 DL: There are quite a number of methods. The first is to think about actions
28755 and their effects. Usually when something bad happens, we say, "Oh, very
28756 unlucky," and when something good happens, we say, "Oh, very lucky." Actually,
28757 these two words, lucky and unlucky, are insufficient. There must be some
28758 reason. Because of a reason, a certain time became lucky or unlucky, but
28759 usually we do not go beyond lucky or unlucky. The reason, according to the
28760 Buddhist explanation, is our past karma, our actions.
28762 One way to work with deep fears is to think that the fear comes as a result of
28763 your own actions in the past. Further, if you have fear of some pain or
28764 suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it.
28765 If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything,
28766 then there is also no need to worry.
28768 Another technique is to investigate who is becoming afraid. Examine the
28769 nature of your self. Where is this I? Who is I? What is the nature of I?
28770 Is there an I besides my physical body and my consciousness? This may help.
28772 Also, someone who is engaging in the Bodhisattva practices seeks to take
28773 others' suffering onto himself or herself. When you have fear, you can think,
28774 "Others have fear similar to this; may I take to myself all of their fears."
28775 Even though you are opening yourself to greater suffering, taking greater
28776 suffering to yourself, your fear lessens.
28777 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
28778 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
28779 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
28783 When a subject is analyzed, the object to be negated is determined to be
28784 either an appearance or something imagined. It is not logical, [however,] to
28785 negate momentary appearances, because reasonings cannot negate them. To take
28786 an example: for people with eye diseases, the appearances of floaters [bits of
28787 optical debris], double moons, and the like do not stop as long as their
28788 eyesight is impaired. Similarly, as long as beings are not free from
28789 unafflicted ignorance, illusionlike appearances [manifesting] to the six modes
28790 of consciousness do not stop.
28791 It is not necessary to negate [appearances], because our mistakes do not
28792 come from appearances: they arise from fixating on those [appearances]. This
28793 is the case because if we do not fixate on appearances, we are not bound--we
28794 are like a magician who, having conjured up a young woman, has no attachment
28795 towards her. [On the other hand, if,] like naive beings attached to an
28796 illusory young woman, we fixate intensely [on appearances], our karma and
28797 mental afflictions will increase.
28798 To intentionally negate appearances would be wrong because, if they were
28799 negated, emptiness would come to mean the [absolute] nonexistence of things.
28800 Another reason this would be a mistake is that yogins and yoginis meditating
28801 on emptiness would fall into the extreme of nihilism since they would be
28802 applying their minds to a negation that [equals] the [absolute] nonexistence
28804 Thus, [Madhyamikas] set out to negate only what is imagined, because that
28805 is what can be negated. Like a rope mistaken for a snake, what is imagined
28806 does not conform to facts: it is simply the mind's fixations.
28807 -- Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Three:
28808 Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy", translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan,
28809 published by Snow Lion Publications
28811 Even though Mac Users may be only 10% of the market,
28812 always remember that we are the top 10%.
28815 While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An
28816 important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that
28817 you get an A not for effort but for results.
28820 We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the
28821 complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is
28825 C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when
28826 you do, it blows away your whole leg.
28827 -- Bjarne Stroustrup
28829 The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether
28830 submarines can swim.
28833 Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about the
28834 tenth century A.D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN abandoned the
28836 -- Sun FORTRAN Reference Manual
28838 UNIX was never designed to keep people from doing stupid things, because that
28839 policy would also keep them from doing clever things.
28842 Anyone who slaps a "this page is best viewed with Browser X" label on a Web
28843 page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had
28844 very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another
28845 word processor, or another network.
28848 If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use?
28849 Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?
28852 The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his
28853 own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility; and
28854 among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.
28857 A programming language is a tool that has profound influence
28858 on our thinking habits.
28861 The Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is
28863 -- Deep Thought, 2nd greatest Computer in the Universe of Time and Space
28865 If Windows is the solution, can we please have the problem back?
28868 This is a fascinating property: Writing texts in programming languages can not
28869 only be as creative as poetry, the creations more than in poetry, belong to
28870 the real world as soon as run through the machine.
28873 Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of
28874 indirection. But that usually will create another problem.
28877 Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger Dijkstra
28879 It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have
28880 had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally
28881 mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
28884 Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -- Pablo Picasso
28886 I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order I may learn how to do it.
28889 Serious people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
28892 Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
28895 A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
28898 The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement. All the neighbors
28899 know she's down there, but nobody wants to talk about her.
28902 Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
28905 Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a
28906 pretext for a thousand.
28907 -- Charles Caleb Colton
28909 Whatever limits us, we call Fate. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
28911 The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard
28912 those who think alike than those who think differently.
28913 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
28915 Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
28916 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28918 Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think
28920 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28922 It often takes more courage to change ones opinion than to keep it.
28925 Let's be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming
28926 gardeners who make our soul bloom.
28929 It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
28932 There are only two forces that unite men--fear and interest.
28933 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
28935 If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their
28936 own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have
28937 a paradise in a few years.
28940 The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
28943 If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
28944 then we are a sorry lot indeed.
28947 Your character must be above suspicion and
28948 you must be truthful and self controlled.
28951 Either you live or you are consequential. -- Erich Kaestner
28953 Pedaled curd gets wide--not strong. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28955 Do not follow where the path may lead.
28956 Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
28957 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
28959 She wore too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. Thats always
28960 a sign of despair in a woman.
28963 Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
28966 First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
28970 Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with
28971 sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers,
28972 and to cowardice on the part of the governed.
28975 We want to be poets of our life--first of all in the smallest
28976 most everyday matters.
28977 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
28979 Without music, life would be an error. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
28981 Joseph LaGrange believed that a mathematician has not thoroughly understood
28982 his own work till he has made it so clear that he can go out and explain it
28983 effectively to the first man he meets on the street.
28986 There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from
28987 failure of human wisdom.
28988 -- Andres Bonar Law
28990 Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery. -- Mahatma Gandhi
28992 There never was a good war or a bad peace. -- Benjamin Franklin
28994 There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing
28995 good in war. Except its ending.
28998 I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only
28999 temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
29002 An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. -- Mahatma Gandhi
29004 Trust no one in whom the desire to punish is strong. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
29006 If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if
29007 from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.
29008 -- Charles Caleb Colton
29010 The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
29013 Ability is nothing without opportunity. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
29015 Never work just for money or for power.
29016 They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
29017 -- Marian Wright Edelman
29019 Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their
29020 pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own.
29021 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
29023 Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power,
29025 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
29027 Censorship cannot eliminate evil, it can only kill freedom. -- unknown
29029 Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
29030 -- John G. Riefenbaker
29032 People demand freedom of speech to make up for
29033 the freedom of thought which they avoid.
29034 -- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
29036 Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the
29037 fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
29040 If you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make
29041 philosophy out of it.
29044 I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
29045 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29047 I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more
29048 to be than a good dancer.
29049 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29051 Faith means not wanting to know what is true. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29053 True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
29054 -- Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
29056 This war, like the next war, is a war to end war. -- David Lloyd George
29058 How good bad music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an enemy!
29059 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29061 When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
29062 -- Rodney Dangerfield
29064 When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you are surrounded
29065 by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed. On the other
29066 hand, if your mind is undisciplined, your mental peace and calm can easily be
29067 disrupted by your own negative thoughts and emotions. The real enemy is
29068 within, not outside. Usually we define our enemy as a person, an external
29069 agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone we hold dear. But
29070 such an enemy is dependent on many conditions and is impermanent. One moment,
29071 the person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become
29072 your best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives.
29073 But negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the
29074 enemy. They are your enemy today, they have been your enemy in the past, and
29075 they will remain your enemy in the future as long as they reside within your
29077 This inner enemy is extremely dangerous. The destructive potential of an
29078 external enemy is limited when compared to that of its inner counterpart....
29079 In a time when every country is a potential target for the nuclear weapons of
29080 others, human beings still continue to develop defense systems of greater and
29081 greater sophistication. I do not know if it will ever be possible to create a
29082 defense system capable of guaranteeing worldwide protection against all
29083 external forces of destruction. However, one thing is certain: as long as
29084 those destructive internal enemies of anger and hatred are left to themselves
29085 unchallenged, the threat of physical annihilation will always loom over us.
29086 In fact, the destructive power of an external enemy ultimately derives from
29087 the power of these internal forces. The inner enemy is the trigger that
29088 unleashes the destructive power of the external enemy.
29089 Shantideva tells us that as long as these inner enemies remain secure
29090 within, there is great danger. Shantideva goes on to say that even if
29091 everyone in the world were to stand up against you as your enemies and harm
29092 you, as long as your own mind was disciplined and calm, they would not be able
29093 to disturb your peace. Yet a single instance of delusion arising in your mind
29094 has the power to disturb that peace and inner stability.
29095 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
29097 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
29098 Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. We were moved
29099 by these inspiring words, and hope you will be, too.)
29103 Let's recall our motivation in the morning and think that today, the most
29104 important thing I have to do is to guard my body, speech and mind so that I
29105 don't harm anybody through what I do with my body, through what I say, or even
29106 through what I think. That's the most important thing, more important than
29107 anything else today.
29108 The second most important thing is, as much as possible, to be of benefit
29109 to others. Thoroughly cultivate that as your motivation simply for being
29110 alive today. Our purpose for being alive isn't just to keep this body alive,
29111 to eat and sleep, and have pleasure. We have a higher purpose, a higher
29112 meaning: to really work for the benefit of living beings. If the purpose of
29113 our life is simply to keep the body alive and have pleasure, then at the end
29114 of life, we have nothing to show for it. The body dies and all the pleasures,
29115 like last night's dream, have gone. But if we work for a higher motivation, a
29116 higher purpose, to really do what's beneficial for all living beings, then
29117 there's happiness and benefit now.
29118 At the end of the life, the benefit that we've given to others continues,
29119 as do all the imprints of the attitude of kindness, the attitude of care
29120 towards others. All the imprints of having generated that positive mind go on
29121 with us into the next life. So even at the time of death, that kind heart
29122 brings incredible benefit and carries through into the next life.
29123 And then let's also generate a third motivation--a really long-term
29124 motivation--to become fully enlightened. In other words, to have the wisdom,
29125 compassion, and skill so that in the long term, we'll be able to be of the
29126 greatest benefit to all living beings, even being able to lead them on the
29127 path to enlightenment. That's our really long-term purpose.
29128 As we change and develop a kind heart, that influences every single living
29129 being we encounter in a positive way. Then, through the influence on them, it
29130 spreads out to all the people they know. So, just spending one day with a
29131 positive, long-term motivation may seem like a small thing, but when we think
29132 of the ripple effect it has now, and the benefit it has in future lives and
29133 for progressing along the path to liberation and enlightenment, we see that
29134 even one day spent with this motivation of kindness, directly and indirectly
29135 benefiting sentient beings, has tremendous outcomes--many, many good results.
29136 -- Thubten Chodron, who is the author of many books, including her latest
29137 work, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path", published by
29138 Snow Lion Publications
29140 ...We can't blame one individual for what happens in our world. I think
29141 we should blame our entire society. Society produces our leaders and
29142 politicians, and if we try to develop a more compassionate and affectionate
29143 society, we will have human beings with a more peaceful nature. Leaders,
29144 politicians, and businesspeople coming from such a society would offer hope
29145 for a better world. Our long-term responsibility--everyone's responsibility,
29146 whether they are believers or nonbelievers--is to find ways to promote a
29147 peaceful and compassionate society.
29148 I think one way is quite simple. Each individual must try to ensure peace
29149 and compassion in his [or her] family. Put together ten peaceful,
29150 compassionate homes, or one hundred, and that's a community. The children in
29151 such a society would receive affection in their family and in their schools
29152 from the educators concerned. We might have one or two setbacks, but
29153 generally I think we could develop a sensible society. Sensible here means a
29154 sense of community, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of commitment.
29155 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections
29156 and Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh, published by
29157 Snow Lion Publications
29159 We can see that there are many ways in which we actively contribute to our
29160 own experience of mental unrest and suffering. Although, in general, mental
29161 and emotional afflictions themselves can come naturally, often it is our own
29162 reinforcement of those negative emotions that makes them so much worse. For
29163 instance when we have anger or hatred towards a person, there is less
29164 likelihood of its developing to a very intense degree if we leave it
29165 unattended. However, if we think about the projected injustices done to us,
29166 the ways in which we have been unfairly treated, and we keep on thinking about
29167 them over and over, then that feeds the hatred. It makes the hatred very
29168 powerful and intense. Of course, the same can apply to when we have an
29169 attachment towards a particular person; we can feed that by thinking about how
29170 beautiful he or she is, and as we keep thinking about the projected qualities
29171 that we see in the person, the attachment becomes more and more intense. But
29172 this shows how through constant familiarity and thinking, we ourselves can
29173 make our emotions more intense and powerful.
29174 We also often add to our pain and suffering by being overly sensitive,
29175 overreacting to minor things, and sometimes taking things too personally. We
29176 tend to take small things too seriously and blow them up out of proportion,
29177 while at the same time we often remain indifferent to the really important
29178 things, those things which have profound effects on our lives and long-term
29179 consequences and implications.
29180 So I think that to a large extent, whether you suffer depends on how you
29181 respond to a given situation.
29182 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
29183 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
29185 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and
29186 courage. Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it
29187 blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless.
29188 When we see the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left
29189 to fear. At last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
29190 Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great
29191 emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the
29192 buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is
29193 pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa
29194 said, "The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini." The Mother's mandala
29195 is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.
29196 Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the
29197 universe would be without movement, development, or change. Because of this
29198 great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising.
29199 Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then
29200 dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the
29201 activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of
29202 the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love
29203 and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.
29204 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
29205 "Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one
29206 Praises to Tara' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
29208 Just as your innermost wish is to be free from suffering and to abide in
29209 happiness, so too is it the aspiration of all other beings. But, they, like
29210 you, encounter sufferings and problems in their lives, and often their
29211 difficulties are much worse than your own. Examine your capacity to help
29212 them. At this time your ability to help them is quite limited, but if you
29213 reduce your own ignorance, anger, attachment, and other faults, and increase
29214 your good qualities such as generosity, patience, loving-kindness, compassion,
29215 and wisdom, you will be of greater benefit. If you become fully enlightened,
29216 you will be of the greatest possible benefit to all beings. Thus generate the
29217 altruistic intention to become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient
29218 beings most effectively.
29219 -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
29220 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
29222 ...at Bodh Gaya, [Shakyamuni] displayed the ways of becoming fully
29223 enlightened. Then in stages he turned the three renowned wheels of doctrine.
29224 In the first period, at Varanasi, Buddha turned the wheel of doctrine that
29225 is based on the four noble truths; he did this mainly in consideration of
29226 those having the lineage of Hearers (Sravaka). In the middle period, at
29227 Grdhrakuta, he set forth the middle wheel of doctrine, which is based on the
29228 mode of non-inherent existence of all phenomena; he did this mainly in
29229 consideration of trainees of sharp faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage.
29230 In the final period, at Vaisali, he set forth the final wheel [which is based
29231 on discriminating between those phenomena that do and those that do not truly
29232 exist]; he did this mainly in consideration of trainees of middling and lower
29233 faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage. The teacher Buddha also appeared in
29234 the body of Vajradhara, setting forth tantric doctrines.
29235 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
29236 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
29238 There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and
29239 clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about
29240 the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great
29241 teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are
29242 filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire
29243 these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we
29244 acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the
29245 enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of
29246 ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it
29247 has become irreversible faith.
29248 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
29249 translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow
29252 ...when seeking work, or if you already have a job, it is important to
29253 keep in mind that a human being isn't meant to be some kind of machine
29254 designed only for production. No. Human life isn't just for work, like [a
29255 socialistic] vision where everyone's purpose is just to work for the state,
29256 and there is no individual freedom, where the state even arranges the person's
29257 vacations and everything is planned out for the individual. That is not a
29258 full human life. Individuality is very important for a full human life, and
29259 then accordingly some leisure time, a bit of holiday, and time spent with
29260 family or friends. That is the means to a complete form of life.... If your
29261 life becomes only a medium of production, then many of the good human values
29262 and characteristics will be lost--then you will not, you cannot, become a
29264 So if you're looking for work and have a choice of a job, choose a job
29265 that allows the opportunity for some creativity, and for spending time with
29266 your family. Even if it means less pay, personally I think it is better to
29267 choose work that is less demanding, that gives you greater freedom, more time
29268 to be with your family, or to do other activities, read, engage in cultural
29269 activities, or just play. I think that's best.
29270 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The
29271 Art of Happiness at Work"
29273 Our painful experiences have brought the five poisons* right into our
29274 world. Our heavy sense of being a separate person has led to an anxiety about
29275 our safety in the world. This leads us to aversion and attachment, as we long
29276 to predict and control our relation with the environment. From this all the
29277 other fixed and defensive positions arise. And so the world that we encounter
29278 is covered over and suffused with many subtle moods of hopes and fears,
29279 doubts, jealousies, pride. So even here on a dharma retreat, as we look
29280 around the room, we have a complex sense of whose faces we can look at, and
29281 who we might have to look away from. This is not at all a neutral place. The
29282 force of projections, interpretations and impulsive reactions keeps us busy in
29283 trying to stay ahead of the game....
29284 However in dzogchen we are trying to get to the essential point where
29285 nirvana and samsara separate. This is like a great weed killer: If you spray
29286 it once all the weeds, all the confusion, all the pain and suffering will
29287 vanish. You don't need to pluck out each weed by itself. Believing that you
29288 are a bad person is very unhelpful for the practice of dzogchen. Also
29289 believing that you are a good person is not very helpful in the practice of
29290 dzogchen. You are not a person! Resting in the unborn state we are a pure
29291 awareness free of the least defilement. When you give up your ego identity,
29292 your samsara citizenship, you tear up your identity card and all the problems
29293 and sins and police records linked to that identity vanish immediately.
29294 * Five poisons (dug nga)--the five poisonous mental afflictions are
29295 desire, aggression, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. (Penetrating Wisdom)
29296 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje Entitled 'The
29297 Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published by
29298 Snow Lion Publications
29300 And just as men depend upon
29301 A boat for traversing the sea,
29302 So does the mental body need
29303 The matter-body for occurrence.
29304 And as the boat depends upon
29305 The men for traversing the sea,
29306 So does the matter-body need
29307 The mental body for occurrence.
29308 Depending each upon the other
29309 The boat and men go on the sea.
29310 And so do mind and matter both
29311 Depend the one upon the other.
29312 -- Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 36)
29314 There is a Buddhist practice in which one imagines giving joy and the
29315 source of all joy to other people, thereby removing all their suffering.
29316 Though of course we cannot change their situation, I do feel that in some
29317 cases, through a genuine sense of caring and compassion, through our sharing
29318 in their plight, our attitude can help alleviate their suffering, if only
29319 mentally. However, the main point of this practice is to increase our inner
29320 strength and courage.
29321 I have chosen a few lines that I feel would be acceptable to people of all
29322 faiths, and even to those with no spiritual belief. When reading these lines,
29323 if you are a religious practitioner, you can reflect upon the divine form that
29324 you worship. Then, while reciting these verses, make the commitment to
29325 enhance your spiritual values. If you are not religious, you can reflect upon
29326 the fact that, fundamentally, all beings are equal to you in their wish for
29327 happiness and their desire to overcome suffering. Recognizing this, you make
29328 a pledge to develop a good heart. It is most important that we have a warm
29329 heart. As long as we are part of human society, it is very important to be a
29330 kind, warm-hearted person.
29331 May the poor find wealth,
29332 Those weak with sorrow find joy.
29333 May the forlorn find new hope,
29334 Constant happiness and prosperity.
29336 May the frightened cease to be afraid,
29337 And those bound be free.
29338 May the weak find power,
29339 And may their hearts join in friendship.
29340 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
29341 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato
29344 Although there are as many categories of emptiness* as there are types of
29345 phenomena, when you realize the emptiness of one specific phenomenon, you also
29346 realize the emptiness of all phenomena. The ultimate nature, or emptiness, of
29347 all phenomena is of equal taste and of the same undifferentiable nature. Even
29348 though the nature of emptiness of all phenomena is the same, and all the
29349 different aspects of phenomena, such as whether they are good or bad, or the
29350 way they change, arise from the sphere of emptiness, you should understand
29351 that emptiness cannot be found apart from the subject or the object.
29352 Emptiness refers to an object's being free of intrinsic existence. Things
29353 depend on causes and conditions. This very dependence on causes and
29354 conditions signifies that phenomena lack independent, or intrinsic, existence.
29355 It also demonstrates how all the diverse aspects of things that we experience
29356 arise because they are by nature empty. When we talk about emptiness, we are
29357 not dealing with those different aspects, we are dealing with phenomena's
29359 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", trans. by Ven. Geshe
29360 Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
29361 published by Snow Lion Publications
29363 The Treasure Discoverers
29364 Most of the influential terma [hidden treasures or teachings] were
29365 purportedly secreted by Padmasambhava or his immediate disciples, and specific
29366 instructions were also laid down for each terma at the time of its
29367 concealment. The theory behind this system is that certain teachings would be
29368 especially effective at particular points in the future, and so they were
29369 hidden in a "time release" system which assured that at the appropriate time a
29370 terton would locate the teaching and disseminate it. When Padmasambhava hid
29371 these treasures, he prophesied the circumstances for the discovery of each
29372 terma and the terton who would find it. He predicted that there would be
29373 three "grand" tertons, eight "great" ones, twenty-one "powerful" ones, one
29374 hundred eight "intermediate," and one thousand "subsidiary" tertons. Most of
29375 these were to be recognized as emanations of Padmasambhava or his chief
29377 ...Many hidden treasures still remain undiscovered, awaiting the proper
29378 time for their dissemination. They continue to reinvigorate the Nyingma
29379 tradition, and a number have been incorporated into other lineages. The
29380 institution of terma serves as a link with the past of the tradition, a link
29381 that periodically revitalizes the present and points the way to the future.
29382 The system reflects the Mahayana ideal of skill in means, the ability to adapt
29383 teachings to changing circumstances.
29384 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
29387 Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness* as
29388 the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and
29389 compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound
29390 nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your
29391 meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion
29392 will spontaneously grow.
29393 These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they
29394 always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a
29395 fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not
29396 like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate
29397 elements joined together; they are always coexistent.
29398 In Buddhism, emptiness does not mean the absence of apparent existence.
29399 Emptiness is not like a black hole or darkness, or like an empty house or an
29400 empty bottle. Emptiness is fullness and openness and flexibility. Because of
29401 emptiness it is possible for phenomena to function, for beings to see and
29402 hear, and for things to move and change. It is called emptiness because when
29403 we examine things we cannot find anything that substantially and solidly
29404 exists. There is nothing that has a truly existent nature. Everything we
29405 perceive appears through ever-changing causes and conditions, without an
29406 independent, solid basis. Although from a relative perspective things appear,
29407 they arise from emptiness and they dissolve into emptiness. All appearances
29408 are like water bubbles or the reflection of the moon in water.
29409 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
29410 "Opening to our Primordial Nature", published by Snow Lion Publications
29412 [Preceding story: Before reaching enlightenment, the Buddha was born as Prince
29413 Visvantara, who, despite facing many challenges and adversity, brought all of
29414 his heart and courage to bear against a single enemy--human suffering.]
29416 In giving we not only find wealth while in cyclic existence but we achieve the
29417 zenith of prosperity in supreme enlightenment. Therefore we all have to
29418 practice giving. A Bodhisattva's giving is not just overcoming miserliness
29419 and being generous to others; a pure wish to give is cultivated, and through
29420 developing more and more intimacy with it, such giving is enhanced infinitely.
29421 Therefore it is essential to have the firm mind of enlightenment rooted in
29422 great love and compassion and, from the depths of one's heart, to either give
29423 one's body, wealth and virtues literally to sentient beings as infinite as
29424 space, or to dedicate one's body, wealth and virtues for them while striving
29425 in all possible ways to enhance the wish to give infinitely. As mentioned in
29426 Engaging in Bodhisattva Activities and in The Precious Garland, we should
29427 literally give material help to the poor and needy, give teaching to others,
29428 and give protection to them, even the small insects, as much as we can. In
29429 the case of things which we are not able to part with, we should cultivate the
29430 wish to give them away and develop more and more intimacy with that wish.
29431 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
29432 Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
29434 Mad yogins are known in virtually every tradition in Tibet, but most often
29435 in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and also in the Shije (Pacification) and
29436 Chod traditions. The Nyingma, Kagyu, and Chod traditions are the three with
29437 which Tangtong Gyalpo had the closest ties. One of the texts in Tangtong's
29438 Oral Transmission, a collection of teachings originally passed down from
29439 Tangtong, quotes the great yogini Machik Labdron's statement concerning proper
29440 yogic conduct following realization. In response to a question by one of her
29441 sons, Machik recommended that a practitioner act like a child with unfeigned
29442 spontaneity, like a lunatic with no regard for what is conventionally
29443 acceptable, like a leper with no attachment to his or her own physical health,
29444 and like a wild animal wandering in isolated and rough terrain.
29445 ...Guru Padmasambhava himself prophesied that Tangtong Gyalpo would care
29446 for living beings by means of unpredictable actions. Tangtong's unusual
29447 conduct began to manifest at an early age, and resembled traits noted in the
29448 lives of other mad yogins. He was first called insane by his father and the
29449 members of his village when, as a child, he subdued a malicious spirit
29450 responsible for an epidemic. Several other early incidents are mentioned in
29451 the biographies. When he went to take scholastic examinations at the renowned
29452 monastery of Sakya he earned the nickname Tsondru Nyonpa (Crazy Tsondru)
29453 because of his disinterest in explaining the scriptural definitions of the
29454 highest states of realization. He preferred to spend his time absorbed in
29455 actually experiencing these states. When he was later practicing deliberate
29456 behavior secretly in a vast and empty wasteland, the dakinis gave him five
29457 names indicating his high realization, one of which was Lungtong Nyonpa
29458 (Madman of the Empty Valley).
29459 -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge
29460 Builder Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation book, published by
29461 Snow Lion Publications
29463 ...In the Buddhist teachings, when we search for the causes of suffering,
29464 we find what is called 'the truth of the origin of suffering', namely that
29465 negative actions--karma--and the negative emotions that induce such actions
29466 are the causes of suffering.
29467 Talking about causes, if we take a step further and investigate more
29468 deeply, we find that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about the
29469 results. Causes themselves have to come in contact with co-operative
29470 circumstances or conditions. For instance, say we search for a material or
29471 substantial cause for this plant, we will find that it has a continuity
29472 stretching back into beginningless time.
29473 There are certain Buddhist texts that speak of space particles, existing
29474 before the evolution of this present universe. According to these texts, the
29475 space particles serve as the material and substantial cause for matter, such
29476 as this plant. Now if the essential and substantial cause for matter is
29477 traced to these space particles, which are all the same, how do we account for
29478 the diversity that we see in the material world? It is here that the question
29479 of conditions and circumstances comes into play. When these substantial
29480 causes come in contact with different circumstances and conditions, they give
29481 rise to different effects, that is, different kinds of matter. So we find
29482 that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about a result. What is
29483 required is an aggregation of many different conditions and circumstances.
29484 Although you can find certain differences among the Buddhist philosophical
29485 schools about how the universe came into being, the basic common question
29486 addressed is how the two fundamental principles--external matter and internal
29487 mind or consciousness--although distinct, affect one another. External causes
29488 and conditions are responsible for certain of our experiences of happiness and
29489 suffering. Yet we find that it is principally our own feelings, our thoughts
29490 and our emotions, that really determine whether we are going to suffer or be
29492 -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
29493 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
29494 by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
29497 Right now many of us wish for liberation, yet sometimes we cannot keep
29498 ourselves from creating the causes for cyclic existence. When we understand
29499 true suffering well, our wish for liberation will become firm. At present our
29500 resolve to reach liberation is not firm because we think of suffering, but not
29501 deeply. The deluded attitude believing that the unsatisfactoriness of change
29502 is true happiness easily arises in us because we are not yet deeply convinced
29503 that all happiness in cyclic existence is contaminated and is in fact only a
29504 variety of suffering. To remedy this, we should meditate on true suffering
29505 more often and explore its meaning deeply. Then our wish for liberation will
29507 We consider many things--clothes, food, good health, nice possessions,
29508 financial security, the higher rebirths--as true happiness. As a result, we
29509 are attached to them and create more causes for suffering in cyclic existence
29510 in order to gain them. Thinking that the human birth is something marvelous,
29511 we work at creating the causes that propel us toward it. In fact all we are
29512 doing is creating the cause for yet another rebirth in cyclic existence,
29513 together with all the problems that such a rebirth involves.
29514 If we understand that by its nature, cyclic existence is unsatisfactory,
29515 we will have a deep aversion to it. If we do not have a deep aversion to it,
29516 we will not be determined to be free, and therefore will not be able to
29517 destroy our self-grasping ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence.
29518 In that case, we will not be able to attain liberation. However, when we
29519 deeply feel the extent to which we suffer in cyclic existence, we will
29520 automatically want to abandon the true origin of suffering, attain the true
29521 cessation, and meditate on the true path. Having realized true suffering, we
29522 will easily realize the other three of the four noble truths. Thus it is
29523 said: suffering is to be known. The origin is to be abandoned. The cessation
29524 is to be attained. The path is to be practiced. The determination to be free
29525 is the wish for ourselves to be free of cyclic existence. When we wish others
29526 to be free, that is compassion.
29527 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
29528 An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
29529 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
29531 Mantras are invocations to buddhas... prayers, or a combination of these.
29532 Tantric practitioners repeat them in order to forge karmic connections between
29533 themselves and meditational deities and to effect cognitive restructuring
29534 through internalizing the divine attributes that the mantra represents. A
29535 person who wishes to develop greater compassion, for instance, might recite
29536 the mantra of Avalokitesvara, who embodies this quality: om mani padme hum...
29537 [a] mantra [that] is well known to Tibetans. It represents for them the
29538 perfect compassion of Avalokitesvara, who they believe has taken a special
29539 interest in the spiritual welfare of the Tibetan people. He epitomizes
29540 universal compassion that is unsullied by any trace of negative emotions or
29541 mental afflictions.
29542 Among ordinary beings there are, of course, many acts of compassion, but
29543 these are generally tinged by self-interest, pride, or desire for recognition.
29544 Avalokitesvara's compassion, by contrast, is completely free from all
29545 afflictions and is so vast that it encompasses all sentient beings without
29546 exception and without distinction. People who wish to develop such a
29547 perspective recite Avalokitesvara's mantra over and over, meditating on its
29548 significance, and in so doing they try to restructure their minds in
29549 accordance with the cultivation of his exalted qualities. According to the
29551 'mani'... symbolizes the factors of method--the altruistic intention to
29552 become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of
29553 removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of
29554 removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary
29555 peace.... The two syllables, 'padme'... symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus
29556 grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is
29557 capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would
29558 be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.... Purity must be achieved by an
29559 indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable
29560 'hum', which indicates indivisibility.... Thus the six syllables, 'om mani
29561 padme hum', mean that in dependence on a path which is an indivisible union of
29562 method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into
29563 the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
29564 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow
29567 "Now let's look at ultimate reality," the Dalai Lama said, pointing a
29568 little finger to his mug. "What exactly is it? We're seeing color, shape.
29569 But if we take away shape, color, material, what is mug? Where is the mug?
29570 This mug is a combination of particles: atoms, electrons, quarks. But each
29571 particle is not 'mug.' The same can be said about the four elements, the
29572 world, everything. The Buddha. We cannot find the Buddha. So that's the
29573 ultimate reality. If we're not satisfied with conventional reality, if we go
29574 deep down and try to find the real thing, we ultimately won't find it."
29575 Thus, the Dalai Lama was saying, the mug is empty. The term "mug" is
29576 merely a label, something we use to describe everyday reality. But each mug
29577 comes into existence because of a complex web of causes and conditions. It
29578 does not exist independently. It cannot come into being by itself, of its own
29580 For example: suppose I decide to make a black mug. To do this, I mix
29581 black clay and water, shape it to my liking, and fire the resulting mixture in
29582 an oven. Clay plus water turns into a mug because of my actions. But it
29583 exists because of the myriad different ways that atoms and molecules interact.
29584 And what about me, the creator of the black mug? If my parents had never met,
29585 the black mug might never have existed.
29586 Therefore the mug does not exist independently. It comes into being only
29587 through a complex web of relationships. In the Dalai Lama's own words, and
29588 this is the key concept in his worldview, the mug is "dependently originated."
29589 It came to be a mug because of a host of different factors, not under its own
29590 steam. It is empty. "Empty" is shorthand for "empty of intrinsic, inherent
29591 existence." Or to put it another way, empty is another word for
29593 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of
29594 Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
29596 Buddha teaches that one should not practice extremes.... As Nagarjuna's
29597 "Precious Garland of Advice" says,
29598 Practice is not done
29599 By mortifying the body,
29600 Since you have not forsaken injuring others
29601 And are not helping others.
29602 When you disregard the basic needs of the body, you harm the many sentient
29603 organisms that live within the body. You should also avoid the opposite
29604 extreme of living in great luxury. It is possible to make use of good food,
29605 clothing, residence, and furnishings without producing afflictive emotions
29606 such as attachment, pride, and arrogance. The crucial point is the control of
29607 internal factors such as lust and attachment; external factors are not in and
29608 of themselves good or bad. It is not suitable if attachment increases toward
29609 even mediocre food, clothing, and so forth.
29610 Contentment is the key. If you have contentment with material things, you
29611 are truly rich. Without it, even if you are a billionaire, you will not have
29612 happiness. You will always feel hungry and want more and more and more,
29613 making you not rich but poor. If you seek contentment externally, it will
29614 never happen. Your desire will never be fulfilled. Our texts speak of a king
29615 who gained control over the world, at which point he began thinking about
29616 taking over the lands of the gods. In the end his good qualities were
29617 destroyed by pride. Contentment is necessary for happiness, so try to be
29618 satisfied with adequate food, clothing, and shelter.
29619 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
29620 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
29622 There is another way of speaking about the two types of meditation. In this
29623 case, they are differentiated into 1) meditation that perceives the object and
29624 2) meditation in which our mind is transformed into a specific affective
29625 state. An example of the former is meditating on impermanence and emptiness.
29626 These are subtle objects that we must use analytical meditation to perceive.
29627 An example of the latter is meditation on the four immeasurables
29628 (brahmaviharas)--love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here we are not
29629 trying to perceive a subtle object, but are practicing to transform our minds
29630 into those mental states. For example, everyone admires the quality of love,
29631 but we cannot just say, "I should love everyone," and expect our deepest
29632 feelings to change. First, we must free our minds from the gross obstacles of
29633 attachment to friends, hostility to people who threaten or harm us, and apathy
29634 towards strangers. On this basis, we then train our mind to recognize the
29635 kindness of others, which arouses in us a natural wish to reciprocate and
29636 share our kindness with them. After this we meditate on love and cultivate a
29637 genuine wish for all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.
29638 Initially that feeling will arise in us but will not be stable. Anger may
29639 still flash into our mind making our good feelings towards others disappear.
29640 We need to cultivate love continuously and do so with a focused mind. The
29641 greater our concentration, the more stable and penetrative the experience
29643 -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
29644 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
29646 ...for the Christian practitioner, the Creator and the acceptance of the
29647 Creator as almighty, is a very important factor within that tradition in order
29648 to develop self-discipline, compassion, or forgiveness and to increase them in
29649 one's intimate relationship with God. That's something very essential. In
29650 addition, when God is seen as absolute and almighty, the concept that
29651 everything is relative becomes a little bit difficult. However, if one's
29652 understanding of God is in terms of an ultimate nature of reality or ultimate
29653 truth, then it is possible to have a kind of unified approach.
29654 ...As to one's personal religion, I think this must be based on one's own
29655 mental disposition.... Generally speaking, I think it is better to practice
29656 according to your own traditional background, and certainly you can use some
29657 of the Buddhist techniques. Without accepting rebirth theory or the
29658 complicated philosophy, simply use certain techniques to increase your power
29659 of patience and compassion, forgiveness, and things like that.
29660 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
29661 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
29664 When we compare two ancient spiritual traditions like Buddhism and
29665 Christianity, what we see is a striking similarity between the narratives of
29666 the founding masters: in the case of Christianity, Jesus Christ, and in the
29667 case of Buddhism, the Buddha. I see a very important parallel: in the very
29668 lives of the [founders] the essence of their teachings is demonstrated. For
29669 example... the essence of the Buddha's teaching is embodied in the Four Noble
29670 Truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the
29671 truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to this
29672 cessation. These Four Noble Truths are very explicitly and clearly
29673 exemplified in the life of... the Buddha himself. I feel [it] is the same
29674 with the life of Christ. If you look at the life of Jesus, you will see all
29675 the essential practices and teachings of Christianity exemplified. And in the
29676 lives of both Jesus Christ and the Buddha, it is only through hardship,
29677 dedication and commitment, and by standing firm on one's principles that one
29678 can grow spiritually and attain liberation. That seems to be a central and
29680 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
29683 With the achievement of quiescence, the attention is drawn inwards and is
29684 maintained continuously, single-pointedly upon its object. Tsongkhapa
29685 emphasizes that genuine quiescence is necessarily preceded by an experience of
29686 an extraordinary degree of mental and physical pliancy, which entails an
29687 unprecedented sense of mental and physical fitness and buoyancy.
29688 In the state of meditative equipoise, only the aspects of awareness,
29689 clarity, and joy of the mind appear, and all one's other sense faculties
29690 remain dormant. Thus, while one's consciousness seems as if it has become
29691 indivisible with space, one lacks any sensation of having a body; and when
29692 rising from that state, it seems as if one's body is suddenly coming into
29693 being. When genuine quiescence is achieved, one's attention can effortlessly
29694 be maintained for hours, even days, on end, with no interference by either
29695 laxity or excitation.
29696 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
29697 to Refining Attention", published by Snow Lion Publications
29699 In Mahayana Buddhism, when one takes the bodhisattva vow, one pledges to
29700 work tirelessly in this life and all future lives to awaken oneself and purify
29701 oneself in order to help all other beings attain freedom from suffering
29702 through spiritual enlightenment. One vows to help beings whenever possible,
29703 and a profound way of doing this is to give a being the gift of life through
29704 an act of kindness. This can take the form of helping an animal in danger
29705 cross the road to safety before being struck by a vehicle or freeing an animal
29706 that is in captivity before it is killed by buying it from the captor and
29707 letting it roam free. If one is in a position to help save another's life--
29708 whether a human or an animal--one must practice fearless kindness to help the
29709 other being in danger.
29710 In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that due to the countless incarnations
29711 all beings have undergone throughout time, at one point or another any given
29712 living creature has been one's mother in a past life. Therefore, it is viewed
29713 as an obligation to repay the kindness of those who are referred to as "mother
29714 sentient beings." If your own mother in this life were in danger, you would
29715 certainly do whatever you could to save her life. Similarly, dedicated
29716 holders of the bodhisattva vow feel this kind of urgency to save the lives of
29717 all "mother sentient beings."
29718 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced and
29719 annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
29721 In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity.
29722 People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like
29723 machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The
29724 purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way
29725 around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to
29726 live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too
29727 much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India
29728 and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.
29729 ...Eating, working, and making money are meaningless in themselves.
29730 However, even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our
29732 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
29733 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
29735 Unlike the Lesser Vehicle tenet systems, which teach only a selflessness of
29736 persons, the Great Vehicle tenet systems teach that the most profound reality,
29737 the most subtle and important type of selflessness, is a selflessness, or
29738 emptiness, that is a quality of all phenomena. They hold that the bodhisattva
29739 trains in altruistically motivated meditation on the emptiness of all
29740 phenomena, thus preparing for the omniscience of buddhahood. Some Great
29741 Vehicle systems maintain that Lesser Vehicle practitioners do not realize the
29742 profound emptiness of phenomena at all and are therefore unable to overcome
29743 the obstructions to omniscience. However, the highest system, the Middle Way
29744 Consequence system, holds that persons on Lesser Vehicle paths do realize
29745 emptiness, but are unable to achieve omniscience on their paths because their
29746 wisdom is not empowered by association with altruism and altruistically
29747 motivated actions of giving, ethics, patience, etc.
29748 -- Guy Newland, "Appearance and Reality: The Two Truths in the Four
29749 Buddhist Tenet Systems", published by Snow Lion Publications
29751 Selflessness in Context: Ultimate Bodhichitta
29752 Let us return for a moment to the beginning of [the Heart] Sutra where the
29753 Buddha enters into the meditative absorption called "appearance of the
29754 profound" and Avalokiteshvara beholds the practice of the profound perfection
29755 of wisdom. Generally speaking, the expression "appearance of the profound"
29756 refers to the bodhisattva deeds, which are encompassed in the practice of the
29757 six perfections. Here, however, the expression refers particularly to the
29758 perfection of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as prajnaparamita. What the text
29759 means by "perfection of wisdom" is a direct, unmediated realization of
29760 emptiness that is also called "ultimate bodhichitta." This is not the direct
29761 realization of emptiness alone; rather it is this direct realization in union
29762 with bodhichitta--the aspiration to become a buddha in order to free all
29763 beings. This union of wisdom and method constitutes the first bhumi, or level
29764 of bodhisattva attainment.
29765 The importance of this altruistic aspiration cannot be overstated.
29766 Bodhichitta is not only important as a motivating factor at the beginning of
29767 practice, it is also important as a complementary and a reinforcing factor
29768 during every stage of the path. The bodhichitta aspiration is twofold,
29769 comprised both of the wish to help others and of the wish to become
29770 enlightened so that one's assistance will be supremely effective.
29771 --from Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom
29772 Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated & edited by Thupten Jinpa
29774 From "The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo" by Padmasambhava
29776 All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
29777 That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
29778 They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
29779 Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the luminous-empty
29781 I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
29782 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29784 All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
29785 That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
29786 Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
29787 Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
29788 I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
29789 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29791 However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
29792 Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
29793 Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the future
29794 or lingers in the past.
29795 Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the
29797 I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated,
29798 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29800 Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
29801 Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
29802 So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
29803 That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
29804 And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
29806 -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
29807 introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
29809 Some people feel that although it may be right to curb feelings of intense
29810 hatred which can cause us to be violent and even to kill, we are in danger of
29811 losing our independence when we restrain our emotions and discipline the mind.
29812 Actually, the opposite is true. Like their counterparts of love and
29813 compassion, anger and the afflictive emotions can never be used up. They
29814 have, rather, a propensity to increase, like a river flooding in summer when
29815 the snow melts, so that far from being free, our minds are enslaved and
29816 rendered helpless by them. When we indulge our negative thoughts and
29817 feelings, inevitably we become accustomed to them. As a result, gradually we
29818 become more prone to them and more controlled by them. And we become
29819 habituated to exploding in the face of displeasing circumstances.
29820 Inner peace, which is the principal characteristic of happiness, and anger
29821 cannot coexist without undermining one another. Indeed, negative thoughts and
29822 emotions undermine the very causes of peace and happiness. In fact, when we
29823 think properly, it is totally illogical to seek happiness if we do nothing to
29824 restrain angry, spiteful, and malicious thoughts and emotions. Consider that
29825 when we become angry, we often use harsh words. Harsh words can destroy
29826 friendship. Since happiness arises in the context of our relationships with
29827 others, if we destroy friendships, we undermine one of the very conditions of
29829 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium", edited by
29830 Alexander Norman, translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpa
29834 Psychologists talk about people who are co-dependent because they don't
29835 have a sense of self. What psychologists mean when they say a person has no
29836 sense of self is very different from what the Buddha meant by no-self or
29837 selflessness. People with psychological problems actually have a very strong
29838 sense of self in the Buddhist sense, although they may not in the
29839 psychological sense of the word. Psychologically, they don't see themselves
29840 as efficacious individuals in the world, but they still have a very strong
29841 sense of "I": "I am worthless." When somebody criticizes them, they don't
29842 like it. They get into co-dependent relationships to protect or to please
29843 this "I." When they fall into self-pity, their sense of an inherently
29844 existent "I" is very strong. Thus they still have self-grasping even though
29845 they lack a psychologically healthy sense of self.
29846 Buddhism recognizes two kinds of sense of self. There's one sense of self
29847 that is healthy and necessary to be efficacious on the path. The object of
29848 this sense of self is the conventionally existent "I." The other sense of
29849 self grasps at an inherently existent self that never has and never will
29850 exist. Within Buddhism, when we talk about realizing emptiness, we're
29851 negating the false self, this self that appears inherently existent to us.
29852 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
29853 Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
29856 Question: If a person views the self and other phenomena as being empty of
29857 any inherent existence, is it then, in that state, possible for them to take
29858 any animate or inanimate phenomenon as their object, and through the power of
29859 imputation or words, enable that object to actually take on a manifesting role
29860 with the qualities which we view objects to have?
29862 His Holiness: This is an instance of not properly understanding the
29863 meaning of "lack of inherent existence." If we think that "emptiness" means
29864 things cannot function, then, with an improper understanding of the view of
29865 emptiness, one will have fallen into nihilism. So, because one has failed to
29866 reconcile emptiness and the fact that things work, this view is incorrect.
29867 That is why it is said that the meaning of emptiness is to be understood in
29868 terms of dependent arising.
29869 Now, since the meaning of emptiness is to be explained in terms of
29870 dependent arising, we can only explain something as arising dependently if
29871 there is a basis, that is, some thing that is dependent. Hence, such a basis
29872 must exist. We see then that when we speak of dependent arising, we are
29873 indicating that things work. Dependent arising proves that things have no
29874 inherent existence, through the fact that things work in dependence on each
29875 other. The fact that things work and the fact that they do so in dependence,
29876 one on the other, eliminates the possibility of their being independent. This
29877 in turn precludes the possibility of inherent existence, since, to inherently
29878 exist means to be independent. Hence, the understanding of emptiness, of the
29879 the emptiness of a kind of inherent existence that is independent, boils down
29880 to understanding dependent arising.
29881 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
29882 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
29884 In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the most profound and commonly
29885 practiced teachings are those of the Vajrayana. Within this powerful system
29886 of skillful means, the supreme view and most potent methods are found in the
29887 teachings and practices of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. These instructions
29888 are regarded as the pinnacle of the teachings and as the most direct path to
29889 realizing the nature of mind and the reality of the world.
29890 The instructions of the Dzogchen lineage are used to directly point out
29891 the nature of mind and bring the experience of enlightenment into our ordinary
29892 life. These teachings are known as "pith instructions," the pure,
29893 quintessential knowledge that cuts through all confusion and gets straight to
29894 the point. There is a saying, "Don't beat around the bush," meaning, "Get to
29895 the point." That is Dzogchen.
29896 In many ways, these teachings go beyond scripture and the formality of
29897 spiritual techniques. These two do have their place, since it is important to
29898 study scripture and meditate in a step-by-step manner. Yet, at some point we
29899 also must connect directly with the nature of mind. We have to strike the
29900 crucial point, the enlightened state, and leap directly into experiencing and
29901 realizing the true nature of our mind.
29902 -- The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche, "Great Perfection: Outer and Inner
29903 Preliminaries", trans. by Cortland Dahl, intro. by Dzogchen Ponlop,
29904 published by Snow Lion Publications
29906 Dzogchen teaches that practice conducted with contriving, rough, fleeting
29907 minds cannot bring enlightenment. Only practice with the deep awareness of
29908 non-contriving rigpa--pure awareness--can bring us to the state of a Buddha.
29909 We can understand this in the same way as we do the statement that practice of
29910 the yoga class of tantras and below cannot bring us enlightenment by itself.
29911 The ultimate, deepest reason why it cannot is that the pathways of practice of
29912 these levels of teaching cannot by themselves make manifest the deep awareness
29913 of subtlest clear light mind. Without the manifestation of the deep awareness
29914 of clear light mind, we do not have the perpetrating causes for an
29915 enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha--causes that are in the
29916 same uncommon category of phenomena as a Buddha's body and mind. Therefore,
29917 no matter how much we practice with pathway minds of yoga tantra and below, we
29918 are never able to attain to enlightenment on their basis alone.
29919 ...when we make clear light mind of deep awareness prominent or enhanced
29920 through techniques presented in the anuttarayoga tantra texts, and then
29921 transform it into the nature of being a pathway mind, only then do we have
29922 what can actualize an enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha.
29923 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
29924 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
29926 Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for
29927 bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or
29928 conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path.
29929 Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably
29930 is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the
29931 bliss occurs, you think, "That's my nature." Based on that, you become
29932 arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the
29933 greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms
29934 of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit
29935 of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because
29936 happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once
29937 it arises, that's where the path stops.
29938 This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up
29939 happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by
29940 happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of
29941 this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune
29942 of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds.
29943 Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve
29944 liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage,
29945 you continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and
29946 appreciating this precious human rebirth.
29947 -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
29948 translated by Sangye Khandro and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
29951 As to what might be the mechanism through which karma plays a causal role
29952 in the evolution of sentience, I find helpful some of the explanations given
29953 in the Vajrayana traditions, often referred to by modern writers as esoteric
29954 Buddhism. According to the Guhyasamaja tantra, a principal tradition within
29955 Vajrayana Buddhism, at the most fundamental level, no absolute division can be
29956 made between mind and matter. Matter in its subtlest form is prana, a vital
29957 energy which is inseparable from consciousness. These two are different
29958 aspects of an indivisible reality. Prana is the aspect of mobility, dynamism,
29959 and cohesion, while consciousness is the aspect of cognition and the capacity
29960 for reflective thinking. So according to the Guhyasamaja tantra, when a world
29961 system comes into being, we are witnessing the play of this energy and
29962 consciousness reality.
29963 ...Despite the success of the Darwinian narrative, I do not believe that
29964 all the elements of the story are in place. To begin with, although Darwin's
29965 theory gives a coherent account of the development of life on this planet and
29966 the various principles underlying it, such as natural selection, I am not
29967 persuaded that it answers the fundamental question of the origin of life.
29968 Darwin himself, I gather, did not see this as an issue. Furthermore, there
29969 appears to be a certain circularity in the notion of "survival of the
29970 fittest." The theory of natural selection maintains that, of the random
29971 mutations that occur in the genes of a given species, those that promote the
29972 greatest chance of survival are most likely to succeed. However, the only
29973 way this hypothesis can be verified is to observe the characteristics of
29974 those mutations that have survived. So in a sense, we are stating simply
29975 this: "Because these genetic mutations have survived, they are the ones that
29976 had the greatest chance of survival."
29977 From the Buddhist perspective, the idea of these mutations being purely
29978 random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the
29979 origin of life. ...One empirical problem in Darwinism's focus on the
29980 competitive survival of individuals, which is defined in terms of an
29981 organism's struggle for individual reproductive success, has consistently been
29982 how to explain altruism, whether in the sense of collaborative behavior, such
29983 as food sharing or conflict resolution among animals like chimpanzees or acts
29984 of self-sacrifice. There are many examples, not only among human beings but
29985 among other species as well, of individuals who put themselves in danger to
29987 ...From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical
29988 assumption--but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is
29989 material and originated out of pure chance.
29990 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence of
29991 Science and Spirituality"
29993 Praising others should be part of our daily life and a component of our
29994 Dharma practice. Imagine what our life would be like if we trained our minds
29995 to dwell on others' talents and good attributes. We would feel much happier
29996 and so would they! We would get along better with others, and our families,
29997 work environments, and living situations would be much more harmonious. We
29998 plants the seeds from such positive actions on our mindstream, creating the
29999 cause for harmonious relationships and success in our spiritual and temporal
30001 An interesting experiment is to try to say something nice to or about
30002 someone every day for a month. Try it. It makes us much more aware of what
30003 we say and why. It encourages us to change our perspective so that we notice
30004 others' good qualities. Doing so also improves our relationships
30006 A few years ago, I gave this as a homework assignment at a Dharma class,
30007 encouraging people to try to praise even someone they didn't like very much.
30008 The next week I asked the students how they did. One man said that the first
30009 day he had to make something up in order to speak positively to a fellow
30010 colleague. But after that, the man was so much nicer to him that it was easy
30011 to see his good qualities and speak about them!
30012 -- Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Publications
30014 Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. -- Unknown
30016 To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
30019 He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
30020 -- Benjamin Franklin
30022 If, after having performed a virtuous action and accumulated its potency,
30023 that potency remained without degenerating until its fruit issued forth in
30024 either this or a future life, it would not be so fragile. But that is not the
30025 case. Rather, the generation of a strong nonvirtuous state of mind, such as
30026 anger, overpowers the capacity of a virtuously established potency so that it
30027 cannot issue forth, much like scorching a seed. Conversely, the generation of
30028 a strong virtuous attitude overpowers potencies established by nonvirtues,
30029 making them unable to issue their effects. Thus it is necessary not only to
30030 achieve many powerful constructive causes but also to avoid contrary forces
30031 that would cause those beneficial causes to degenerate.
30032 The good actions required for accumulating these causes, or potencies,
30033 arise from a tamed mind, whereas bad actions arise from an untamed mind.
30034 Common beings like us have been accustomed to an untamed mind since
30035 beginningless time. Given this predisposition, we can conclude that actions
30036 performed with an untamed mind are more powerful for us and actions performed
30037 with a tamed mind are weaker. It is important to appreciate that this
30038 excellent life support of a human body that we now possess is a wholesome
30039 result of many powerful good actions from a tamed mind in the past. It was
30040 very difficult to gain, and, since it is very rare, you must take care to use
30041 it well, making sure that it is not wasted.
30042 ...If this human endowment, so difficult to attain, were stable and
30043 permanent--not prone to deterioration--there would be time later to make use
30044 of it. However, this life-support system is fragile and easily disintegrates
30045 from many external and internal causes. Aryadeva's "Four Hundred Stanzas on
30046 the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" says that once the body depends on the four
30047 elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which themselves oppose each other,
30048 physical happiness is just an occasional balance of these elements, not an
30050 ...So this human body is a precious endowment, potent and yet fragile.
30051 Simply by virtue of being alive, you are at a very important juncture, and
30052 carry a great responsibility. Powerful good can be achieved for yourself and
30053 others, so becoming distracted by the minor affairs of this lifetime would be
30054 a tremendous waste. You should make wishes to use this lifetime in this body
30055 effectively and make petitions to your guru, the three refuges, and other
30056 sources of help. In doing so, urge yourself on from the inside and seek
30057 assistance from the outside.....
30058 In sum, since this human body, which supports your life, is beneficial,
30059 was difficult to gain, and easily disintegrates, you should use it for your
30060 benefit and that of others. Benefits come from a tamed mind: When your mind
30061 is peaceful, relaxed, and happy, external pleasures such as good food,
30062 clothing, and conversation make things even better, but their absence does not
30063 overpower you. If your mind is not peaceful and tamed, no matter how
30064 marvelous the external circumstances are, you will be burdened by frights,
30065 hopes, and fears. With a tamed mind, you will enjoy wealth or poverty, health
30066 or sickness, you can even die happily. With a tamed mind, having many friends
30067 is wonderful, but if you have no friends, it is all right, too. The root of
30068 your own happiness and welfare rests with a peaceful and tamed mind.
30069 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
30070 and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
30072 One of the reasons there is a need to adopt a strong countermeasure
30073 against someone who harms you is that, if you let it pass, there is a danger
30074 of that person becoming habituated to extremely negative actions, which in the
30075 long run will cause that person's own downfall and is very destructive for the
30076 individual himself or herself. Therefore a strong countermeasure, taken out
30077 of compassion or a sense of concern for the other, is necessary. When you are
30078 motivated by that realization, then there is a sense of concern as part of
30079 your motive for taking that strong measure.
30080 ...One of the reasons why there is some ground to feel compassionate
30081 toward a perpetrator of crime or an aggressor is that the aggressor, because
30082 he or she is perpetrating a crime, is at the causal stage, accumulating the
30083 causes and conditions that later lead to undesirable consequences. So, from
30084 that point of view, there is enough ground to feel compassionate toward the
30086 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
30087 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
30088 by Snow Lion Publications
30090 What do you think would be the chief obstacle in recognizing that each
30091 individual person has been kind to you? In my case, I was afraid of having to
30092 return the kindness, because then I'd be under the control of these people. I
30093 didn't want to do what my parents wanted me to do, although they gave me a lot
30094 of slack--I left college after my first year, went to the woods of Vermont,
30095 went to Tahiti, all on my own with whatever cash I earned. I didn't fit into
30096 the upper-middle-class community where we lived. I didn't want their control;
30097 the lifestyle they were pushing on me was completely unappealing. Therefore,
30098 I refused to recognize their kindness.
30099 However, assuming a debt with respect to every sentient being differs
30100 greatly from having a debt to a few. In this meditation, you start with
30101 friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies and contemplate: "I will
30102 return the debt of kindness that I have with this person through helping her
30103 or him achieve happiness." It is easy to determine that the response to all
30104 sentient beings' kindness cannot be to do everything they want, since, with so
30105 many people, what they want from you would be at cross-purposes. You cannot
30106 even do everything your mother of this lifetime wants you to do, though you
30107 know her advice is, for the most part, motivated by kindness....
30108 Those who help us--our parents, for instance--often attain power over us
30109 for that very reason: "Do as I say because I have helped you." Thus, for some,
30110 it becomes almost a mental habit to refuse to recognize those who have helped
30111 us, because they otherwise would attain some power over us. Still, we know we
30112 should return their many kindnesses. That is one reason why the practice of
30113 reflecting, "This person has helped me in many intimate ways and thus I must
30114 do something in return," gets to be uncomfortable, but when it is extended to
30115 more and more beings, we have to find a way of intending to return their
30116 kindness without coming under their misguided influence.
30117 ...one cannot do everything all those sentient beings want. There are so
30118 many of them, and they want such contradictory things. Besides, to fulfill
30119 what they temporarily want may not be the best way to help them. The greatest
30120 of all ways to return their kindness is to help them become free from all
30121 suffering and to assist in the process of becoming liberated from cyclic
30122 existence and attaining the bliss of Buddhahood. It is important to realize
30123 here in the step of developing an intention to return others' kindness that
30124 acknowledging a debt does not mean that you must do what they say. Otherwise,
30125 you might hold back from the truth of their attentive care.
30126 --Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
30127 with Others", foreword by the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
30130 ...Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise says, "That which arises dependently
30131 we explain as emptiness. This [emptiness] is dependent designation; this is
30132 the middle way." His Refutation of Objections says, "I bow down to the
30133 Buddha, the unequaled, supreme teacher, who taught that emptiness, dependent
30134 arising, and the middle way hold a single meaning."
30135 For Tsong-kha-pa, the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising is
30136 the very heart of the Madhyamaka view and the key to the path. Dependent
30137 arising means that things come into being in dependence upon causes and
30138 conditions. Understanding dependent arising correctly refutes the idea that
30139 things exist in and of themselves--because they must depend on other things.
30140 In the same moment, it also refutes the nihilist extreme--because it shows
30141 that things do arise, they do come into existence, and they affect one
30142 another. Thus, Tsong-kha-pa advises that if you think that you may have found
30143 the profound view of emptiness, you should check to see if you have negated
30144 too much. Can this "emptiness" you have discovered be reconciled with the
30145 mere existence of things that arise interdependently? If not, then you are
30146 certainly mistaken.
30147 ...The point is that one cannot become a buddha without both compassionate
30148 action and nondual wisdom--and one cannot have these two types of path without
30149 both of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. If only emptiness existed
30150 and there were, in fact, no conventional truths, then there would be no living
30151 beings, no suffering to relieve; thus there would be no compassionate action;
30152 and thus there would be no buddhahood. Therefore, maintaining the
30153 compatibility of the two truths--the compatibility of emptiness and dependent
30154 arising--is crucial to the whole of the Dharma.
30155 -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
30156 Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion
30159 Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.
30160 -- William S. Burroughs
30162 ...let us discuss true sources of suffering. The fact that sufferings are
30163 not always produced but are produced in some places at some times and cease at
30164 some times and in some places indicates that they are caused. Logically, it
30165 can be said that sufferings are caused because of being produced occasionally.
30166 If sufferings were produced causelessly, either they would never exist or they
30167 would always exist.
30168 Since sufferings are caused, one needs to look into what their causes are.
30169 In the Buddhist systems, the causes are explained to be contaminated actions
30170 and afflictive emotions....
30171 For instance, if I had an angry feeling, this could serve as a motivating
30172 force that would lead to a harsh attitude, harsh speech, and harsh physical
30173 gestures. Since the anger that serves as the motivating factor is a
30174 defIlement--an afflictive emotion--the physical and verbal actions done
30175 through that motivating force are negative karmas, negative actions. Through
30176 them, the atmosphere immediately changes into one of tension. Right away, I
30177 might not feel the effects of those actions, perhaps even feeling that I had
30178 gained a victory over someone, even shouting, "I have won." However, later I
30179 will feel very sorry and shy, deep down experiencing a guilty conscience.
30180 Similarly, those around me would immediately lose their tranquility and peace.
30181 These are painful results of actions impelled by a bad motivation. This is
30182 the law of karma--motivation, action, result.
30183 Conversely, a good, open, sincere motivation such as compassion with a
30184 deep respect for others impels verbal and physical actions that immediately
30185 create a peaceful, harmonious, enjoyable atmosphere. Due to that, I feel
30186 happy and calm, enjoying that atmosphere, and others around me also enjoy the
30187 same. Therefore, bad motivation creates problems, suffering, and pain,
30188 whereas good motivation creates happiness and peacefulness--something good.
30189 This is the general explanation. On a deeper level, right at the time of
30190 an action, predisposing potencies are instilled in the consciousness. The
30191 performance of an action establishes a predisposing potency in the mind that,
30192 in the future, will serve as the causal condition for one's experiencing a
30193 good or bad effect.
30194 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
30195 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
30196 published by Snow Lion Publications
30198 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
30199 Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. Below is a
30200 teaching given during March 2008.)
30204 Have you ever had this experience? You walk outside, and all of a sudden
30205 the silence strikes you--it's in such sharp contrast to the chatter that's
30206 going on in the mind.
30207 We live in a very quiet place. We walk outside and it's pretty quiet--a
30208 few birds chirping, sun shining. Then suddenly the chatter in the mind stops
30209 because we see that it's just chatter. It's in such stark contrast to the
30210 silence that's outside.
30211 We want to learn to notice that chatter before we even have to walk
30212 outside. And we want to be able to find that quiet place inside ourselves and
30213 keep it with us, so that even when we're in a place where there is a lot of
30214 noise, the mind can be quiet.
30215 All that mental chatter is basically negative conceptualization. If we
30216 were thinking about emptiness or developing compassion with that kind of
30217 mental activity, fine! Continue that outside, inside, everywhere. But most
30218 of the time what's going on is, "I like this. I don't like this. I want
30219 this. I don't want that. Why does this person do this? Why don't they do
30220 that?" That kind of mental activity makes the mind quite stressful as well
30221 as accumulates negative karma and wastes a great deal of time.
30222 As soon as we can catch it and be aware of what's going on in our mind,
30223 and come back to that silent space inside, the more peaceful we'll be. Our
30224 lives will be more productive in terms of having the Dharma grow in our
30225 hearts, and we'll be more focused in whatever daily activities we're doing.
30226 We won't be quite so distracted.
30227 -- Thubten Chodron, author of numerous books, including Buddhism for
30228 Beginners; Taming the Mind; Open Heart, Clear Mind; and Working
30231 ...if people have compassion, naturally that's something they can count
30232 on; even if they have economic problems and their fortune declines, they still
30233 have something to share with fellow human beings. World economies are always
30234 so tenuous and we are subject to so many losses in life, but a compassionate
30235 attitude is something that we can always carry with us.
30236 ...Of course, in attempting to explain to someone the importance of
30237 compassion, in some cases, you might be dealing with a very hardened,
30238 individualistic, and selfish person, someone concerned only with her or his
30239 own interests. And it is even possible that there are people who may not have
30240 the capacity to empathize with even someone whom they love or who may be close
30241 to them. But even to such people, it is still possible to present the
30242 importance of compassion and love on the grounds that it's the best way to
30243 fulfill their self-interests. They wish to have good health, live a longer
30244 life, and have peace of mind, happiness, and joy. And if these are things
30245 that they desire, I've heard that there is scientific evidence that these
30246 things can be enhanced by feelings of love and compassion.
30247 ...educating someone about these facts and scientific studies could
30248 certainly encourage some people to cultivate a more compassionate state of
30249 mind. But I think that, even aside from scientific studies, there are other
30250 arguments that people could understand and appreciate from their own practical
30251 or direct everyday experience. For example, you could point out that lack of
30252 compassion leads to a certain ruthlessness. There are many examples
30253 indicating that at some level deep down, ruthless people generally suffer from
30254 a kind of unhappiness and discontent, people like Stalin and Hitler. Such
30255 people suffer from a kind of nagging sense of insecurity and fear. Even when
30256 they are sleeping I think that sense of fear remains... these people lack
30257 something that you can find in a more compassionate person--a sense of
30258 freedom, a sense of abandonment, so when you sleep you can relax and let go.
30259 Ruthless people never have that experience. Something is always gripping
30260 them; there is some kind of hold on them, and they aren't able to experience
30261 that feeling of letting go, that sense of freedom.
30262 ...There are always different degrees of benefit that one might receive
30263 from practicing various methods and techniques, depending on one's particular
30264 circumstances.... First, through learning, thoroughly understanding the value
30265 of compassion--this gives you a feeling of conviction and determination.
30266 Then, employing methods to enhance empathy, such as using your imagination,
30267 your creativity, to visualize yourself in another's situation. And certain
30268 exercises or practices that you can undertake, such as Tong-Len, serve to
30269 strengthen your compassion. But I think it's important to remember that these
30270 techniques... were developed to help as many as possible, at least some
30271 portion of the human population. But it was never expected that these
30272 techniques could help 100 percent of people, the entire human population.
30273 ...the main point really, if we are talking about various methods to
30274 develop compassion, the important thing is that people make a sincere effort
30275 to develop their capacity for compassion. If they make their best efforts to
30276 be kinder, to cultivate compassion and make the world a better place, then at
30277 the end of the day they can say, "At least I've done my best!"
30278 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
30279 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
30281 In ascertaining luminous clarity at the time of the path, the general
30282 technique is to rest evenly in the very essence of luminous clarity. Telopa
30285 Rest relaxed within the uncontrived native state;
30286 Bonds are released and freedom is sure.
30288 This and other such instructions are expressed unanimously by the mighty
30289 adepts. Accordingly, with the body in the seven-point posture of meditative
30290 stability, the mind rests without support, relaxed and uncontrived. This will
30291 create the unerring yogic direct perception of emptiness. This is the
30292 ultimate esoteric instruction of the completion phase found in the profound
30293 tantras. The reason is that once the vital points of the vajra body, which is
30294 the support, are bound, the mind, eyes, and energy currents remain in a state
30295 of nonthought. Because of the special interconnection between body and mind,
30296 the movement in the right and left channels is stopped and immobilized within
30297 the central channel, causing the direct experience of mahamudra, emptiness
30299 Therefore the luminous mind, which is the supported, is realized as empty
30300 appearance arising as the mahamudra of forms of emptiness. This, again,
30301 depends on the dissolution of the energy currents of the right and left
30302 channels in the central channel, the supreme support. There is no more
30303 profound method for affecting this dissolution than resting the mind once it
30304 is uncontrived and relaxed. Therefore, in all the esoteric instructions of
30305 highest tantra, this is called "the esoteric instruction of withdrawal" in the
30307 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
30308 Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
30309 Meditation in Vajrayana", trans. and annot. by Sarah Harding, foreword
30310 by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
30312 Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
30315 Dignity does not consist in a silk dress. -- A saying from the Orient
30317 To solve the problems humanity is facing, we need to organize meetings of
30318 scholars, educators, social workers, neuroscientists, physicians, and experts
30319 from all fields to discuss the positive and negative sides of what we have
30320 done thus far, as well as what needs to be introduced and what needs to be
30321 changed in our educational system. Proper environment plays a crucial role in
30322 the healthy growth of a child. All problems, including terrorism, can be
30323 overcome through education, particularly by introducing concern for all others
30324 at the preschool level.
30325 Living in society, we must share the suffering of our fellow citizens and
30326 practice compassion and tolerance not only toward our loved ones but also
30327 toward our enemies. This is the test of our moral strength. We must set an
30328 example by our own practice. We must live by the same high standards of
30329 integrity we seek to convey to others. The ultimate purpose is to serve and
30331 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
30332 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
30334 "When Tibet was still free, we cultivated our natural isolation,
30335 mistakenly thinking that we could prolong our peace and security that way.
30336 Consequently, we paid little attention to the changes taking place in the
30337 world outside. Later, we learned the hard way that in the international
30338 arena, as well as at home, freedom is something to be shared and enjoyed in
30339 the company of others, not kept to yourself." Budapest, 1994
30340 "I believe that Tibet will be free only when its people become strong, and
30341 hatred is not strength. It is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being
30342 religious, in the popular sense of the term, when he said that hatred does not
30343 cease by hatred. Rather, he was being practical. Any achievement attained
30344 through hatred [can only invite] trouble sooner or later." Statement, 10 March
30346 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by
30349 Persons from orally oriented cultures, writes Ong, tend to project their
30350 sensibilities, to see them expressed in the world around them. More widely
30351 literate cultures create persons who tend to withdraw for insight into their
30352 own personal psyches. Orally oriented peoples may thus be more inclined than
30353 persons in print-dominated cultures to set their feelings or experiences in
30354 the space around them, including the invisible spirits presumed to occupy that
30355 space, and less likely to project these feelings and experiences onto
30356 individual persons. In Tibet lineages or sects are the most likely targets of
30357 negative projections. Western print-oriented persons are more likely to
30358 project their feelings onto other individuals, especially people in
30359 significant relationships with them. Unlike Tibet, or the premodern West, the
30360 contemporary West tends to identify the mind as the exclusive locus of ideas,
30361 feelings, and values. With this localization, the mind becomes "psychic" in a
30362 new sense, distinct from bodily soma and from the larger world.
30363 This very different configuration of personhood affects the way Westerners
30364 are likely to understand the Great Bliss Queen practice. For example, there
30365 is a tendency among Westerners for "visualization" to be a more disembodied
30366 practice than it is for Tibetans. The point in imagining oneself as the Great
30367 Bliss Queen is not just to replace one visual image of oneself with another,
30368 as if observing a changing scene in a movie theater, but to experience a
30369 physical as well as mental shift from deep inside the body.
30370 -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
30371 and the Art of the Self", published by Snow Lion Publications
30373 ...when you recognize how kind someone has been to you, you are using an
30374 ordinary worldly attitude to help keep you from responses of hatred. For
30375 instance, if someone gave me a grant with a blank check to form a team of
30376 translators of Tibetan thought, I would be more than extremely pleased. Now
30377 if the person who gave me the money came by someday and gave me a hard time, I
30378 would feel a measure of restraint due to reflecting on the person's kindness.
30379 I would seek other means to work things out with the person. When you reflect
30380 how kind every person has been, there is that restraint to the point where,
30381 believe it or not, trained Buddhists will look at a fly or an ant walking
30382 across the table and think, "This is someone who bore me in her womb in a
30383 former lifetime, who took care of me."
30384 If you watch how mothers take precautions for a child in the womb, it is
30385 clear that they do a great deal to help it. They eat nourishing foods and
30386 avoid harmful substances like coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. If you
30387 reflect on how such a mother takes care of the child in the womb and extend
30388 this reflection to all sentient beings, I think that because your field of
30389 awareness is no longer just a few sentient beings but is gradually expanding
30390 to more and more, you can reflect on the mother's kindness without doing it
30391 merely because you were helped. The staggering debt deflates your sense of
30392 exaggerated importance. The boil is pricked.
30393 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
30394 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
30395 Snow Lion Publications
30397 He that can have patience can have what he will. -- Benjamin Franklin
30399 One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade.
30402 Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. -- Diogenes the Cynic
30404 Fashion is something that goes in one year and out the other. -- Unknown
30406 I'm a born-again atheist. -- Gore Vidal
30408 Buddha's teachings on non-manifest phenomena, such as the extremely subtle
30409 presentations of actions and their effect--which are very hidden phenomena--
30410 cannot be proved with reasoning. How then can they be verified?
30411 There is no need to verify manifest phenomena through reasoning because
30412 they appear directly to the senses. The slightly hidden, however, can be
30413 proved with reasoning that generates inferential understanding, and since
30414 emptiness is very profound but only slightly hidden, it is accessible to
30416 ...very hidden phenomena cannot be proved with reasoning, and it seems
30417 that Buddha can say whatever he likes. However, through our own experience we
30418 can confirm Buddha's teachings on more important topics such as emptiness, the
30419 altruistic mind of enlightenment, love, and compassion, for no matter who
30420 analyses--Buddhist or non-Buddhist--or how much one analyses, if the person is
30421 not biased through desire or hatred, these teachings can bear analysis and
30422 serve as powerful sources of thought. When you see that Buddha does not err
30423 with regard to these more important phenomena, you can accept his other
30425 ...The process of cyclic existence and the eradication of it can be proved
30426 by the reasoning that establishes the misconception of inherent existence as
30427 its root cause and establishes the wisdom cognising emptiness as its antidote.
30428 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in
30429 Tibet", published by Snow Lion Publications
30431 Meditation on [or cultivation of] the six deities is like faith or love
30432 meditation in that the mind is being generated into the entity of the object
30433 meditated. When faith or love are meditated, those two are not the object
30434 observed but the entity into which the consciousness is being generated.
30435 Meditation on impermanence or emptiness, on the other hand, means to take
30436 these as the object and meditate on them. Thus, there are two types of
30437 meditation--of a subjective aspect and on an objective aspect. Meditation on
30438 the six deities is the former, for first one generates a wisdom consciousness
30439 knowing the sameness in suchness of oneself and the deity--the ultimate--and
30440 then causes it to appear as the sounds, letters, and finally the form of the
30442 --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
30443 "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
30446 Once we realize emptiness, all phenomena are included within this reality,
30447 which is not separate from the cause and effect of karma and which is free of
30448 mental constructs. On this ultimate level of realization, it is possible to
30449 state that there is no wholesome or unwholesome action. When we have realized
30450 the nature of all phenomena, negative actions naturally subside and positive
30451 ones are spontaneously accomplished. Until this time, however, we would be
30452 slipping into nihilism if we said that the phenomena of relative truth, such
30453 as positive and negative actions or karma, do not exist.
30454 Just knowing this authentic view, however, is not enough. For others to
30455 be able to experience it, we must also know the scriptures and reasonings so
30456 that we can teach. Without the support of this knowledge, it will be
30457 difficult for others to trust what we say, and so Milarepa speaks of scripture
30458 and reasoning as an adornment to realization.
30460 Dissolving thoughts into the dharmakaya--
30461 Is this not meditation naturally arising?
30462 Join it with experience
30463 To make it beautifully adorned.
30465 One way to understand meditation is to see it as a practice of working
30466 with the many thoughts that arise in our mind. With realization they arise as
30467 mere appearances of the dharmakaya, the natural arising of mind's essential
30468 nature. Being clear about this true nature of thought is called "attaining
30469 the level of natural arising." At this point, there is no difference in any
30470 thought that may arise, because we see the nature of each thought to be
30471 emptiness, arising as the dharmakaya. Meditation could be defined as
30472 realizing the dharmakaya of the Buddha.
30473 -- Michele Martin, "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the
30474 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje", published by Snow Lion Publications
30476 Who is the supreme friend
30477 always helpful in times of need?
30478 Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions
30479 learned through study and contemplation.
30480 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama
30482 Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an
30483 inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own
30484 destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.
30485 Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of
30486 study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our
30487 ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the
30488 situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.
30489 When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away,
30490 several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What
30491 will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my
30492 teachings, at that time I am there with you."
30493 The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we
30494 are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more
30495 trustworthy and reliable friend?"
30496 -- Glenn H. Mullin, "Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama",
30497 published by Snow Lion Publications
30499 I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
30500 responsibility for humanity as a whole. Particularly, I always believe that
30501 as scientists, you have a special responsibility. Besides your own
30502 profession, you have a basic motivation to serve humanity, to try to produce
30503 better, happier human beings. Whether we understand consciousness or not, we
30504 must produce warm-hearted persons. That is important. I want to express
30505 that. Whenever I meet scientists, I always have to say this.
30506 Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
30507 This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with my
30508 philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
30509 philosophy, but I feel alright. So long as I see that a human being suffers
30510 or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
30511 benefit. Scientists and medically qualified people can contribute especially.
30512 That's different; that's a particular context. A human being needs to be
30513 cared for according to your professional calling. You can contribute; that's
30514 your shared professional responsibility
30515 -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
30516 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
30517 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
30518 Snow Lion Publications
30520 ...while walking in a park the body may be in the park while the mind is
30521 off working in the office, or at home, or talking to a distant friend, or
30522 making a list of groceries. That means the mind has disconnected from the
30523 body. Instead, when looking at a flower, really look at it. Be fully
30524 present. With the help of the flower, bring the mind back to the park.
30525 Appreciation for sensory experience reconnects mind and body. When the
30526 experience of the flower is felt throughout the body, a healing occurs; this
30527 can be the same when seeing a tree, smelling smoke, feeling the cloth of your
30528 shirt, hearing a bird call, or tasting an apple. Train yourself to vividly
30529 experience sensory objects without judgment. Try completely to be the eye
30530 with form, the nose with smell, the ear with sound, and so on. Try to be
30531 complete in experience while remaining in just the bare awareness of the
30533 When this ability is developed, reactions will still occur. Upon seeing
30534 the flower, judgements about its beauty will arise, or a smell may be judged
30535 to be foul. Even so, with practice the connection to the pure sensory
30536 experience can be maintained rather than continuing to become lost in the
30537 mind's distraction. Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it
30538 can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us
30539 to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and
30540 nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the
30541 underpinning of successful dream yoga.
30542 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
30543 edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
30545 To succeed in practicing any form of tantra, it is necessary first to
30546 train in developing the altruistic intention to become enlightened. Dzong-
30547 ka-ba says that this needs to be done "in accordance with the quintessential
30548 instructions," these being found in his Great Exposition of the Stages of the
30549 Path to Enlightenment. Specifically, such an altruistic intention is
30550 generated by way of the seven cause and effect quintessential instructions or
30551 the equalizing and switching of self and other. To do those, it is necessary
30552 to identify what liberation is and to develop an awareness seeking liberation,
30553 for which it is necessary to reflect on the three types of suffering and
30554 develop an intention to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
30555 this life and then to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
30556 future lives, developing an intention to leave such cyclic existence entirely,
30557 whereupon it is possible to reflect on how others suffer and develop
30558 compassion. Done continuously over a long period of time, at best one should
30559 develop a fully qualified altruistic intention to become enlightened, and at
30560 least one should develop such an intention from the depths of the heart.
30561 With such altruism as your basic motivation it is possible to receive
30562 initiation and take the pledges that lay out a type of behavior conducive to
30564 ...nowadays some people look on the practice of religion as if it were
30565 something that causes them to lose their freedom. Opposite to this, rules
30566 [for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and overcoming afflictive
30567 emotions] are for the sake of utilizing your freedom to develop the limitless
30568 qualities of Buddhahood, in the quest for which you should never be satisfied.
30569 Toward material things, which necessarily have a limit, it is best to be
30570 satisfied with what you have, but with regard to the limitless development of
30571 spiritual qualities, you should never be satisfied with a mere portion, but
30572 continually seek higher development. The rules themselves make your mind
30573 conducive to such progress, so there is no reason to be uptight about them.
30574 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
30575 Paths to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
30576 published by Snow Lion Publications
30578 The practice of Dzogchen may begin with doing fixation on an object, in
30579 order to calm one's thoughts. Then one relaxes the fixation, dissolving the
30580 dependence on the object, and one fixes one's gaze in open space. Then, when
30581 one succeeds in making the calm state stable, it is important to work with the
30582 movement of one's thoughts and one's energy, integrating this movement with
30583 the presence of contemplation. At this point one is ready to apply
30584 contemplation in one's daily life. The system of practice just described is
30585 characteristic of the Series of the Nature of the Mind, but that is not to say
30586 that in Dzogchen one must necessarily begin with fixation and meditation on a
30587 calm state. In the Series of Primordial Space, and the Series of Secret
30588 Instructions, for example, one enters directly into the practice of
30589 contemplation. Particularly in the former, there are very precise
30590 instructions on how to find the pure state of contemplation. In the latter,
30591 on the other hand, the explanations are mainly concerned with how one
30592 continues in contemplation in all circumstances.
30593 The practice of contemplation is concisely explained in the line that
30594 reads, "but vision nevertheless manifests: all is good." Even if the
30595 condition of "what is" cannot be grasped with the mind, the whole
30596 manifestation of the primordial state, including our karmic vision, does
30597 nevertheless exist. All the various aspects of forms, colours, and so on,
30598 continue to arise without interruption. When we find ourselves in
30599 contemplation, this doesn't mean that our impure vision just disappears
30600 and pure vision manifests instead. If we have a physical body, there is a
30601 karmic cause for that, so there would be no sense in trying to abandon or
30602 deny the situation we find ourselves in. We just need to be aware of it.
30603 If we have a vision of the material, physical level of existence, which is
30604 the cause of so very many problems, we need to understand that this vision
30605 is only the gross aspect of the colours, which are the essence of the elements.
30606 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
30607 Adriano Clemente, translated by John Shane, published by Snow Lion Pub.
30609 Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
30612 A tantric yogi who has gained control of the subtle energies of the body
30613 and the subtle levels of consciousness will have control over the inner and
30614 outer elements and consequently can transform his or her ordinary samsaric
30615 form into a joyous rainbow body. But until we can do this, we have to accept
30616 the fact that our physical basis is a magnet attracting every kind of
30617 discomfort and pain.
30618 ...This samsaric body keeps us running all of our lives. We have to run
30619 to fulfill its endless needs, to keep it away from things that may harm it,
30620 and to protect it from anything unpleasant. We have to give it pleasure and
30621 comfort. We become ordained, and at first this is very satisfactory; but soon
30622 our body makes it so difficult for us that we think our practice would be less
30623 disturbed if we were to live as a layperson. So we give up and return to
30624 ordinary life; but then we end up with a family to support, leaving us with no
30625 time or energy for meditation. We have the pressing tasks of feeding,
30626 clothing, and sheltering our children, and of arranging their education and so
30627 forth. Our lives are spent alternating between work and worry, with
30628 occasional short periods of pleasure, and then we have to die; but even this
30629 we cannot do in peace, for, when we lie down to die, our last thoughts are
30630 worried ones concerning the family we are leaving behind. Such is the nature
30631 of worldly existence.
30632 ...To care for our old people--these ones who have given us our body, our
30633 life, and our culture--is a sacred duty of humanity. But most humans act more
30634 like animals than people, and often we see old people who have been abandoned
30635 by their families. Family units were very strong in Tibet, and old people
30636 were usually cared for directly by relatives. The national care for the old
30637 that we see in the West is something very good, a healthy sign, although
30638 perhaps here the spiritual and psychological basis is somewhat lacking.
30639 The suffering of old age is something we all must face, unless we die
30640 prematurely. There is nothing we can do about it. Gone will be that false
30641 sense of personal ability and strength that made us so proud when we were
30642 young. Instead, helpers or friends will bathe us, dress us, spoonfeed us, and
30643 have to take us to the toilet. Rather than live under the delusion of
30644 permanence, we should engage in spiritual training so that we can enter old
30645 age at least with the grace of wisdom.
30646 ...So we can see that this body indeed causes us much grief in this life
30647 and, sadly, in their quest to satisfy its many needs, most people just collect
30648 an endless stream of negative karmic instincts that will lead them to lower
30649 rebirths in the future. These are the sufferings of the human world.
30650 ...The important point here is to become aware of the third type of
30651 suffering, the subtle suffering that pervades all imperfect existence, the
30652 all-pervading misery concomitant with having a perishable, samsaric base....
30653 [All are] enmeshed in suffering because the nature of their body and mind is
30654 bound with compulsive cyclic processes. Until we develop the wisdom that is
30655 able to free the mind from these compelling forces, there is no doubt that we
30656 shall experience suffering throughout our lives, and that we shall continue to
30657 wander endlessly in the wheel of birth, life, death, and rebirth where the
30658 presence of misery can always be felt.
30659 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
30660 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
30662 Observing the Mind Itself
30664 The primary meditative technique of great perfection is remaining in the
30665 state of pure awareness. This is accomplished by calming the mind and then
30666 abiding in comprehension of its basic clear light nature. The meditative
30667 practice involves being cognizant of the arising and passing away of feelings,
30668 emotions, sensations, etc., but understanding them within the context of pure
30669 awareness. The more one does this, the more one realizes that all phenomena
30670 arise from mind and remerge into it. They are of the nature of pure awareness
30671 and are a projection of luminosity and emptiness. Through cultivating this
30672 understanding, mental phenomena of their own accord begin to subside, allowing
30673 the clear light nature of mind to become manifest. They appear as reflections
30674 on the surface of a mirror and are perceived as illusory, ephemeral, and
30676 Those who succeed in this practice attain a state of radical freedom:
30677 there are no boundaries, no presuppositions, and no habits on which to rely.
30678 One perceives things as they are in their naked reality. Ordinary beings view
30679 phenomena through a lens clouded by concepts and preconceptions, and most of
30680 the world is overlooked or ignored. The mind of the great perfection adept,
30681 however, is unbounded, and everything is possible. For many beginners, this
30682 prospect is profoundly disquieting, because since beginningless time we have
30683 been constricted by rules, laws, assumptions, and previous actions. One who
30684 is awakened, however, transcends all such limitations; there is no ground on
30685 which to stand, no limits, nothing that must be done, and no prohibitions.
30686 This awareness is bottomless, unfathomable, immeasurable, permeated by joy,
30687 unboundedness, and exhilaration. One is utterly free, and one's state of mind
30688 is as expansive as space. Those who attain this level of awareness also
30689 transcend physicality and manifest the "rainbow body" ('ja lus), a form
30690 comprising pure light that cannot decay, which has no physical aspects, and
30691 which is coterminous with the nature of mind.
30692 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
30693 Snow Lion Publications
30695 Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
30698 In a democracy it's your vote that counts;
30699 in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
30702 You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. -- Indira Gandhi
30704 Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
30705 -- Langston Coleman
30707 Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
30708 remain an artist once he grows up.
30711 Among Tibetans, at least traditionally, the economic conditions are such
30712 that this nine-to-five daily employment isn't really an important part of
30713 [working life]. In Tibet, either you are a farmer or a nomad or a merchant.
30714 The work is seasonal.... During the season they work very hard, and when they
30715 finish they come back and don't have any employment.
30716 ...in modern society, and particularly in industrialized nations, the
30717 issue of unemployment is a very difficult situation. There are no easy
30718 answers. One has no choice but to try to cope, and make one's best effort to
30719 find new work. There is just no other solution.
30720 However, the basic attitude of the individual plays a very significant
30721 role, and can make a big difference in how someone responds. While we may not
30722 have control over our situation, our attitude is something that we have some
30723 control over. So first, what we need to realize is that uncertainty and
30724 change are very much a part of the modern economy, particularly with regard to
30725 employment. That is a serious problem, but a fact that we have to accept.
30726 There is no guarantee that there will be a job tomorrow if you are working
30727 today. So, if we understand this ahead of time, it may change how we respond
30728 when that happens. Then we won't feel so surprised, as if we are singled out.
30729 We understand that the loss of a job has many factors, the result of many
30730 causes and conditions. We will understand that, in many cases, it may even
30731 have roots in global economic issues. This way, we won't become so upset by
30732 taking it personally, or looking around us for someone to blame for our
30733 problems. This alone may help reduce our mental agitation. Of course, here
30734 we are talking about unemployment due to some wider causes or layoffs, not due
30735 to being fired because of one's own incompetence.
30736 So there might be different ways in which individuals will respond to the
30737 challenges of change. What is important is to acknowledge this fact and try
30738 to work out how best to cope with the immediate problem itself. For example,
30739 if you need employment as a means of your livelihood and if you become
30740 unemployed, then all your efforts should be put into looking for new
30741 employment so that your livelihood will be secure. But there are two
30742 different responses. One person may feel demoralized and become sort of
30743 paralyzed, thinking, There is no hope, I lost my job, what am I supposed to
30744 do? But another individual in the same situation might look at it as an
30745 opportunity to make some changes. As a challenge. So that is the more
30746 positive way, the more proactive way of dealing with this problem. But of
30747 course it is not easy.
30748 There may also be other ways that might help at least reduce the mental
30749 anxiety of dealing with the situation, so that a person can use all their
30750 mental energy to find new work. For Buddhists, there are certain thought
30751 processes and considerations that help--for example, the belief in karma
30752 [one's actions] and ultimately taking responsibility for one's own karma.
30753 Although this kind of mental attitude may not have any effect in physically
30754 resolving the situation, at least it will help ease the individual from the
30755 psychological effect of losing the job, and so on. And of course, believers
30756 in other religious systems can also take some consolation in their own
30758 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
30759 "The Art of Happiness at Work"
30761 Compassion and love are not man-made. Ideology is man-made, but
30762 compassion and love are produced by nature. It is important to recognize
30763 natural qualities, especially when we face a problem and fail to find a
30764 solution. For example... in religious business, sometimes even due to
30765 religion, we create a problem. If we try to solve that problem using
30766 religious methods, it is quite certain that we will not succeed. So I feel
30767 that when we face those kinds of problems, it is important to return to our
30768 basic human quality. Then I think we will find that solutions come easier.
30769 Therefore, I usually say that the best way to solve human problems is with
30770 human understanding.
30771 It is very important to recognize the basic nature of humanity and the
30772 value of human qualities. Whether one is educated or uneducated, rich or
30773 poor, or belongs to this nation or that nation, this religion or that
30774 religion, this ideology or that ideology, is secondary and doesn't matter.
30775 When we return to this basis, all people are the same. Then we can truly say
30776 the words brother, sister; then they are not just nice words--they have some
30777 meaning. That kind of motivation automatically builds the practice of
30778 kindness. This gives us inner strength.
30779 ...Next, let us talk about the human being as a social animal. Even if we
30780 do not like other people, we have to live together. Natural law is such that
30781 even bees and other animals have to live together in cooperation. I am
30782 attracted to bees because I like honey--it is really delicious. Their product
30783 is something that we cannot produce, very beautiful, isn't it? I exploit them
30784 too much, I think. Even these insects have certain responsibilities, they
30785 work together very nicely. They have no constitution, they have no law, no
30786 police, nothing, but they work together effectively. This is because of
30787 nature. Similarly, each part of a flower is not arranged by humans but by
30788 nature. The force of nature is something remarkable. We human beings, we
30789 have constitutions, we have law, we have a police force, we have religion, we
30790 have many things. But in actual practice, I think that we are behind those
30792 Sometimes civilization brings good progress, but we become too involved
30793 with this progress and neglect or forget about our basic nature. Every
30794 development in human society should take place on the basis of the foundation
30795 of the human nature. If we lose that basic foundation, there is no point in
30796 such developments taking place.
30797 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
30798 About the Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
30799 Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
30801 Emphasizing neither renunciation nor transformation, though incorporating
30802 both into its preparatory practices, the Great Completeness provides a
30803 method know as "self-liberation" (rang 'grol), sometimes described as
30804 "liberation in its own spot" (rang sar 'grol). Liberation takes place in the
30805 situation just as it is, because one's mind and all things are, despite
30806 powerful appearances to the contrary, primordially pure. If one has not yet
30807 made this essential discovery, the Great Bliss Queen ritual can prepare one
30808 for it. If one is familiar with the Great Completeness perspective, one
30809 performs the visualization and recitation of the Great Bliss Queen ritual
30810 entirely within an experience of innate awareness. In either case, the ritual
30811 encompasses the three nondualisms already discussed.
30812 One way of accessing the primordial purity so important to the Great
30813 Completeness tradition is a practice known as "pure vision." This involves
30814 visualizing companions, family, surroundings, and so forth as creations of
30815 light, the habitat of an enlightened being. From the viewpoint of the Great
30816 Completeness, such pure vision is not an imaginative overlay, but a move
30817 toward understanding things as they are. As Khetsun Sangpo taught it, this
30818 practice allows you to understand that apparently ordinary things and persons
30819 have "been [primordially pure] from the beginning" so that "you are
30820 identifying their own proper nature. Your senses normally misrepresent what
30821 is there, but through this visualization you can come closer to what actually
30822 exists." In short, by identifying one's body, companions, and world with
30823 those of the Great Bliss Queen, one develops the ability to discover what has
30824 always been there. This being so, there is no need to renounce or change
30825 anything, only to see it more completely. This is the Great Completeness
30826 tradition's special mix of ontological and cognitive nondualisms. Unlike the
30827 tantric traditions, in which it is necessary to cease the coarse sense and
30828 mental consciousness in order for the most subtle mind of clear light to
30829 appear, the Dalai Lama observes that "in the Old [Nyingma] Translation School
30830 of the Great Completeness it is possible to be introduced to the clear light
30831 without the cessation of the six operative consciousnesses." Hence the
30832 possibility of "discovering" what is already in our midst. Such discovery
30833 reveals a spontaneous presence (yon dan hlun gyis grub ba) of collateral
30834 qualities such as clarity and spontaneous responsiveness. Thus, comments
30835 Longchen Rabjam, "primordially pure primordial wisdom is free in the face of
30836 thought and the primordial wisdom, with a nature of spontaneity, abides as
30837 primordial radiance, and profound clarity."
30838 -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
30839 and the Art of the Self", by published by Snow Lion Publications
30841 Why is it that meeting our yidam deity directly and receiving the deity's
30842 blessing are so important? If we are studying texts and wish to become great
30843 scholars, there are an inconceivable number of the Buddha's teachings along
30844 with the treatises that comment on them. All these have to be studied
30845 diligently so that we can come to a basic understanding of their meaning;
30846 beyond this, it is extremely difficult to enter into the more subtle levels.
30847 In all of this practice and study, it is our own mind that is central.
30848 Without a great blessing or without awakening the generative power of previous
30849 habitual patterns, it will be extremely difficult to realize primordial
30851 Lord Maitreya stated that bodhisattvas abiding on the various levels are
30852 not able to attain omniscience immediately, and he also affirmed that we do
30853 not need to become expert in all five traditional Buddhist sciences. Among
30854 these are all classifications of the inner science that deals with the mind.
30855 In the practice of the Secret Mantrayana, it is said that as long as objects
30856 continue to arise in our minds, so long will the classifications of the Secret
30857 Mantrayana last. As long as we have not realized the simultaneity of concepts
30858 and liberation, as long as we have not been blessed with the knowledge that
30859 knowing the nature of one phenomenon liberates us into knowing the nature of
30860 all, we need to train from lifetime to lifetime in the many aspects of the
30861 teachings. If we try to become expert in all five sciences or try to know all
30862 the objects of knowledge, our training will be endless. For these reasons, it
30863 is extremely important to seek accomplishments and blessings from the yidam
30864 deity, for through the blessing of the deity, our positive habitual patterns
30865 from the past will be awakened and the doubts that cloud our minds will be
30867 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
30868 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje" by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
30872 When someone whom I have helped
30873 Or in whom I have placed great hopes
30874 Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways
30875 May I regard him still as my precious teacher.
30876 -- Shantideva, "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
30878 According to worldly norms of human behaviour, when we help someone and
30879 place great trust in them and they mistreat us in return, it is seen as
30880 reasonable to be angry with them because we have been hurt. However,
30881 practitioners of bodhicitta must not give in to this type of conventional
30882 thinking. Instead, we should learn to view such people in a special way, as
30883 objects for our practice of forbearance and loving kindness. We must in fact
30884 recognise these people as our spiritual teachers.
30885 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
30886 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
30888 Advanced meditators develop the ability to create environments of their
30889 own choosing, and they are able to transcend the sufferings that seem so real
30890 to ordinary beings who are bound by mundane conceptions. According to Tsong
30891 Khapa, for one who attains advanced levels of meditation, painful cognitions
30892 no longer occur, no matter what external experiences one encounters. All of
30893 one's cognitions are a union of bliss and emptiness. One recognizes that
30894 nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Whatever occurs is perceived by
30895 one's unshakably blissful consciousness as the sport of luminosity and
30898 "for a Bodhisattva who has attained the meditative stabilisation of
30899 bliss pervading all phenomena, only a feeling of pleasure arises with
30900 respect to all objects; pain and neutrality do not occur, even though
30901 [pieces from his body] the size of a small coin are cut or even though
30902 his body is crushed by elephants, only a discrimination of bliss is
30904 -- Tsong-ka-pa on Ratnarakshita's Commentary
30906 Tantric texts stress that such bodhisattvas are not creating a delusional
30907 system in order to hide from the harsher aspects of reality. Rather, they are
30908 transforming reality, making it conform to an ideal archetype. Since all
30909 phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they have no fixed nature. No one
30910 ever apprehends an object as it is in its true nature, because there is no
30911 such nature. Even if phenomena had fixed essences, we would still never be
30912 able to perceive them, since all we ever experience are our cognitions of
30913 objects, which are overlaid with conceptions about them. All our perceptions
30914 are ideas about things, and not real things. These ideas are also empty,
30915 arising from nothingness and immediately dissolving again into nothingness,
30916 leaving nothing behind. Tantric adepts develop the ability to reconstitute
30917 "reality," which is completely malleable for those who train in yogas
30918 involving blissful consciousnesses realizing emptiness. The sense of bliss
30919 pervades all their cognitions, and their understanding of emptiness allows
30920 them to generate minds that are manifestations of bliss and emptiness.
30921 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
30922 by Snow Lion Publications
30924 Beware the flatterer; he feeds you with an empty spoon. -- Cosino DeGregrio
30926 Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict
30927 the man before the dollar.
30930 Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of
30931 labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is
30932 the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
30935 For those of you who are not able to devote all your time to meditation,
30936 there is nevertheless the possibility of engaging in practice in a serious
30937 way. For example, the students at the monastic universities in South India
30938 can, with some effort, do meditations during the prayers. When you recite the
30939 prayers, you can mentally do the contemplation. The lifestyle and daily
30940 routine at these monasteries have been structured by the great masters of the
30941 past in a way that is most conducive to individual practice as well as to the
30942 flourishing of the dharma.
30943 If you find that your mind is in a very fluctuating emotional state--
30944 displaying anger, hatred, attachment and so forth--then you should first try
30945 to calm down that state of strong emotion. This should be done by first
30946 transforming it into a neutral state of mind, because there is no way that one
30947 can switch directly from a negative state of mind to a positive one.
30948 Therefore, you should first reduce the force of these emotions and
30949 fluctuations and try to bring about some sort of calmness, using any means--
30950 such as taking a stroll or concentrating on the inhalation and exhalation of
30951 the breath--that will enable you to forget what you are immediately feeling.
30952 This will help you to reduce the force of strong emotion, thereby giving you
30953 the calmness necessary for the practice of dharma. Like a white piece of
30954 cloth which could be dyed any color that you desire, such a neutral state of
30955 mind could then be transformed into a virtuous state of mind.
30956 You could also engage in the preliminary practices of performing 100,000
30957 prostrations, recitations of the Vajrasattva mantra, and so forth. When you
30958 undertake these practices, you should do them properly, not being only
30959 concerned about the number. Many great masters of the past of all traditions
30960 have emphasized the importance of these preliminary practices--they will
30961 enable you to have a very firm start. If through them you can acquire a
30962 fertile mind, then when the seed of meditation is planted, it will readily
30963 bear the fruits of realizations.
30964 Having successfully neutralized the emotional fluctuations within your
30965 mind and having restored a reasonable degree of calmness, engage in the
30966 practice of taking refuge and generating the altruistic aspiration to attain
30967 full enlightenment. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is the factor that
30968 distinguishes one's practice from that of an erroneous path, and the
30969 generation of the altruistic mind makes it superior to the paths aiming at
30970 individual liberation.
30971 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
30972 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
30974 ...if you consider just the subtlest mind and the wind or energy that
30975 serves as its mount, the mere factor of luminosity and knowing of the subtlest
30976 mind itself as well as the energy associated with it are what will be
30977 transformed into the mind and body of a Buddha. This is the mind that will
30978 turn into an omniscient consciousness--a Buddha's mind; it is this mind which
30979 will be transformed, not some other mind coming from the outside. In other
30980 words, the Buddha nature is inherent; it is not imported from somewhere else.
30981 This is true because the very entity of the mind, its nature of mere
30982 luminosity and knowing, is not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in
30983 the entity of the mind. Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very
30984 entity or nature of the mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because
30985 of this we are able to remove the afflictive emotions.
30986 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
30987 Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
30988 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
30990 The recognition that worldly attainments just do not provide enduring
30991 happiness, and that we need to work on the internals, rather than the
30992 externals, is an important motivation. It is also the basis of achieving
30993 nirvana, often represented by the lotus flower. It is no accident that most
30994 statues of Buddha have him sitting on cushions resting on a lotus flower--the
30995 symbol of renunciation.
30996 But what if we achieve nirvana? What if, through extreme diligence, we
30997 attain its supreme peace and happiness? Would that be enough, or is there a
30998 more profound level of motivation still?
30999 Some years ago a number of tourists were kidnapped by terrorists in the
31000 Philippines, and held hostage in the jungle for many months. Finally they
31001 were released in small groups. I will never forget the reaction of one
31002 hostage who was interviewed at the airport on his way home to join his wife,
31003 who had been freed just days earlier.
31004 You would think that after months of extreme privation and the constant
31005 threat of uncertainty and death, returning safely to one's wife, home, and
31006 family would be a cause for joyful celebration. But the hostage, while
31007 relieved, could only think of the group of hostages he'd left behind. Those
31008 who, in the preceding months, had been his fellow prisoners, whom he now knew
31009 better than anyone else, and with whom in several cases, he had formed unique
31010 and profound bonds of attachment. His overriding concern was to ensure that
31011 those still being held captive would be safely released to experience the same
31012 freedom he had now. Only then would he really be able to celebrate.
31013 -- David Michie, "Buddhism for Beginners: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain
31014 World", published by Snow Lion Publications
31016 The term "meditation" carries with it a burden of trendy, pseudo-mystical
31017 connotations. The biggest mistake people make is to think that they will "get
31018 something" out of meditation. It would be more accurate to think they will be
31019 getting rid of something. Awareness practice undermines our unwitting
31020 subjugation to hypermentation. It cuts through the cascade of thoughts and
31021 feelings that distract us from the present moment where life actually happens.
31022 The inner newsreel, with its imagined or distorted dramas, becomes less urgent
31023 and seductive. The unexamined hopes and fears that have thrown us into
31024 automatic or reflexive behavior lose their power to toss us about. What we
31025 get rid of, initially, is a great deal of compelling noise with no point or
31026 real substance to it. Even by becoming aware of its nature we de-reify it,
31027 render it less solid and intractable.
31028 ...How can we sort out our neuroses when the mind is a wild, chaotic mess
31029 of fragmented thought? How can we work with our anger when we experience it
31030 as a deluge of highly charged, urgent impulses, all mixed in with fleeting
31031 bits of narrative, physical sensations, whispers of memory, rushes of fear,
31032 and the visceral press to act? We can't. Every beginning meditator discovers
31033 very quickly that the mind has a mind of its own. No beginner sits down,
31034 says, "Peace! Be still!" and accomplishes enlightenment. It's enough at the
31035 start just to see, discover, and acknowledge the chatter. That, in itself, is
31036 a great step towards self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught that the
31037 awareness of our confusion is the first step towards clarity.
31038 Over time, we can learn to just take note of whatever arises without being
31039 pushed and pulled emotionally. We can sit still and not respond reflexively
31040 to our hypermentation. We can allow ourselves to rest, to gently release
31041 thoughts, to find a quiet space apart from the discursive jumble. We can
31042 choose to be simply and quietly aware. In these quiet moments, experiences
31043 arise much more clearly and distinctly. Only then can we discover the source
31044 of our suffering and our anger.
31045 I once attended a conference between a highly esteemed Tibetan lama,
31046 Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a group of psychiatrists. Someone asked
31047 Rinpoche: "What is meditation?" Rinpoche looked playfully puzzled, pretended
31048 not to understand, and after a brief consultation with his translator,
31049 answered: "Meditation? Meditation? I don't know what that means. We have
31050 another word for it which means 'paying attention to.' " Whatever the style,
31051 to meditate is to pay attention.
31052 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
31053 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
31056 ...practice must be carried out in terms of one's own thought. If one
31057 knows how to bring the teachings into one's own thought, all physical and
31058 verbal deeds can be made to accord with practice. If one does not know how to
31059 bring them into one's own thought, even though one might meditate, recite
31060 scriptures, or spend one's life in a temple, it will not help; thought is
31061 therefore important for practice. Thus, taking refuge in the Three Jewels
31062 (Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual Community), taking into account the
31063 relationship between actions and their effects, and generating an attitude of
31064 helping others, are most important.
31066 Formerly in Tibet there was a famous lama called Drom. One day Drom saw a
31067 man walking around a reliquary. 'Walking around a reliquary is good,' he
31068 said. 'Practice is even better.' The man thought, 'Then, reading a holy book
31069 would be good.' He did so, and one day while he was reading, Drom saw him and
31070 said, 'Reading a holy book is good; practice is even better.'
31072 The man thought, 'This also does not seem to be sufficient. Now if I do
31073 some meditation, that will certainly be practice.' Drom saw him in meditation
31074 and said, 'Meditation is good; practice is even better.' The man was amazed
31075 and asked, 'How does one practise?' Drom answered, 'Do not be attached to this
31076 life; cause your mind to become the practices.' Dram said this because
31077 practice depends on thought.
31079 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
31080 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
31082 Dampa said, "If these practitioners want buddhahood, they must reverse their
31085 [Kunga] asked, "What is wrong with their present behavior?"
31089 They practice thinking that what are in actuality obstacles are
31091 They meet the liberating path, but doubting and striving, they part from
31093 Doubting if they should refrain from their ill-omened actions, they
31095 The speech of those without experience has become Dharma--supposedly the
31097 Kunga is never parted from his prayers for the three village girls!
31098 Now, draw your own conclusions!
31104 When I see people clinging to illusions as real, compassion arises with a
31106 If one considers the sufferings of the six realms in terms of oneself, one
31107 has no time to remain ordinary.
31108 When one sees that the characteristic of samsara is suffering, a mind
31109 wanting nothing whatsoever is born!
31110 When one sees the various bases as rootless, self-grasping is not born!
31111 When impermanence is born in the mind, faith and perseverance will come
31113 Those who grasp at permanence will not destroy persistent grasping at
31115 Kunga! Internalize truthlessness and throw the kitchen sauce into the
31117 -- Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa Sangye, translated
31118 by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche, published by Snow
31121 Books have the same enemies as people:
31122 fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
31125 In Buddhism there are basically two types of practices: Sutra and
31126 Tantra.... The special purpose of Tantra is to provide a faster path so that
31127 qualified practitioners can be of service to others more quickly. In Tantra
31128 the power of imagination is harnessed to meditation in a practice called deity
31129 yoga. In this practice you imagine 1) replacing your mind as it ordinarily
31130 appears, full of troubling emotions, with a mind of pure wisdom motivated by
31131 compassion; 2) substituting your body as it ordinarily appears (composed of
31132 flesh, blood, and bone) with a body fashioned from compassionately motivated
31133 wisdom; 3) developing a sense of a pure self that depends on purely appearing
31134 mind and body in an ideal environment, fully engaged in helping others. As
31135 this distinctive practice of Tantra calls for visualizing yourself with a
31136 Buddha's body, activities, resources, and surroundings, it is called "taking
31137 imagination as the spiritual path."
31138 Let us consider a qualm about this practice. You are considering yourself
31139 to have Buddha qualities which you presently do not have. Is this, then, a
31140 correct type of meditative consciousness? Yes. Your mind is involved in
31141 understanding reality, out of which you are appearing as a deity. Therefore,
31142 your mind, from this viewpoint, is correct. Also, you are purposely imagining
31143 yourself as having a divine body even if you do not presently possess one.
31144 This is an imaginative meditation; you are not convinced from the depths that
31145 you actually have pure mind, body, and selfhood. Rather, based in clear
31146 imagination of ideal body and mind, you are cultivating the sense of being a
31147 deity, compassionately helping others.
31148 ...to engage in Tantra at any level demands a powerful intention to become
31149 enlightened for the sake of others, and a feeling that this needs to be done
31151 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
31152 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
31154 Why do we want to be wise and compassionate? If it's because we would simply
31155 like to be wise and compassionate, we are off course, because the "I" cannot
31156 attain wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion can only be revealed once
31157 the "I" has disappeared. When we reach this level, we will be able to benefit
31158 others. In the meantime, it is the blind leading the blind. All true
31159 religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-
31160 bound. In Buddhism, it is called the unconditioned, the unborn, the
31161 deathless. You can call it anything you like. You can call it atman. You
31162 can call it anatman. You can call it God. The fact is, there is a subtle
31163 level of consciousness which is the core of our being, and it is beyond our
31164 ordinary conditioned state of mind. We can all experience this. Some people
31165 experience it through service, others through devotion. Some even think they
31166 can experience it through analysis and intellectual discipline. Buddhists
31167 usually try to access it through meditation. That's what we are doing.
31168 Breaking through to the unconditioned in order to help others break through to
31169 the unconditioned. But we have to start where we are, from right here. We
31170 start with these minds, these bodies, these problems, these weaknesses, and
31172 -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
31173 on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
31175 Over the last few days I have been meeting scientists, mainly specialists
31176 on the brain, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists.... The majority
31177 of them agreed... that the key cause of the mental unrest and depression so
31178 prevalent today... is lack of sympathy and affection.
31179 I think you might find the following story quite interesting. A few weeks
31180 ago I met someone whose mind, I was told, is severely disturbed. At the
31181 beginning, I used all of my reasoning to encourage him, explaining that, as a
31182 human being, there was no need for him to be discouraged, because we have such
31183 a good human brain and intelligence. I pointed out how, with determination,
31184 we can solve all our human problems and overcome all obstacles, and so there
31185 is no reason to worry or be discouraged or depressed. Personally, I always
31186 find this kind of reasoning is quite effective, but this time it failed. He
31187 was not impressed by this line of thinking. On the contrary, instead of
31188 showing any appreciation, he developed a rather contrary attitude. After
31189 listening to what I had to say, he became even more agitated, and asked me,
31190 "Why are you concerned about my problem? How do I know if your attitude is
31191 sincere or not?" I felt really sad. I was quite moved as well, and as I was
31192 explaining something or other, my hand reached out and caressed his arm. It
31193 was a natural gesture, a sincere expression of how I felt. Gradually, his
31194 mood altered; I could see his face beginning to change, and finally a smile
31195 began to appear. Then as I gained confidence, I increased that expression of
31196 affection. At last a big smile spread right across his face.
31197 I told him, "Please consider me as an old friend. Any time, you can come
31198 to see me. Whatever I can do to help you, I am ready to do. I am at your
31199 service." When I said this, then his mood, it was clear, became very happy
31200 and joyful. The following day he came to see me again. When he arrived, he
31201 already had a happy air about him, but nevertheless he was trying to pretend
31202 otherwise and was not smiling. Anyway, what this incident really gave me was
31203 another confirmation of how powerful genuine compassion, love, or altruism can
31204 be, to affect other people's minds. And how they can remove fear and
31205 suspicion, and alleviate feelings of insecurity and mistrust.
31206 So I always consider compassion as the key, not only for achieving and
31207 maintaining our own mental calmness, stability and happiness, but also as
31208 something extraordinarily useful for creating a healthy human society. By
31209 that I mean a happier and less harmful human society. Therefore--whether it
31210 be in individual cases, on a family level, a national level, or an
31211 international level--altruism, love and compassion are the basis for success,
31212 for happiness, and for a happy environment.
31213 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
31214 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
31215 Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
31216 by Snow Lion Publications
31218 According to Tibetan Buddhism, ordinary beings are born into life situations
31219 in which they are destined to suffer and die. This is the result of former
31220 contaminated actions and afflictions, which have been accumulated since
31221 beginningless time. Because of this process, physical and mental afflictions
31222 are deeply rooted in sentient beings, and so it is generally considered
31223 necessary to prepare oneself for tantric practice by engaging in the
31224 "preliminary practices," or ngondro (sngon 'gro, purvagama), in order to begin
31225 to reverse one's negative conditioning. These practices combine physical
31226 movements with visualization in order to transform the mind from one that is
31227 fixated on mundane concerns and desires into one that is primarily oriented
31228 toward religious practice for the benefit of others. Some teachers consider
31229 these preparatory trainings to be so essential to successful tantric practice
31230 that they will not give tantric initiations to those who have not completed
31231 them, and even teachers who are willing to waive them generally stress their
31232 importance. The preliminary practices are: (1) taking refuge; (2)
31233 prostration; (3) Vajrasattva meditation; (4) mandala offering; and (5) guru
31235 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism",
31236 published by Snow Lion Publications
31238 [It] is quite clear to me is that the moment you think only of yourself,
31239 the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus,
31240 uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a
31241 sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a
31242 sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective,
31243 your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big
31245 If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of
31246 inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this
31247 strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you.
31248 By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner
31249 strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm. This is a
31250 clear example of how one's way of thinking can really make a difference.
31251 One's own self-interest and wishes are fulfilled as a byproduct of
31252 actually working for other sentient beings. As the well-known fifteenth-
31253 century master Tsongkhapa points out in his Great Exposition of the Path to
31254 Enlightenment, "The more the practitioner engages in activities and thoughts
31255 that are focused and directed toward the fulfillment of others' well-being,
31256 the fulfillment or realization of his or her own aspiration will come as a
31257 byproduct without having to make a separate effort." Some of you may have
31258 actually heard me remark, which I do quite often, that in some sense the
31259 bodhisattvas, the compassionate practitioners of the Buddhist path, are
31260 "wisely selfish" people, whereas people like us are the "foolishly selfish."
31261 We think of ourselves and disregard others, and the result is that we always
31262 remain unhappy and have a miserable time.
31263 ...we find that kindness and a good heart form the underlying foundation
31264 for our success in this life, our progress on the spiritual path, and our
31265 fulfillment of our ultimate aspiration, the attainment of full enlightenment.
31266 Hence, compassion and a good heart are not only important at the beginning but
31267 also in the middle and at the end. Their necessity and value are not limited
31268 to any specific time, place, society, or culture.
31269 Thus, we not only need compassion and human affection to survive, but they
31270 are the ultimate sources of success in life. Selfish ways of thinking not
31271 only harm others, they prevent the very happiness we ourselves desire. The
31272 time has come to think more wisely, hasn't it? This is my belief.
31273 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
31275 ...all apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion and there is, moreover,
31276 no freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is,
31277 by its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena
31278 are, in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
31279 appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
31280 body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
31281 transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
31282 not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
31283 results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
31284 minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
31285 Here the issue might be raised, "although the scriptures do teach this,
31286 there is no certainty whether it is to be taken at face value or requires
31287 interpretation. Therefore the essential purity of phenomena may well be
31288 established, but it is unreasonable to say that precisely the nature of that
31289 which appears as subjects with attributes is primordially enlightened. For,
31290 if it were that way, thorough affliction and samsara would be entirely absent.
31291 There can't be a reasoning that establishes such a philosophy." The
31292 conceptual mind that takes objects that appear in the experience of sentient
31293 beings as valid is, since beginningless time, deluded. It accepts or negates
31294 with reference to the way things appear to it. With such dialectics it is,
31295 indeed, not possible to establish the vast and profound meaning. Nevertheless,
31296 since the nature of phenomena is inconceivable, it is not the case that there
31297 is no way to realize it by means of discriminating knowledge. Thus it is not
31298 in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply
31299 by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will
31300 then gain access through trust.
31301 One may object, "Well, if one cannot prove [the primordial mandala] with
31302 reasoning, one cannot gain access to it either." We can prove it as follows:
31303 That phenomena are fully enlightened as the mandala of vajra body, speech, and
31304 mind is proven with the reasoning of the intrinsic nature. Just as it is
31305 stated in a sutra, "Form is empty by nature. Why is that? It is so because
31306 that is its nature." All phenomena are pure by their intrinsic nature and,
31307 therefore, there is not a single phenomenon that is impure. This is the
31308 intrinsic nature of phenomena. Complete purity is, therefore, also the
31309 intrinsic nature of body, speech, and mind, and their complete purity is
31310 enlightenment. Therefore, body, speech, and mind, distinguished by their
31311 complete purity, are inseparable, free from mental constructs, and perfectly
31312 pervasive. One must in this way understand them to be the mandala of vajra
31313 body, speech, and mind.
31314 -- Heidi I. Koppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom
31315 Chozang on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", published by
31316 Snow Lion Publications
31318 Because spirits can be positive or negative in relation to humans, it is
31319 wise to be careful with practices that connect the practitioner to a spirit.
31320 It is currently popular for people to take drum journeys in their imaginations
31321 and to look for guardian spirits and power animals and so on. Although
31322 usually this is beneficial, or at least harmless, there really are beings with
31323 whom the rare individual will connect. Not all of them are beings anyone
31324 should want to connect with. There seems to be little regard for who the
31325 being is; this can be a dangerous practice. People are much more careful
31326 about choosing a business partner or a roommate than they seem to be about
31327 choosing a non-physical being for a guide or guardian.
31328 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Healing with Form, Energy and Light:
31329 The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen",
31330 published by Snow Lion Publications
31332 ...reflect upon the negative consequences of our strong attachment to
31333 friends and hostility toward enemies. Our feelings for a friend or a loved
31334 one sometimes blind us to certain of his or her aspects. We project a quality
31335 of absolute desirability, absolute infallibility, upon that person. Then,
31336 when we see something contrary to our projections, we are stunned. We swing
31337 from the extreme of love and desire to disappointment, repulsion, and
31338 sometimes even anger. Even that sense of inner contentment and satisfaction
31339 in a relationship with someone we love can lead to disappointment,
31340 frustration, and hatred. Though strong emotions, like those of romantic love
31341 or righteous hatred, may feel profoundly compelling, their pleasure is
31342 fleeting. From a Buddhist point of view, it is far better not to be in the
31343 grip of such emotions in the first place.
31344 What are the repercussions of becoming overpowered by intense dislike?
31345 The Tibetan word for hatred, shedang, suggests hostility from the depth of
31346 one's heart. There is a certain irrationality in responding to injustice or
31347 harm with hostility. Our hatred has no physical effect on our enemies; it
31348 does not harm them. Rather, it is we who suffer the ill consequences of such
31349 overwhelming bitterness. It eats us from within. With anger we slowly begin
31350 to lose our appetite. We cannot sleep at night and often end up just rolling
31351 back and forth, back and forth, all night long. It affects us profoundly,
31352 while our enemies continue along, blissfully unaware of the state we have been
31354 Free of hatred or anger, we can respond to actions committed against us
31355 far more effectively. If we approach things with a cool head, we see the
31356 problem more clearly and judge the best way to address it. For example, if a
31357 child is doing something that could be dangerous to himself or others, such as
31358 playing with matches, we can discipline him. When we behave in such a
31359 forthright manner, there is a far greater chance that our actions will hit the
31360 mark. The child will respond not to our anger but to our sense of urgency and
31362 This is how we come to see that our true enemy is actually within us. It
31363 is our selfishness, our attachment, and our anger that harm us. Our perceived
31364 enemy's ability to inflict harm on us is really quite limited. If someone
31365 challenges us and we can muster the inner discipline to resist retaliating, it
31366 is possible that no matter what the person has done, those actions do not
31368 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in
31369 Everyday Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla
31370 Rato and Richard Gere
31372 "All phenomena should be understood as lacking an end and a middle, just
31373 as the mind does not have an end or a middle. With the knowledge that the
31374 mind is without an end or a middle, no identity of the mind is perceived.
31375 What is thoroughly realized by the mind, too, is realized as being empty.
31376 By realizing that, the very identity, which is established as the aspect
31377 of the mind, like the identity of physical form, and so forth, is also
31378 ultimately not perceived. In this way, when the person does not ultimately
31379 see the identity of all phenomena through wisdom, he will not analyze
31380 whether physical form is permanent or impermanent, empty or not empty,
31381 contaminated or not contaminated, produced or non-produced, and existent
31382 or non-existent. Just as physical form is not examined, similarly feeling,
31383 recognition, compositional factors, and consciousness are not examined.
31384 When the object does not exist, its characteristics also cannot exist.
31385 So how can they be examined?"
31386 -- Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila
31388 The above passage deals with ultimate reality; its meaning is that in the
31389 ultimate sense the object of imputation is not findable. In this context we
31390 find in the Heart Sutra phrases like: "There is no physical form, no sound, no
31391 smell, no taste, and no object of touch." The mind, too, is not findable in
31392 the ultimate sense. Since in the ultimate sense such things are non-existent,
31393 there is no point examining whether they are permanent or impermanent.
31394 Ultimately all phenomena, including the aggregates and so forth, are devoid of
31395 true existence. Within the notion of ultimate reality, things are devoid of
31396 true existence. In the same way, suchness, which is an attribute of
31397 phenomena, is also devoid of true existence. This is important. Even when we
31398 understand that phenomena like physical form and so forth are devoid of true
31399 existence, there is a danger of thinking that ultimate reality may have true
31401 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
31402 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
31403 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
31405 We usually discriminate strongly between someone who intends to harm us
31406 and someone who doesn't. We think, "That's all right; he didn't mean it"; or
31407 the person who has harmed us can say, "Why do you blame me so much? I didn't
31408 mean to." But we get really angry when we know people mean to harm us. How
31409 could we possibly see such people as intimate, close, dear--as dear as our
31411 If you can retain a little compassion when people harm you
31412 unintentionally, you have made progress. But if you retain it when someone
31413 intends to harm you, you are really successful. It's not that you think,
31414 "This person is marvelous; she's trying to rob me," but you don't take these
31415 facts as reasons for hating the person. You recognize the intention and put
31416 your wallet in your front pocket. You take such measures, but the conditions
31417 that prompted them no longer serve as reasons for hatred. Our wish to love
31418 everyone and the actual attitudes we have under pressure are in constant
31419 conflict. That's just the way we are. We've been wandering in cyclic
31420 existence since beginningless time, because of desire and hatred, and it's
31421 going to take a lot of familiarization to change this. Be relaxed about it.
31422 Don't put pressure on yourself, thinking things like, "Oh, I'm a scumbag
31423 because I hate so deeply." Rather, try this attitude: "I have to admit it.
31424 As much as my ideals say I should love so-and-so--or at least be neutral--I
31425 have to face the fact that I don't." Go easy on yourself.
31426 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
31427 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
31428 Snow Lion Publications
31430 Many types of valid consciousnesses derive from basic, natural, and
31431 obvious perception. All of us have an innate "I," although if we try to
31432 locate this "I," we get into a lot of difficulties. This sense of "I" gives
31433 us a well-founded aspiration to happiness and a wish not to suffer.
31434 There are different levels of happiness and different kinds of suffering.
31435 Material things usually correspond to physical happiness, whereas spiritual
31436 development corresponds to mental happiness. Since our "I" has these two
31437 aspects--physical and mental--we need an inseparable combination of material
31438 progress and internal, or spiritual, progress. Balancing these is crucial to
31439 utilizing material progress and inner development for the good of human
31441 Big schemes for world development arise from this wish to gain happiness
31442 and relieve suffering. But there are higher levels of happiness beyond these
31443 worldly forms, in which one seeks something longer-term, not just confined to
31444 this lifetime. Just as we need a long-range perspective that protects the
31445 environment, we need an internal long-range perspective that extends to future
31447 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of
31448 Loving Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
31451 Desire is painful because of not getting,
31452 Anger is painful through lack of might,
31453 And confusion through not understanding.
31454 Because of this, these are not recognized.
31456 Desire produces suffering when one does not encounter what one badly
31457 wants. Anger produces suffering when one lacks might to crush the strong.
31458 Confusion* induces suffering when one fails to understand a subtle matter
31459 thoroughly. The inability to recognize these forms of suffering when one is
31460 overwhelmed by desire and so forth is great suffering indeed. Therefore,
31461 persevere in getting rid of the disturbing emotions. It is like a poor man's
31462 son who suffered because he wanted a queen.
31463 A certain poor man wanted a queen, but kings keep their queens heavily
31464 guarded, and because he could not get her, his desire made him suffer. He
31465 felt anger toward the king for guarding his queens well, and since he could
31466 not do the slightest harm to the king, he suffered acutely on account of his
31467 anger. Blinded by desire and anger his confusion grew, and unable to
31468 understand the situation properly, he was tormented by the suffering it caused
31471 * confusion's function is to feed desire and anger.
31473 -- "Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way: with Commentary by
31474 Gyel-tsap by Aryadeva and Gyeltsap, additional commentary by Geshe Sonam
31475 Rinchen", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
31477 Never hope more than you work. -- Rita Mae Brown
31479 To lead the people, walk behind them. -- Lao Tzu
31481 To consider those things which are existent, there are many phenomena
31482 which are produced only occasionally. For example, certain plants grow only
31483 during certain seasons, not all the time. That shows that they have been
31484 produced by their causes and conditions. On the other hand, certain phenomena
31485 exist permanently. Those are the two types of phenomena. In the case of
31486 phenomena which arise only occasionally for a certain period of time then
31487 cease to exist, their production is evidence used to prove their dependence on
31488 their causes and conditions. But permanent phenomena are not dependent on
31489 causes and conditions. Generally speaking, almost all phenomena which are
31490 beneficial or harmful to us belong to the category of the occasional, the
31491 dependent--the impermanent. Even our mind, which is to be disciplined and
31492 subdued, belongs to that category.
31493 Within the kind of phenomena which are existent, we can talk about
31494 different types: those which are animate and those which are inanimate; those
31495 with form and those formless; visible and invisible; audible and inaudible.
31496 And there are phenomena which definitely exist but can be experienced only by
31497 our mind, not our sense perceptions; in other words, we can talk about two
31498 types of phenomena, external matter and internal consciousness. When we talk
31499 about subduing mind, we refer to internal consciousness, that which has
31500 clarity and cognitive power and is capable of experiencing objects. Although
31501 our mind has arisen depending upon its causes and conditions, we need to find
31502 out to what extent it can be transformed, for it is through the transformation
31503 of our mind that we can subdue it. The way of transformation is to pacify the
31504 mind's faults and to cultivate and enhance its good qualities. Although there
31505 are certain phenomena which, having arisen from their causes and conditions,
31506 remain as they are and cannot be changed by any means, there are others,
31507 including our mind, which can be. To establish that kind of distinction, the
31508 reasons provided in the Lam-rim section on analytical meditation to generate
31509 special insight are especially important and useful.
31510 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
31511 Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
31513 Whatever appears, nothing has moved from the absolute nature.
31515 Decide that nothing is extraneous to the absolute nature, taking the
31516 example of gold jewelry.
31517 Once we know how to remain in the absolute nature, the manifold thoughts
31518 that arise in the mind are no different from gold jewelry. One can make all
31519 sorts of things out of gold, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but
31520 although they have a variety of different shapes, they are all made of gold.
31521 Likewise, if we are able to not move from the absolute nature, however many
31522 thoughts we might have, they never depart from the recognition of the absolute
31523 nature. A yogi for whom this is the case never departs from that realization,
31524 whatever he does with his body, speech, and mind. All his actions arise as
31525 the outer display or ornament of wisdom. All the signs one would expect from
31526 meditating on a deity come spontaneously without him actually doing any formal
31527 practice. The result of mantra recitation is obtained without his having to
31528 do a large number of recitations. In this way everything is included in the
31529 recognition that nothing is ever extraneous to the absolute nature.
31530 In that state one does not become excited at pleasant events or depressed
31531 by unpleasant ones.
31532 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
31533 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based
31534 on Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
31535 Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
31537 crashola in second life:
31538 due to having been in a vehicle which crossed into forbidden land and got
31539 taken away, my avatar was left in an indeterminate and very unhealthy state.
31540 i was unable to move, deep underground, and i saw this object off down to
31541 my left, so i clicked on it and picked 'edit'. i realized as i was doing
31542 it, that this was my disembodied hair, which had flown off for some reason.
31543 once i clicked edit, *crunch*, no more second life.
31545 It makes no sense to brood anxiously on the harmful actions we have committed
31546 in the past to the point where we become paralyzed. They are done, it is
31547 over. If the person is a believer in God, the appropriate action is to find
31548 some means of reconciliation with Him. So far as Buddhist practice is
31549 concerned, there are various rites and practices for purification. When the
31550 individual has no religious beliefs, however, it is surely a matter of
31551 acknowledging and accepting any negative feelings we may have in relation to
31552 our misdeeds and developing a sense of sorrow and regret for them. But then,
31553 rather than stopping at mere sorrow and regret, it is important to use this as
31554 the basis for resolve, for a deep-seated commitment never again to harm others
31555 and to direct our actions all the more determinedly to the benefit of others.
31556 The act of disclosure, or confession, of our negative actions to another--
31557 especially to someone we really respect and trust--will be found to be very
31558 helpful in this. We are quite wrong if we merely acknowledge the gravity of
31559 our actions inwardly and then, instead of confronting our feelings, give up
31560 all hope and do nothing. This only compounds the error. Above all, we should
31561 remember that as long as we retain the capacity of concern for others, the
31562 potential for transformation remains.
31563 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium"
31565 According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind,
31566 wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive--it's not empathy
31567 alone--but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others
31568 from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness.
31569 That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we
31570 wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy
31571 and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness). Let's
31572 examine these two elements.
31573 The suffering from which we wish to liberate other sentient beings,
31574 according to Buddha's teachings, has three levels. The first level includes
31575 the obvious physical and mental sensations of pain and discomfort that we can
31576 all easily identify as suffering. This kind of suffering is primarily at the
31577 sensory level--unpleasant or painful sensations and feelings. The great
31578 Tibetan master Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsan, tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama,
31579 reminds us that even animals seek to avoid physical suffering and pain.
31580 The second level of suffering is the suffering of change. Although
31581 certain experiences or sensations may seem pleasurable and desirable now,
31582 inherent within them is the potential for culminating in an unsatisfactory
31583 experience. Another way of saying this is that experiences do not last
31584 forever; desirable experiences will eventually be replaced by a neutral
31585 experience or an undesirable experience. If it were not the case that
31586 desirable experiences are of the nature of change, then, once having a happy
31587 experience, we would remain happy forever! In fact, if desirability were
31588 intrinsic to an experience, then the longer we remained in contact with it,
31589 the happier we would become. However, this is not the case. In fact, often,
31590 the more we pursue these experiences, the greater our level of
31591 disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness becomes.
31592 ...But the third level of suffering is the most significant--the pervasive
31593 suffering of conditioning. This refers to the very fact of our unenlightened
31594 existence, the fact that we are ruled by negative emotions and their
31595 underlying root cause, namely our own fundamental ignorance of the nature of
31596 reality. Buddhism asserts that as long as we are under the control of this
31597 fundamental ignorance, we are suffering; this unenlightened existence is
31598 suffering by its very nature.
31599 If we are to cultivate the deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at
31600 its deepest, most pervasive level. In turn, freedom from that level of
31601 suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true state of cessation.
31602 Freedom from the first level of suffering alone--merely being free of
31603 unpleasant physical and psychological experiences--is not true cessation of
31604 suffering. Freedom from the second level is again not true cessation.
31605 However, freedom from the third level of suffering--being completely free from
31606 the very source of suffering--that is genuine cessation, genuine liberation.
31607 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
31608 of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
31610 The only conclusion that can legitimately be reached is that the self is a
31611 fiction, a mere label superimposed onto the aggregates, a concept created and
31612 reified by the mind but lacking any substantial reality. This reasoning
31613 process alone does not eliminate the idea, however; it merely weakens it.
31614 Because it is so deeply ingrained, the idea of self is only eliminated through
31615 repeated meditation on the reasonings of no-self, which enable the yogin to
31616 become progressively more familiar with the understanding that no self or
31617 essence exists. The Dalai Lama concludes that "when such a realization is
31618 maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you
31619 will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience." (From Path
31621 Many Westerners reject this notion, contending that it would be a sort of
31622 cognitive suicide. The idea that the self (which is assumed even by people
31623 who reject religions that propound the idea) does not exist is profoundly
31624 disturbing to many non-Buddhists, but in Buddhist thought the denial of self
31625 is not seen as constituting a loss, but rather is viewed as a profoundly
31626 liberating insight. Since the innate idea of self implies an autonomous,
31627 unchanging essence, if such a thing were in fact the core of one's being, it
31628 would mean that change would be impossible, and one would be stuck being just
31629 what one is right now. Because there is no such self, however, we are open
31630 toward the future. One's nature is never fixed and determined, and so through
31631 engaging in Buddhist practice one can exert control over the process of change
31632 and progress in wisdom, compassion, patience, and other good qualities. One
31633 can even become a buddha, a fully awakened being who is completely liberated
31634 from all the frailties, sufferings, and limitations of ordinary beings. But
31635 this is only possible because there is no permanent and static self, no soul
31636 that exists self-sufficiently, separated from the ongoing process of change.
31637 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
31638 by Snow Lion Publications
31640 I often encounter people in and our of my office who seem to be lost in
31641 thought. I sometimes ask them what they are thinking about. They are usually
31642 startled by the question. They look at me blankly and are often surprised to
31643 hear themselves admit with embarrassment that they don't know or can't say.
31644 Or they describe one small, fleeting fragment of disconnected thought. The
31645 "normal" human state of mind is constant, incessant thinking--an enigmatically
31646 linked stream of consciousness, sensations, memories, feelings, desires,
31647 fears, and chatter. And at the center of the narrative, the star of the show
31648 is always--ME! This is why the first leg of the journey requires courage. To
31649 become familiar with the chaotic, egotistical, and often nonsensical narrative
31650 of our own mind stream is disconcerting and painful. To discover directly
31651 that we are literally "lost in thought" can be frightening. But this is where
31652 we are and where we must begin.
31653 It's consoling to remember that everyone is neurotic, each one of us. The
31654 "normal" mind suffers from a complex of conflicting desires and aversions.
31655 The best we can do is to become aware of our neuroses, to become wiser in our
31656 thinking and our conduct of life. In my experience, meditation is the most
31657 direct and efficient method for developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is
31658 not a steady state because experience is not a steady state. Through the
31659 practice of meditation, we can learn to watch our ever-fluctuating mental
31660 processes from a more detached, aerial perspective. Without necessarily
31661 understanding ourselves in some intellectual way, we can directly discover how
31662 the mind works. The mind has its causes and effects, its motivations and
31663 intentions, and its awareness and evaluation of their possible consequences.
31664 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar Into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
31665 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
31668 "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
31669 "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow
31670 old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to
31671 the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world
31672 about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the
31673 sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn. Learn
31674 why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can
31675 never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust,
31676 and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what
31677 a lot of things there are to learn."
31678 -- T. H. White, "The Once and Future King"
31680 In Chapter 4 we looked at the when and where of meditation. Whatever
31681 works best for you, given your personal circumstances and temperament, the
31682 important thing is to do it regularly, preferably every day.
31683 I would also recommend that you keep the session to a length of time that
31684 feels comfortable. This is because in the early stages of meditation it's
31685 easy to become discouraged and have thoughts along the lines of: "This might
31686 work for other people, but I don't have the right personality/mind/lifestyle/
31687 partner for meditation." Or: "I've been doing this for six months and my
31688 concentration is no better than when I started." With thoughts like these, you
31689 may start to resent the time you spend meditating and consider giving up.
31690 Much better to keep your practice light and easy to begin with; short
31691 sessions, and concentrated attention, especially towards the end of your
31692 practice so that you "finish like a winner" and feel encouraged for the next
31693 day. Better to end a short session thinking you could have gone on longer
31694 than keep glancing at your watch with the thought that has passed through the
31695 mind of every meditator at some stage--"My watch must have stopped. It's been
31696 longer than two minutes--surely?!"
31697 Having reviewed the meditation practices outlined in the previous chapter,
31698 you may decide you quite like the sound of several of them. On what basis
31699 should they be practiced? My own preference is to have a simple calendar of
31700 activity so that, for example, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are breath-
31701 counting days; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are visualization days; and
31702 Sundays are for whatever I'm in the mood to do.
31703 On this point, I once asked a high-ranking Tibetan lama which of a number
31704 of meditation practices I should focus on. He gave me an indulgent smile and
31705 said simply, "Whichever you enjoy the most." D'oh!
31706 -- David Michie, "Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace
31707 and Better Health", published by Snow Lion Publications
31709 "Always be sustained by cheerfulness."
31711 The effectiveness of our practice can be measured by looking at our mood.
31712 If we are in better spirits, the practice is working. We can take heart
31713 because we have a purpose, to exchange whatever sadness we meet for joy. The
31714 smallest personal damage can be put to use to dissolve great suffering and do
31715 away with negativity. If there is a way, we try to stop unfortunate things
31716 from happening, but when unhappy events occur we meet them optimistically. We
31717 never let negativity discourage us or injure our ability to help.
31718 Setting out on any adventure demands determination. We may have to toil
31719 and struggle with setbacks along the way but the trials we face are short-
31720 lived. We can endure them because we have a great end in mind: to benefit all
31721 sentient beings. Remaining good-natured and enthusiastic shows that our
31722 efforts are succeeding. Being cheerful is the sign of a good practitioner.
31723 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
31724 by Snow Lion Publications
31726 Once we take ourselves and the quality of our life seriously, and
31727 acknowledge the difficulties we may be experiencing, the next step is to have
31728 confidence that (1) it is possible to overcome them, (2) there is a way to
31729 accomplish this, and (3) we are capable of achieving it [Buddha-nature]. This
31730 bring us to the topics of refuge and Buddha-nature.
31731 Taking refuge is not a passive act of placing ourselves in the hands of a
31732 higher power that will do everything for us, as the English word "refuge"
31733 might imply. It is an active process of putting a safe, reliable and positive
31734 direction in our life. That direction is indicated by the Buddhas, the Dharma
31735 and the Sangha--the Three Precious Gems. They are precious in the sense that
31736 they are both rare and valuable....
31737 In short, the definitive level of the Three Precious Gems of Buddha,
31738 Dharma and Sangha presents the goal we would like to achieve. Their
31739 interpretable level indicates what we rely on, externally, to bring ourselves
31740 there. But we also have internal factors that we need to rely on as well.
31741 These refer to our Buddha-nature.
31742 We are capable of eliminating our problems and achieving the definitive
31743 Three Precious Gems because everyone has Buddha-nature, namely the various
31744 factors or working materials that make it possible. Of all our natural
31745 resources, the most important is mind. We all have a mind which, in its
31746 nature, is unhampered by anything from experiencing whatever exists. No
31747 matter what happens--no matter how confused, stressed or unhappy we may be--we
31748 experience it. Even death is something that we experience when it occurs.
31749 Therefore, because we have a mind that allows us to experience whatever
31750 exists, we have the basic resource that allows us to experience a total
31751 absence of confusion and a utilization of all possible good qualities for
31752 helping others--provided that such a total absence and utilization actually
31753 exist. In other words, if we can establish that it is possible for these two
31754 things to exist--and that they are not just objects of nice but totally
31755 unrealistic wishes--we can be confident that we are capable of attaining them,
31756 simply because we have a mind.
31757 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
31758 of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
31760 Actually, we Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but
31761 practically speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any
31762 case, we must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is
31763 very important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings
31764 inhabiting different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human
31765 beings on our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the
31766 problem. It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our
31767 daily lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to
31768 desist from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must
31769 be honest human beings, sincere human beings.
31770 On a very practical level, such attitudes are things which we need.
31771 Whether one is a believer, a religious person, or not, is another matter.
31772 Simply as an inhabitant of the world, as a member of the human family, we need
31773 this kind of attitude. It is through such an attitude that real and lasting
31774 world peace and harmony can be achieved. Through harmony, friendship, and
31775 respecting one another, we can solve many problems in the right way, without
31777 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
31778 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
31780 We may have all come on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.
31781 -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
31783 ...Maitreya, in his text the Sublime Continuum, gives three reasons on the
31784 basis of which one can conclude that the essence of Buddhahood permeates the
31785 minds of all sentient beings. First, he says that the Buddha's activities
31786 radiate in the heart of all sentient beings. Now this can be understood in
31787 two different ways: one is that we can understand that in every sentient being
31788 there is a seed of virtue, and one could see the seed of virtue as an act of
31789 the completely enlightened, compassionate Buddha. But one could also see it
31790 in deeper terms, that is, that all sentient beings possess the potential for
31791 perfection. Therefore, there is a kind of perfected being inherent within all
31792 sentient beings, radiating. So one can understand it in these ways. Second,
31793 so far as the ultimate nature of reality is concerned, there is total equality
31794 between the samsaric state and nirvana. Third, we all possess a mind which
31795 lacks intrinsic reality and independent existence, which allows us to then
31796 remove the negativities and delusory states that obscure it. For these three
31797 reasons, Maitreya concludes that all sentient beings possess the essence of
31799 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
31800 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
31801 Snow Lion Publications
31803 ...Compassion diminishes fright about your own pain and increases inner
31804 strength. It gives you a sense of empowerment, of being able to accomplish
31805 your tasks. It lends encouragement.
31806 Let me give you a small example. Recently, when I was in Bodh Gaya, I
31807 fell ill from a chronic intestinal infection. On the way to the hospital, the
31808 pain in my abdomen was severe, and I was sweating a great deal. The car was
31809 passing through the area of Vulture Peak (Buddha taught here) where the
31810 villagers are extremely poor. In general, Bihar State is poor, but that
31811 particular area is even more so. I did not even see children going to or
31812 coming from school. Just poverty. And sickness. I have a very clear memory
31813 of a small boy with polio, who had rusty metal braces on his legs and metal
31814 crutches up to his armpits. It was obvious that he had no one to look after
31815 him. I was very moved. A little later on, there was an old man at a tea
31816 stop, wearing only a dirty piece of cloth, fallen to the ground, left to lie
31817 there with no one to take care of him.
31818 Later, at the hospital, my thoughts kept circling on what I had seen,
31819 reflecting on how sad it was that here I had people to take care of me but
31820 those poor people had no one. That is where my thoughts went, rather than to
31821 my own suffering. Though sweat was pouring out of my body, my concern was
31823 In this way, though my body underwent a lot of pain that prevented sleep
31824 (a hole had opened in my intestinal wall), my mind did not suffer any fear or
31825 discomfort. It would only have made the situation worse if I had concentrated
31826 on my own problems. This is an example from my small experience of how an
31827 attitude of compassion helps even oneself, suppressing some degree of physical
31828 pain and keeping away mental distress, despite the fact that others might not
31829 be directly helped.
31830 Compassion strengthens your outlook, and with that courage you are more
31831 relaxed. When your perspective includes the suffering of limitless beings,
31832 your own suffering looks comparatively small.
31833 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living
31834 Well and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
31837 ...blissful light, with a Chenrezig on the tip of each ray, streams out of
31838 you and touches each and every sentient being--those whom you like, those whom
31839 you don't, and those you don't know. When this glowing light touches each
31840 sentient being, it performs two functions: it purifies them of their
31841 negativities, and it inspires them to realize all the stages of the path to
31842 enlightenment. We may start imagining the light touching the beings in the
31843 room and gradually spreading out to those in the area, the country, the
31844 continent, the world, and the universe. Or we can start with our friends and
31845 family, then radiate light to strangers, and finally to those who have harmed
31846 us or of whom we're afraid. Or, we can first radiate light to human beings,
31847 then animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods, and gods. We can use our
31848 creativity and imagination when doing this visualization. Each meditation
31849 session can have a different emphasis.
31850 It's very easy to love sentient beings in a general way. But it's more
31851 effective to be specific in our visualizations. Send light to the guy who cut
31852 you off on the highway. Send light to the IRS employee who questioned your
31853 tax return. Send light to the terrorist who thinks that killing others in the
31854 name of God will cause him to be reborn in heaven. Send light to government
31855 leaders who think that bombing others solves problems. Send light to your
31856 teenager who leaves his room a mess and gets mad when you comment on it. Send
31857 light to specific people you know and care about, people who are having
31858 problems, strangers, and people you don't like. Send it to hospitals, the
31859 Middle East, the inner cities, and Beverly Hills. There's suffering
31860 everywhere. The light frees sentient beings from their suffering.
31861 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method
31862 of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
31865 In Tibetan drenpa means "mindfulness," and sheshin means "awareness."
31866 Drenpa also means "mindfulness and memory." It means that one is mindful of
31867 what one is doing and remembers what one has to do whether one is meditating,
31868 whether one has lost the power of concentration, and so on. Mindfulness is
31869 like a causal condition and awareness is like the result. If one has very
31870 concentrated mindfulness, one immediately notices a thought arising and this
31871 becomes awareness, which becomes sheshin, and one knows what is occurring.
31872 Normally, one does not know what is in one's mind or what one is thinking, so
31873 there is no awareness. But if one has mindfulness, then it is said to the
31874 extent that mindfulness brings mental stability, one has awareness. So when
31875 one has mindfulness, it is through one's awareness of what is happening.
31876 At this level of pacification we become aware of the negative qualities of
31877 distraction. Santideva explains this by saying that when the mind is
31878 distracted, it is between the fangs of the wild animal of the kleshas
31879 [emotional obscurations], and from mental distractions come all the
31880 difficulties and mental hardships of this and future lives. Being in a state
31881 of distraction will increase the negative qualities of the mind more and more.
31882 However, being aware of the negative qualities motivates us to meditate.
31883 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Practice of Tranquillity and Insight:
31884 A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation", translated by Peter Roberts,
31885 published by Snow Lion Publications
31887 Developing a flexible approach to living is not only instrumental in
31888 helping us cope with everyday problems--it also becomes the cornerstone for a
31889 key element of a happy life: balance.
31890 Settling comfortably into his chair one morning, the Dalai Lama explained
31891 the value of leading a balanced life.
31892 "A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid
31893 extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday
31894 existence. It is important in all aspects of life. For instance, in planting
31895 a sapling of a plant or a tree, at its very early stage you have to be very
31896 skillful and gentle. Too much moisture will destroy it, too much sunlight
31897 will destroy it. Too little will also destroy it. So what you need is a very
31898 balanced environment where the sapling can have a healthy growth. Or, for a
31899 person's physical health, too much or too little of any one thing can have
31900 destructive effects. For example, too much protein I think is bad, and too
31902 "This gentle and skillful approach, taking care to avoid extremes,
31903 applies to healthy mental and emotional growth as well."
31904 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
31905 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
31907 ...Idle talk is usually considered a destructive action because it wastes
31908 our time. But if our friend is depressed and can't listen to wise advice, we
31909 can joke, tell silly stories, and use small talk to lighten his mood. Because
31910 our motivation is kind, our joking and chatting are positive.
31911 Laughing and having a good time aren't in opposition to Dharma. The more
31912 we leave behind attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride, the more we'll enjoy
31913 whatever we're doing. Our hearts will open to others and we can laugh and
31914 smile with ease. The holy beings I've been fortunate to meet have a wonderful
31915 sense of humor and are very friendly.
31916 In Buddhist groups, it's important for people to get to know each other
31917 and have a sense of fellowship. We can share experiences with our Dharma
31918 friends and encourage each other on the path. Buddhism isn't an isolated
31919 path, and it's important for Buddhists to cultivate group unity and
31921 It's not beneficial to retreat inside ourselves, thinking, "Every time I
31922 talk to someone I'm motivated by attachment. Therefore I'll concentrate on
31923 meditation and chanting and won't socialize with others." One of the
31924 fundamental principles of Buddhism is care and compassion for others.
31925 Although at times we may need to distance ourselves from others in order to
31926 settle our own minds, whenever possible we should actively develop genuine
31927 love for others. To do this, we must be aware of what's happening in others'
31928 lives, care about them as we do ourselves, and offer help whenever possible.
31929 Our ability to act with love develops with time and practice, and it has to be
31930 balanced with our need for private contemplation.
31931 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
31934 Young men and young women may work systematically six days in the week and
31935 rise fresh in the morning, but let them attend modern dances for only a few
31936 hours each evening and see what happens. The Waltz, Polka, Gallop and other
31937 dances of the same kind will be disastrous in their effects to both sexes.
31938 Health and vigor will vanish like the dew before the sun. It is not the
31939 extraordinary exercise which harms the dancer, but rather the coming into
31940 close contact with the opposite sex. It is the fury of lust craving
31941 incessantly for more pleasure that undermines the soul, the body, the sinews
31942 and nerves. Experience and statistics show beyond doubt that passionate
31943 excessive dancing girls can hardly reach twenty-five years of age and men
31944 thirty-one. Even if they reached that age they will in most instances be
31945 broken in health physically and morally. This is the claim of prominent
31946 physicians in this country.
31947 -- Quote from a 1910 periodical.
31949 Why I Can't Go Out With You: I'd LOVE to, but...
31950 -- I'm trying to see how long I can go without saying yes.
31951 -- I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
31952 -- The monsters haven't turned blue yet, and I have to eat more dots.
31953 -- I'm converting my calendar watch from Julian to Gregorian.
31954 -- I have to fulfill my potential.
31955 -- I don't want to leave my comfort zone.
31956 -- It's too close to the turn of the century.
31957 -- I have to bleach my hare.
31958 -- I'm worried about my vertical hold knob.
31959 -- I left my body in my other clothes.
31961 I remember most vividly my first lesson on epistemology as a child, when I
31962 had to memorize the dictum "The definition of the mental is that which is
31963 luminous and knowing." Drawing on earlier Indian sources, Tibetan thinkers
31964 defined consciousness. It was years later that I realized just how
31965 complicated is the philosophical problem hidden behind this simple
31966 formulation. Today when I see nine-year-old monks confidently citing this
31967 definition of consciousness on the debating floor, which is such a central
31968 part of Tibetan monastic education, I smile.
31969 These two features--luminosity, or clarity, and knowing, or cognizance--
31970 have come to characterize "the mental" in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought.
31971 Clarity here refers to the ability of mental states to reveal or reflect.
31972 Knowing, by contrast, refers to mental states' faculty to perceive or
31973 apprehend what appears. All phenomena possessed of these qualities count as
31974 mental. These features are difficult to conceptualize, but then we are
31975 dealing with phenomena that are subjective and internal rather than material
31976 objects that may be measured in spatiotemporal terms. Perhaps it is because
31977 of these difficulties--the limits of language in dealing with the subjective--
31978 that many of the early Buddhist texts explain the nature of consciousness in
31979 terms of metaphors such as light, or a flowing river. As the primary feature
31980 of light is to illuminate, so consciousness is said to illuminate its objects.
31981 Just as in light there is no categorical distinction between the illumination
31982 and that which illuminates, so in consciousness there is no real difference
31983 between the process of knowing or cognition and that which knows or cognizes.
31984 In consciousness, as in light, there is a quality of illumination.
31985 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence
31986 of Science and Spirituality"
31988 False conceptions are exaggerated modes of thought that do not accord with
31989 the facts. Even if an object--an event, a person, or any other phenomenon--
31990 has a slightly favorable aspect, once the object is mistakenly seen as
31991 existing totally from its own side, true and real, mental projection
31992 exaggerates its goodness beyond what it actually is, resulting in lust. The
31993 same happens with anger and hatred; this time a negative factor is
31994 exaggerated, making the object seem to be a hundred percent negative, the
31995 result being deep disturbance. Recently, a psychotherapist told me that when
31996 we generate anger, ninety percent of the ugliness of the object of our anger
31997 is due to our own exaggeration. This is very much in conformity with the
31998 Buddhist idea of how afflictive emotions arise.
31999 At the point when anger and lust are generated, reality is not seen;
32000 rather, an unreal mental projection of extreme badness or extreme goodness is
32001 seen, evoking twisted, unrealistic actions. All of this can be avoided by
32002 seeing the fuller picture revealed by paying attention to the dependent-
32003 arising of phenomena, the nexus of causes and conditions from which they arise
32004 and in which they exist.
32005 Looked at this way, the disadvantages of afflictive emotions are obvious.
32006 If you want to be able to perceive the actual situation, you have to quit
32007 voluntarily submitting to afflictive emotions, because in each and every
32008 field, they obstruct perception of the facts.....
32009 Love and compassion also involve strong feelings that can even make you
32010 cry with empathy, but they are induced not by exaggeration but by valid
32011 cognition of the plight of sentient beings, and the appropriateness of being
32012 concerned for their well-being. These feelings rely on insight into how
32013 beings suffer in the round of rebirth called "cyclic existence," and the depth
32014 of these feelings is enhanced through insight into impermanence and
32015 emptiness.... Though it is possible for love and compassion to be influenced
32016 by afflictive emotions, true love and compassion are unbiased and devoid of
32017 exaggeration, because they are founded on valid cognition of your relationship
32018 to others. The perspective of dependent-arising is supremely helpful in
32019 making sure that you appreciate the wider picture.
32020 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
32021 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
32023 The Prajna Paramita is a very profound philosophical doctrine, and I will just
32024 outline the main ideas in it in order to clarify the Chod. First we start off
32025 with the confused egocentric state of mind. This state of mind causes us to
32026 suffer, and so, to alleviate the suffering, we start to practice meditation.
32027 What happens in meditation is that the speedy mind begins to slow down and
32028 things begin to settle, like the mud sinking to the bottom of a puddle of
32029 water when it is left undisturbed. When this settling has occurred, a kind of
32030 clear understanding of the way things work in the mind takes place. This
32031 understanding is prajna, profound cognition. Then, according to Buddhist
32032 doctrine, through the use of this prajna, we begin to see that, in fact,
32033 although we think that we have a separate and unique essence, or self, which
32034 we call the "ego," when we look closely, we are a composite of form, sense-
32035 perceptions, consciousness, etc., and are merely a sum of these parts. This
32036 realization is the understanding of sunyata, usually translated as emptiness,
32037 or voidness. It means there is no self-essence, that we are "void of a self."
32038 If we are void of a self, there is no reason to be egocentric, since the whole
32039 notion of a separate ego is false. Therefore we can afford to be
32040 compassionate, and need not continually defend ourselves or force our desires
32042 -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
32044 There is a film called "Groundhog Day," which is really a Buddhist movie
32045 because this is exactly what the plot is about. For those of you who haven't
32046 seen it, it's about somebody who had to relive the same day again and again
32047 until he got it right. He started out with an extremely negative attitude,
32048 and so throughout the first day he created a lot of negative causes. People
32049 related back to him from his own level of negativity, and so he had a very bad
32050 day. Then the next day he had to experience the same day all over again.
32051 Then again, and again. He became desperate to find a way out. He attempted
32052 suicide many times, but the next morning, there he was again in the same room
32053 and the same bed. The date hadn't changed, and the same song was playing on
32054 the radio. His attitude underwent many, many changes, until in the end he
32055 spent most of his time trying to help people. He forestalled tragedies he
32056 knew were going to happen because he had lived the day over so many times, and
32057 his whole attitude gradually turned around into working out ways to help
32058 others. As his inner attitude transformed, the day gradually got better and
32059 better. Finally, he was able to break through to a new day.
32060 The important thing is how we respond to our situation. We can transform
32061 anything if we respond in a skillful way. This is precisely what karma is
32062 about. If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually
32063 create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative
32064 things will eventually come our way. Unlike the scenario in the movie, it
32065 doesn't always happen right away. We can be very nice people but still have
32066 lots of problems. On the other hand, we can be awful people and have a
32067 wonderful time. But from a Buddhist perspective, it's just a matter of time
32068 before we receive the results of our conduct. And usually it is true that
32069 people with a positive attitude encounter positive circumstances. Even if the
32070 circumstances do not appear positive, they be transformed through a positive
32071 view. On the other hand people with negative minds complain even when things
32072 are going well. They also transform circumstances, but they transform
32073 positive ones into negative ones!
32074 Both our present and our future depend on us. From moment to moment, we
32075 are creating our future. We are not a ball of dust tossed about by the winds
32076 of fate. We have full responsibility for our lives. The more aware we
32077 become, the more capable we are of making skillful choices.
32078 -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
32079 on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
32081 Why is endeavor necessary? If we consider material progress, we see that
32082 research started by one person can always be continued by another. But this
32083 is not possible with spiritual progress. The realization we talk about in the
32084 Buddhadharma is something that has to be accomplished by the individual. No
32085 one else can do it for us. Of course, it would be wonderful if in the future
32086 we could attain realization through some sort of new injection or by means of
32087 a new generation of computers, without having to go through any difficulties.
32088 If we could be absolutely certain that such a time would come, we could simply
32089 lie back and wait to get enlightened. But I doubt that this will ever happen.
32090 It is better to make an effort. We have to develop endeavor.
32092 Thus with patience I will practice diligence,
32093 For it is through zeal that I will reach enlightenment.
32094 If there is no wind, then nothing stirs;
32095 Neither is there merit where there is no diligence.
32096 We can be patient in various ways, such as by not thinking ill of those
32097 who harm us or by accepting suffering as the path. Of these two, the latter
32098 is the more important for generating endeavor, and it is endeavor that enables
32099 us to attain enlightenment. As Shantideva says, "It is through zeal that I
32100 will reach enlightenment." In the same way that protecting a lamp from the
32101 wind allows the flame to burn without flickering, endeavor enables the
32102 virtuous mind to grow undisturbed.
32103 What is endeavor? It is finding joy in doing what is good. To do that,
32104 it is necessary to remove anything that counteracts it, especially laziness.
32105 Laziness has three aspects: having no wish to do good, being distracted by
32106 negative activities, and underestimating oneself by doubting one's ability.
32107 Related to these are taking undue pleasure in idleness and sleep and being
32108 indifferent to samsara as a state of suffering.
32109 -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "A Flash of
32110 Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of
32111 Life", translated by The Padmakara Translation Group.
32113 Western women emerging from crisis situations often choose to live alone,
32114 intuitively knowing that the confrontation with oneself that this brings will
32115 lead to a deeper understanding. These women in our society (which sees them
32116 as pitiable and unfortunate) can take strength from the stories of Tibetan
32118 These Western women also seek the support of other women or
32119 psychotherapists to help them to emerge from their descents, just as the
32120 yoginis sought the guidance of their teachers and spiritual friends, and the
32121 Greeks needed the help of the "therapeutes" [helpers] to make sense of the
32122 memories they brought back from the oracle cave.
32123 Speaking of the descent myth in terms of her experiences in controlled
32124 therapeutic regressions, Jungian analyst M.L. Von Franz describes the descent
32125 process in relation to the story of "The Handless Maiden":
32126 In the Middle Ages there were many hermits, and in Switzerland there
32127 were the so-called Wood Brothers and Sisters. People who did not want
32128 to live a monastic life but who wanted to live alone in the forest had
32129 both a closeness to nature and also a great experience of spiritual
32130 inner life. Such Wood Brothers and Sisters could be personalities on
32131 a high level who had a spiritual fate and had to renounce active life
32132 for a time and isolate themselves to find their own inner relation to
32133 God. It is not very different from what the shaman does in the Polar
32134 tribes, or what medicine men do all over the world, in order to seek
32135 an immediate personal religious experience in isolation.
32136 ...If we avoid the descent because of fear of what we will discover about
32137 ourselves in the "underworld," we block ourselves off from a powerful
32138 transformative process. This process has been recognized by modern
32139 psychologists and ancient mystery religions alike.
32140 -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
32142 The modes of thought in pride and in courageous thought are entirely
32144 Depression caused by disintegration of the ego probably comes from not
32145 being able to posit a conventionally existent I. Still, when some
32146 understanding of emptiness develops, you have a different feeling of I than
32147 that to which you previously were accustomed. Our usual feeling is that the I
32148 is something solid, really independent, and very forceful. Such no longer
32149 remains, but at the same time there is a sense of a mere I that accumulates
32150 karma and performs actions. Such a sense of self is not at all a source of
32152 If you have difficulty positing a merely nominal I as well as merely
32153 nominal cause and effect of actions--if you get to the point where if you
32154 assert selflessness, you cannot posit dependent-arising--then it would be
32155 better to assert dependent-arising and give up selflessness. Indeed, there
32156 are many levels of understanding selflessness, and Buddha, out of great
32157 skillfulness in method, taught many different schools of tenets that posit
32158 coarser levels of selflessness for those temporarily unable to understand the
32159 more subtle levels. It is not the case that only if the most profound level
32160 is immediately accessible, it is suitable, and if it is not accessible, the
32161 whole endeavor should be thrown away. You have to proceed step by step with
32162 whatever accords with your level of mind. Between emptiness and dependent-
32163 arising, you should value dependent-arising more highly.
32164 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
32165 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
32166 published by Snow Lion Publications
32168 Puba Supoche asked, "Dampa, tell me what it's like when you really
32169 practice sincerely! I understand neither heads nor tails of it!"
32170 Dampa said, "View is the destruction of extreme ideas regarding things!
32171 Cutting pride of self with confidence is realization! Being without support
32172 in luminosity is meditation! In insight, absence of recognition is the
32173 innate! Finding nowhere to place the mind among shifting phenomena is
32174 subsequent attainment! In their absence, there is no antidote but natural
32175 intensity! Naked awareness without grasping is dharmakaya! Disappearance
32176 without being anything is experience! Don't you wonder whether all this truly
32178 -- Padampa Sangye, "Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa
32179 Sangye", translated by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche,
32180 published by Snow Lion Publications
32182 [do you have any thoughts about how a person could go about increasing their
32183 feeling of autonomy or freedom at work?]
32185 ...it will completely depend on the person's individual circumstances,
32186 what position they are in. Let's take the example of a prisoner. Now of
32187 course it is best not to be in prison, but even in that situation, where a
32188 person may be deprived of freedom, he or she may discover small choices that
32189 they are able to make. And even if somebody is in prison, with very rigid
32190 rules, they can undertake some spiritual practices to try to lessen their
32191 mental frustrations, try to get some peace of mind. So they can work on
32192 internal development...if people can do this under the extreme conditions of
32193 prison, in the workplace people may try to discover small things, small
32194 choices that they can make in how to go about their work. And of course,
32195 somebody may work on an assembly line with little variation in how to do their
32196 tasks, but they still have other kinds of choices in terms of their attitudes,
32197 how they interact with their co-workers, whether they utilize certain inner
32198 qualities or spiritual strengths to change their attitude at work even though
32199 the nature of the work may be difficult. Isn't it? So, perhaps that would
32201 Of course, when you are talking about rigid rules and lack of freedom,
32202 that doesn't mean that you are required to blindly follow and accept
32203 everything others tell you. In instances where the worker might be exploited,
32204 where the employer thinks of nothing but profit and pays a small salary and
32205 demands a lot of overtime, or where one may be asked to do things that are not
32206 appropriate or are unethical, one should not simply think, "Well, this is my
32207 karma," and take no action. Here it is not enough to think, "I should just be
32209 If there is injustice, then I think inaction is the wrong response. The
32210 Buddhist texts mention what is called "misplaced tolerance," or "misplaced
32211 forbearance." So...misplaced patience or forbearance refers to the sense of
32212 endurance that some individuals have when they are subject to a very
32213 destructive, negative activity. That is a misplaced forbearance and
32214 endurance. Similarly, in the work environment, if there is a lot of injustice
32215 and exploitation, then to passively tolerate it is the wrong response. The
32216 appropriate response really is to actively resist it, to try to change this
32217 environment rather than accept it. One should take some action...perhaps one
32218 could speak with the boss, with the management, and try to change these
32219 things. One needs to actively resist exploitation. And in some cases, one
32220 may simply need to quit and to look for other work.
32221 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
32222 "The Art of Happiness at Work"
32224 The purpose of Buddha's coming to the world was for the sake of sentient
32225 beings' attaining the wisdom that he achieved. The paths that he taught are
32226 only a means leading to Buddhahood; he does not lead sentient beings with a
32227 low vehicle that is not a method leading to Buddhahood. He establishes
32228 sentient beings in the powers and so forth that exist in his own state.
32230 "Manjushri, all the doctrines that I teach to sentient beings are for
32231 the sake of attaining omniscient wisdom. Flowing into enlightenment
32232 and descending into the Mahayana, they are means of achieving
32233 omniscience, leading completely to one place. Therefore, I do not
32234 create different vehicles."
32235 -- from "Chapter of the True One Sutra".
32237 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
32238 published by Snow Lion Publications
32240 We are aiming to develop a strong feeling of love and compassion with
32241 respect to everyone, but this cannot be done without first seeing an equality
32242 of all beings throught meditatively cultivating equanimity. Otherwise, you'll
32243 easily be able to generate love and compassion for friends and may be able to
32244 extend a little of this to neutral people, but even minor enemies will remain
32245 a huge problem. Thus at first it is necessary to recognize how friends,
32246 neutral persons, and enemies are equal.
32247 This is done in two ways. One way to break down rigid classifications of
32248 people is by reflecting first with respect to friends, then neutral persons,
32250 "Just as I want happiness and don't want suffering, so this friend
32251 wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this neutral
32252 person wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this
32253 enemy wants happiness and doesn't want suffering."
32254 Another way is to reflect on what your relationships have been with others
32255 over the course of lifetimes, beginning with neutral persons, then friends,
32256 and finally enemies. An enemy in this lifetime wants to do you in, but over
32257 the course of lifetimes was this person just an enemy? No. If you do not
32258 believe in rebirth, utilize the rebirth game, the rebirth perspective, as a
32259 technique for making your mind more flexible.
32260 Either of these techniques will work:
32261 - Reflecting on the similarity of yourself and others in the basic
32262 aspiration to gain happiness and be rid of suffering.
32264 - Reflecting on the changeability of relationships over the course
32266 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
32267 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
32268 Snow Lion Publications
32270 What is wisdom? It is as explained in the perfection of supreme knowledge
32271 teachings: all phenomena are free from elaborations, and when the perceiving
32272 subject as well becomes equally free from elaborations, that is wisdom. In
32273 particular, the wisdom of the buddha consists in the pacification of the
32274 elaborations and their habitual tendencies in relation to suchness. It is the
32275 inseparability of the expanse and wisdom. It is free from singularity and
32276 multiplicity, quality and qualified. It realizes the nonduality of subjects
32277 and objects. In it all phenomena--samsara and nirvana, faults and qualities,
32278 and so on--are always undifferentiable and equal. Outside of that, there is
32279 no way to posit wisdom.
32280 In a nonanalytical context of repeating what others accept, we Followers
32281 of the Middle Way describe knowable objects as existing. The wisdom of the
32282 buddhas is the same. Since we speak of all phenomena as existing from the
32283 perspective of others (even though from our own perspective they are free of
32284 the elaborations of existence and nonexistence), it is unreasonable to debate
32285 solely about the existence or nonexistence of the wisdom of buddhas.
32286 -- "The Karmapa's Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate by the Ninth Karmapa,
32287 Wangchuk Dorje", trans. by Tyler Dewar, published by Snow Lion
32290 Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. -- Martin Fraqhar Tupper
32292 A diplomat is a man who says you have an open mind,
32293 instead of telling you that you have a hole in the head.
32296 To achieve great things, two things are needed;
32297 a plan, and not quite enough time.
32298 -- Leonard Bernstein
32300 To bend a bamboo, start when it is a shoot. -- Malaysian Proverb
32302 Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.
32305 No shade tree? Blame not the sun, but yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
32307 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool,
32308 than to speak and remove all doubt.
32311 Art is either plagiarism or revolution. -- Paul Gauguin
32313 When this world initially formed, there seem to have been two types of
32314 events or entities, one sentient, the other insentient. Rocks, for instance,
32315 are examples of nonsentient entities. You see, we usually consider them to
32316 have no feelings: no pains and no pleasures. The other type, sentient beings,
32317 have awareness, consciousness, pains and pleasures.
32318 But there needs to be a cause for that. If you posit there is no cause
32319 for consciousness, then this leads to all sorts of inconsistencies and logical
32320 problems. So, the cause is posited, established. It is considered certain.
32321 The initial cause must be an independent consciousness. And on that basis
32322 is asserted the theory of continuation of life after death. It is during the
32323 interval when one's continuum of awareness departs from one's body at death
32324 that the subtle mind, the subtle consciousness, becomes manifest. That
32325 continuum connects one life with the next.
32326 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
32327 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
32328 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
32329 Snow Lion Publications
32331 Channels and cakras represent the inner structure of the human body,
32332 referred to in the tantric teachings as the 'vajra body'. 'Vajra' means
32333 'indestructible', and 'vajra body' refers to the dimension of the three
32334 fundamental components: the channels and cakras, the prana that flows through
32335 them, and the bindu or thigle, the white and red seed-essences of the physical
32336 body that form the basis for practices such as the Tummo.
32337 In the tantras of the Upadesa section of Dzogchen, it is explained that
32338 after the conception of a human being the first thing to develop is the navel
32339 cakra. Then from this, through a channel, the head cakra develops followed by
32340 the other main cakras of the throat and the heart. This channel or meridian,
32341 known as the life-channel, develops into the spinal cord and spine. At the
32342 same time it remains as the fundamental energy of the central channel.
32343 The central channel, known as Uma in Tibetan, is connected with the two
32344 lateral channels called Roma and Kyangma. The Roma channel, which is white
32345 and corresponds to lunar energy, is on the right side in men and on the left
32346 in women. Ro means 'taste', and the main function of this channel is to give
32347 the sensation of pleasure. The Kyangma channel, red and corresponding to
32348 solar energy, is on the left side in men and on the right in women. Kyang
32349 means 'sole', and unlike the Roma, this channel is not connected with many
32350 secondary channels. Control of this channel is fundamental in order to
32351 cultivate the experience of emptiness. These are the characteristic features
32352 of the two channels, which are related to the two principles of upaya or
32353 method, and of prajna or energy. Method denotes everything pertaining to the
32354 visible or material dimension; while 'prajna', which generally means
32355 discriminating wisdom, in this context denotes the energy of emptiness that is
32356 the base of any manifestation.
32357 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement",
32358 translated by Adriano Clemente, published byy Snow Lion Publications
32360 Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them.
32363 The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends.
32366 You can't depend on the man who made the mess to clear it up.
32369 You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. -- John Adams
32371 Kissing is like drinking salted water; you drink and your thirst increases.
32374 The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the
32375 mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own
32376 capacity.... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god of the
32377 Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god of the
32378 center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together what
32379 they could doto repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas everyone
32380 else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and so on,
32381 Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes in
32382 him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
32385 Everybody loves to talk about calm and peace, whether in a family,
32386 national, or international context. But without inner peace how can we make
32387 real peace? World peace through hatred and force is impossible. Even in the
32388 case of individuals, there is no possibility to feel happiness through anger.
32389 If in a difficult situation one becomes disturbed internally, overwhelmed by
32390 mental discomfort, then external things will not help at all. However, if
32391 despite external difficulties or problems, internally one's attitude is of
32392 love, warmth, and kind-heartedness, then problems can be faced and accepted.
32394 The necessary foundation for world peace and the ultimate goal of any new
32395 international order is the elimination of violence at every level. For this
32396 reason the practice of non-violence surely suits us all. It simply requires
32397 determination, for by its very nature non-violent action requires patience.
32398 While the practice of non-violence is still something of an experiment on this
32399 planet, if it is successful it will open the way to a far more peaceful world
32400 in the next century.
32401 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
32404 On the tenth night of the twelfth month, Gyal Dawa, the girl, came again.
32405 She said, "Don't neglect my request for a prayer. It is very important."
32406 That's the dream she had. I thought, "I'll write it on the full moon day."
32407 So on the night of the fourteenth I prayed with single-pointed devotion to
32408 Guru Rinpoche to grant blessing that the prayer would be beneficial and then
32409 fell asleep. Early in the morning of the fifteenth I dreamed I was sitting in
32410 front of the shrine in a very large building that looked like a temple.
32411 Suddenly a young white man dressed in white with his hair falling loosely over
32412 his shoulder appeared at the entrance. He was playing the cymbals melodiously
32413 and dancing the swirling, joyous dance of the Ging. He came closer and
32416 If you want to establish the dharma,
32417 Establish it in your mind.
32418 In the depth of mind, you will find Buddha.
32419 If you wish to visit the buddha fields,
32420 Purify ordinary deluded attachment.
32421 The perfectly comfortable buddha field is close by.
32422 Develop the joyful effort to practice,
32423 That is the essence of the teaching.
32424 Without practice, who can gain the siddhis?
32425 It is hard to see one's faults,
32426 But to see them nakedly is powerful advice.
32427 In the end when faults have been cleared away,
32428 The enlightened qualities increase and shine forth.
32430 At the end of this he rolled his cymbals. Then he crashed them together,
32431 and I awoke. After I woke up, I did not forget what he had said. I
32432 understood it to have been advice on practicing what to accept and what to
32433 reject. I was sad that although I had actually seen the face of my only
32434 father, Guru Padmasambhava, I had not recognized him.
32435 I, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, old father of the Nyingma, wrote this from my own
32436 experience. Sarva Mangalam [May all be auspicious].
32437 -- Khenpo Tsewaang Dongyal Rinpoche, "Light of Fearless Indestructible
32438 Wisdom: The Life and Legacy of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche", published
32439 by Snow Lion Publications
32441 The modern economy has no national boundaries. When we talk about ecology,
32442 the environment, when we are concerned about the ozone layer, one individual,
32443 one society, one country cannot solve these problems. We must work together.
32444 Humanity needs more genuine cooperation. The foundation for the development
32445 of good relations with one another is altruism, compassion, and forgiveness.
32446 For small arguments to remain limited, in the human circle the best method is
32447 forgiveness. Altruism and forgiveness are the basis for bringing humanity
32448 together. Then no conflict, no matter how serious, will go beyond the bounds
32449 of what is truly human.
32450 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
32451 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited bby Sidney Piburn, Foreword
32452 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
32454 Creation in four vajra steps entails meditation on emptiness; generating a
32455 moon, sun, and seed-syllable from which light emanates and then converges; the
32456 full manifestation of the deity resulting from the convergence of the light
32457 and transformation of the seed-syllable; and visualization of three syllables
32458 at the deity's three places. [The syllables om, ah, and hum are imagined at
32459 the forehead, throat, and heart, respectively.]
32460 ...Kongtrul explains that all the varieties of the creation phase
32461 incorporate the four key elements of form, imagination, result, and
32462 transformative power. "Form" means meditating on forms that represent the
32463 aspects of awakening and generating clear images of these forms, thereby
32464 stopping impure appearances. "Imagination" means using the force of creative
32465 imagination to convert the visualized forms of awakening into reality.
32466 "Result" means meditating on the result, that is, the very goal to be
32467 attained, and thereby achieving that goal. "Transformative power" means
32468 turning the ordinary body and mind into pristine awareness by relying on the
32469 transformative powers of awakened beings. Among these, Kongtrul points out,
32470 the most important element for realization of the path is the transformative
32471 power of the vajra master combined with one's own devotion to that master.
32472 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taaye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight,
32473 Part Three: The Elements of Tantric Practice", translated by Ingrid
32474 Loken McLeod and Elio Guarisco, published by Snow Lion Publications
32476 From The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo
32479 All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
32480 That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
32481 They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
32482 Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the
32483 luminous-empty body of the deity.
32484 I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
32485 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32487 All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
32488 That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
32489 Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
32490 Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
32491 I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
32492 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32494 However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
32495 Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
32496 Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the
32497 future or lingers in the past.
32498 Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the dharmakaya.
32499 I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated, I pray to
32500 Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32502 Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
32503 Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
32504 So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
32505 That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
32506 And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
32508 -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated
32509 and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
32511 The actual method of cultivating the correct attitudes towards the
32512 spiritual master is to practice contemplative meditation upon the guru's good
32513 qualities and the beneficial effects that he or she introduces into one's
32514 life. By reflecting again and again on the great kindness the guru performs,
32515 a confidence suitable for spiritual training under him or her is born. This
32516 process of reflecting on the role of the guru is important in the beginning as
32517 well as in the higher practices, for as we sit in contemplation we become
32518 faced with a stream of reactions, which if understood at an early stage can
32519 clear the mind of much doubt, confusion and superstition.
32520 The spiritual master is the source of all spiritual progress. In this
32521 context, Geshe Potowa once said, "If even those who want to learn a common
32522 worldly trade must study under a qualified teacher, how much more so must we
32523 who seek enlightenment? Most of us have come from the lower realms and have
32524 no background or experience in the paths and stages to enlightenment; and, if
32525 we wish to gain this experience, why should we not study with someone
32526 qualified to teach us the methods that develop it?"
32527 In the beginning of his Great Exposition, Lama Tsongkhapa writes, "The
32528 root of spiritual development is to cultivate an effective relationship with a
32529 master." This means that we must cultivate the correct attitudes and then
32530 demonstrate them correctly in action. This is the root that, if made strong,
32531 supports the trunk, branches, leaves and flowers of practice. When the roots
32532 of a tree are strong, the entire tree becomes strong, whereas when the roots
32533 are weak, the entire tree will remain weak.
32534 ...We should engender respect such that we see the guru as a Buddha. If
32535 we can do this, then we experience the guru as we would a Buddha and
32536 consequently are sufficiently inspired to practice what he or she teaches.
32537 The instruction to see the guru as a Buddha is not unreasonable, for in many
32538 ways the spiritual master is Buddha himself.
32539 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
32540 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Liion Publications
32542 ...when you start practicing, you should not expect too much. We live in
32543 a time of computers and automation, so you may feel that inner development is
32544 also an automatic thing for which you press a button and everything changes.
32545 It is not so. Inner development is not easy and will take time. External
32546 progress, the latest space missions and so forth, have not reached their
32547 present level within a short period but over centuries, each generation making
32548 greater developments based on those of the previous generation. However,
32549 inner development is even more difficult since internal improvement cannot be
32550 transferred from generation to generation. Your past life's experience very
32551 much influences this life, and this life's experience becomes the basis for
32552 the next rebirth's development, but transference of inner development from one
32553 person to another is impossible. Thus, everything depends on yourself, and it
32555 I have met Westerners who at the beginning were very enthusiastic about
32556 their practice, but after a few years have completely forgotten it, and there
32557 are no traces of what they had practiced at one time. This is because at the
32558 beginning they expected too much. Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
32559 Deeds emphasizes the importance of the practice of patience--tolerance. This
32560 tolerance is an attitude not only towards your enemy but also an attitude of
32561 sacrifice, of determination, soo that you do not fall into the laziness of
32562 discouragement. You should practice patience, or tolerance, with great
32563 resolve. This is important.
32564 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatsoo, "Kindness,
32565 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
32566 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
32569 I take refuge until I am enlightened in the Buddhas,
32570 the Dharma, and the Sangha.
32571 By the positive potential I create by practicing generosity
32572 and the other far-reaching attitudes (ethical discipline,
32573 patience, joyous effort, meditative stabilization, and wisdom),
32574 may I attain Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings.
32576 It takes only a few moments to think in this way and to recite the prayer,
32577 yet doing so has a significant effect on the rest of our day. We'll be more
32578 cheerful and will be sure of our direction in life. Especially if we don't do
32579 a regular meditation practice, starting the day in this way is extremely
32581 In the evening, after reviewing the day's activities and freeing our minds
32582 from any remaining afflictions that may have arisen during the day, we again
32583 take refuge and generate the altruistic intention.
32584 Before going to sleep, we can envision the Buddha, made of light, on our
32585 pillow. Placing our head in his lap, we fall asleep amidst the gentle glow of
32586 his wisdom and compassion. Instead, we can learn the guidelines and try to
32587 implement them as much as we can, reviewing them periodically to refresh our
32588 minds. We may choose one guideline to emphasize this week in our daily lives.
32589 Next week, we can add another, and so on. In that way, we'll slowly build up
32590 the good habits of practicing all of them.
32591 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
32594 Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering;
32595 love is wanting them to have happiness.
32596 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
32598 The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
32599 worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present
32600 moment wisely and earnestly.
32603 Our patience will achieve more than our force. -- Edmund Burke
32605 The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his tax return,
32606 it's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
32607 -- Arthur C. Clarke
32609 Despite all the material progress in this and the last century we still
32610 experience suffering, especially in relation to mental well-being. In fact,
32611 if anything, the complex way of life created by modernisation or globalisation
32612 is causing new problems and new causes of mental unrest. Under these
32613 circumstances I feel that the various religious traditions have an important
32614 role to play in helping to maintain peace and the spirit of reconciliation and
32615 dialogue, and therefore harmony and close contact between them is essential.
32616 Whether we are believers or non-believers and, within the category of the
32617 believers, whether we hold this or that belief, we must respect all the
32618 traditions. That's very important.
32619 I always tell people in non-Buddhist countries that followers of other
32620 religions should maintain their own tradition. To change religion is not
32621 easy, and people can get into trouble as a result of confusion. So it is much
32622 safer to keep to one's own tradition, while respecting all religions. I'm
32623 Buddhist--sometimes I describe myself as a staunch Buddhist--but, at the same
32624 time, I respect and admire the works of other traditionss' figures such as
32625 Jesus Christ. Basically, all the religious traditions have made an immense
32626 contribution to humanity and continue to do so, and as such are worthy of our
32627 respect and admiration.
32628 When we contemplate the diversity of spiritual traditions on this planet
32629 we can understand that each addresses the specific needs of different human
32630 beings, because there is so much diversity in human mentality and spiritual
32631 inclination. Yet, fundamentally, all spiritual traditions perform the same
32632 function, which is to help us tame our mental state, overcome our negativities
32633 and perfect our inner potential.
32634 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
32635 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
32637 ...For one who abides in thought
32638 Feats do not arise.
32639 Therefore abandon thought
32640 And think a mantra form.
32642 'Abandon thought' refers to the eradication of thought conceiving self
32643 [inherent existence] through the wisdom of selflessness; it does not mean to
32644 stop any and all types of thought. 'Think a mantra form' means to meditate on
32645 a deity. The measure of firmness in deity yoga is indicated by 'whether
32646 going, standing, or sitting is always immovable though moving about'. When
32647 one has attained the capacity to hold the mind on the divine body in all types
32648 of behaviour--whether in meditative equipoise or not--without moving to
32649 something else, one has the capacity to remove the pride of ordinaariness.
32650 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
32651 "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
32654 A person who is liberated, who has freed his or her mind of all mental
32655 afflictions, still experiences physical suffering. The difference between us
32656 and an arhat, a person who has freed the mind from mental affliction, is that
32657 an arhat doesn't identify with pain. Arhats experience physical pain vividly
32658 but don't grasp onto it; they can take action to avoid or alleviate pain, but
32659 whether they do so or not, the physical pain doesn't come inside. What an
32660 arhat does not experience is mental suffering. A buddha, one who is perfectly
32661 spiritually awakened, has gone a further step. A buddha has no mental
32662 suffering of his or her own, but is vividly and non-dually aware of the
32663 suffering of others.
32664 Superficially, the arhat who is free from mental suffering can seem to us
32665 who lack this realization as numb and detached, in a state of existential
32666 anesthesia. A buddha, one who is fully awakened, presents the paradox of
32667 being free from suffering and also non-dually present with other people's joys
32668 and sorrows, hopes and fears. A buddha taps into immutable bliss, the
32669 ultimate ground state of awareness beyond the dichotomy of stimulus-driven
32670 pain and pleasure. The mind of a buddha has been purified of all obscuration
32671 and from its own nature there naturally arises immutable bliss, like a spring
32672 welling up from the earth. With the unveiling of the buddha-nature of
32673 unconditioned bliss, there is also a complete erosion of an absolute
32674 demarcation between self and other. The barrier is gone. This is why buddhas
32675 are vividly and non-dually aware of the suffering of others, their hopes and
32676 fears, the whole situation, and at the same time are not disengaged from the
32677 purity and bliss of their own awareness. The mind of a buddha doesn't block
32678 out anything and nothing is inhibited, and this is why the awareness of an
32679 awakened being is frequently described as "unimaginable."
32680 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
32681 Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
32683 The fifth Tara is known as Wangdu Rigje Lhamo. She is Kurukulle in
32684 Sanskrit and Rigjema or Rigje Lhamo in Tibetan. Wangdu means power of
32685 "gathering, summoning," or "magnetizing." We can think of it as attracting
32686 everything beneficial, to benefit all beings. Rigjema means "she who
32687 precisely understands everything" and Lhamo is "divine lady." So she is known
32688 as the Tara who precisely understands the power of magnetizing.
32689 Kurukulle's practice is very extensively taught throughout Tibetan
32690 Buddhism. She is often named the "Red Tara" because of her color. Her Praise
32692 CHAG TSHAL TUT TA RA HUNG YI GE
32693 Homage, Mother, filling all regions, sky, and the realm of desire
32695 DO DANG CHOG DANG NAM KHA GANG MA
32696 With the sounds of TUTTARA and HUNG,
32698 JIG TEN DUN PO ZHAB CHI NEN TE
32699 Trampling the seven worlds with her feet,
32701 LU PA ME PAR GUG PAR NU MA
32702 Able to summon all before her.
32703 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab annd Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, "Tara's Enlightened
32704 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
32705 published by Snow Lion Publications
32707 The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
32710 Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed
32711 is more important than any one thing.
32714 Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless-like water. Now you put water into a
32715 cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,
32716 you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can
32717 crash. Be water, my friend.
32720 All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability.
32721 The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
32724 A wise man can learn more from a foolish question
32725 than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
32728 The remembrance of youth is a sigh. -- Oriental Maxim
32730 Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
32731 -- Herbert Henry Asquith
32733 The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
32734 -- Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
32736 What we play is life. -- Louis Armstrong
32738 Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain
32739 the whole truth, or the only truth.
32742 Some say the glass is half empty,
32743 some say the glass is half full,
32744 I say, are you going to drink that?
32747 Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -- Carl Jung
32749 Since a politician never believes what he says,
32750 he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
32751 -- Charles de Gaulle
32753 On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable.
32754 The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the
32755 other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out
32756 is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting
32757 against each other.
32758 -- Stewart Brand at the first Hackers' Conference in 1984
32760 Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
32761 -- William Ruckelshaus
32763 Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end. -- Anon.
32765 "We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
32766 because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world
32767 is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my
32768 interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being
32769 here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous
32770 time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count,
32771 since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for
32772 witnessing all the marvels of it."
32773 -- Don Juan, Yaqui Shaman
32775 Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
32778 People prefer to believe what they prefer to be true. -- Francis Bacon
32780 The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
32781 but in rising every time we fall.
32784 Stapp's Ironical Paradox:
32785 The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any
32786 human accomplishment an incredible miracle.
32787 -- Col. John P. Stapp
32789 When the only tool you own is a hammer,
32790 every problem begins to resemble a nail.
32793 Peace is not a little white dove. It is you and me. -- Rigoberta Menchu Tum
32795 If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
32798 The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes,
32799 in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip
32800 himself of almost all sense and meaning.
32801 -- Sir Winston Churchill
32803 Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? -- Frank Scully
32805 Money often costs too much. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
32807 The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
32810 The true meaning of life is to plant trees
32811 under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
32812 -- Nelson Henderson
32814 The first human being who hurled an insult instead
32815 of a stone was the founder of civilization.
32818 When the weight of the world has got you down
32819 and you want to end your life.
32820 Bills to pay, a dead-end job,
32821 and problems with the wife.
32822 But don't throw in the tow'l,
32823 'cuz there's a place right down the block...
32824 Where you can drink your misery away...
32825 At Flaming Moe's.... (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
32826 When liquor in a mug (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
32827 can warm you like a hug. (Flaming Moe's...)
32828 And happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
32829 Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
32830 -- Flaming Moe's Theme Song, The Simpsons.
32832 Stop living for what's around the corner
32833 and start enjoying the walk down the street.
32836 Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. -- George Iles
32838 One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned
32839 to the Buddha and exclaimed: "Lord, I've been thinking--spiritual friendship
32840 is at least half of the spiritual life!" The Buddha replied: "Say not so,
32841 Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
32842 -- Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
32844 There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human
32845 limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on
32846 some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly
32847 moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one,
32848 and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being.
32851 A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but
32852 together can decide that nothing can be done.
32855 An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
32856 -- Robert A. Humphrey
32858 The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best--and therefore
32859 never scrutinize or question.
32860 -- Stephen Jay Gould
32862 41. One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived
32863 One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived,
32864 Is the primordially present ultimate Lama
32865 From whom you have not been separated for even an instant.
32866 This meeting with the original abiding nature--how amazing!
32867 I, Jnana, wrote this in response to Changchub Palmo's request.
32868 -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by
32869 Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
32871 I hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring
32872 newspaper headings concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred
32873 people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve
32874 months. The Erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. It had
32875 killed forty-six.or twenty-six, I do not exactly remember which, but I know
32876 the number was double that of any other road. But the fact straightway
32877 suggested itself that the Erie was an immensely long road, and did more
32878 business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed
32879 ceased to be matter for surprise.
32880 By further figuring, it appeared that between New York and Rochester the
32881 Erie ran eight passenger trains each way every day.sixteen altogether; and
32882 carried a daily average of 6,000 persons. That is about a million in six
32883 months.the population of New York city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen
32884 to twenty-three persons out of its million in six months; and in the same
32885 time 13,000 of New York's million die in their beds! My flesh crept, my hair
32887 "This is appalling!" I said. "The danger isn't in travelling by rail, but
32888 in trusting to those deadly beds. I will never sleep in a bed again."
32889 --Mark Twain on Risk Analysis, 1871
32891 The activities of this degenerate age are like a madman's performance of dance.
32892 No matter what we do, there is no way to please others.
32893 Think about what is essential.
32894 This is my heart's advice.
32895 --Bhande Dharmaradza
32897 In any group of people, there is always some misunderstanding. You cannot
32898 satisfy everyone, no matter what you do. The Bodhicaryavatara says that every
32899 individual has a different way of thinking. Thus, it is very difficult to
32900 please everyone. Even the Buddha could not do it, so how can we? Instead of
32901 trying to please others, please yourself by applying yourself fully to
32903 Investigate your situation carefully, according to the Dharma. For us, it is
32904 more important to know what is best than to know how to please everyone. Know
32905 what is right, and on the basis of your own wisdom and skill, just do it.
32906 Don't expect that other people will be pleased with you or that they will be
32907 happy about what you do. Rather, do what's best, what's helpful for yourself
32908 and for others. If they are happy about it, that's fine. If they are not
32909 happy, what can you do?
32910 -- "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen,
32911 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
32913 Lochen Gyurme Dechen, nephew of the great accomplished master Tangtong
32914 Gyalpo, sang this song, a prayer of the Six Doctrines, called "The Rain
32917 Nama Shri Jnana Daki Nigupta-ye!
32919 Lady of the celestial realms, compassionate one,
32920 Chief of wisdom dakinis, Niguma,
32921 When I, your child, pray fervently to you,
32922 In your expanse free from formulations, please think of me.
32923 Lady who reveals the sacred circle of great secrets,
32924 Bestow now the empowerment of the four joys!
32925 Lady who opens the door to the unborn state,
32926 Clear away now my negative acts and obscurations with the purification
32928 Lady who emits fire from the short Ah,
32929 Burn now my soiled aggregates and sense elements!
32930 Lady who draws great bliss from the syllable Ham,
32931 Bestow now coemergent wisdom!
32932 Lady who reveals the natural experience of illusion,
32933 Destroy now my attachment to the reality of anger and desire!
32934 Lady who emanates and transforms during lucid dreams,
32935 Lady who makes spontaneous luminosity arise,
32936 Dispel now the darkness of my stupidity!
32937 Lady who leads above at the time of departure,
32938 Guide me now to the celestial realms!
32939 Lady who overcomes the appearances of delusion in the intermediate state,
32940 Grant me now the invincible body of enlightenment's perfect rapture.
32942 This prayer was sung by the religious teacher Gyurme Dechen.
32944 -- "Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters", compiled by
32945 Jamgon Kongtrul, translated & edited by Ngawang Zangpo, a Tsadra
32946 Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
32948 ...ngondro, the foundational practices, are ways to bring body, speech, or
32949 energy, and all aspects of mind into increasingly effortless harmony with the
32950 oceanic expanse central to Dzogchen teachings. This expanse is another name
32951 for reality, the heart of our being, and thus for mind-nature. Its vastness
32952 challenges the cramped and reified self-images that temporarily obstruct our
32953 view of the whole. Finitudes of any kind--the sense of being small and
32954 contained, the familiar urgent rush of business, passions, or plans--are
32955 simply conceptions. These conceptions are both cause and effect of energetic
32956 holdings in the body. The foundational practices illuminate these holdings
32957 and, in the end, lead to their dissolution into the expanse. As Khetsun
32958 Sangpo Rinpoche has said, "Like a fire that burns fuel, the mind consumes
32959 thought by working with it."
32960 In the Tibetan traditions, teaching and practice sessions typically open
32961 with a reference, brief or extensive, to the foundational practices. Every
32962 lineage has its own variations, but the basic structure and principles of
32963 these practices are virtually identical. After an acknowledgment of one's
32964 guru or lineage and the intention to benefit all beings, the sequence usually
32965 begins with the four thoughts. These are reflections on (1) the preciousness
32966 of one's own life, (2) the fragility of life and the uncertainty of death's
32967 timing, (3) the inexorable nature of karma, and (4) the impossibility of
32968 avoiding suffering so long as ignorance holds one in samsara. In addition,
32969 there are two other contemplations: (5) the benefits of liberation compared to
32970 life in samsara and (6) the importance of a spiritual guide. These six are
32971 known as the outer foundational practices.
32972 These six are combined with five inner practices, each of which is repeated
32973 one hundred thousand times. The first inner foundational practice is refuge.
32974 Refuge, writes Adzom Drukpa, is the cornerstone of all paths. Without it, he
32975 adds, quoting Candrakirti, all vows come to nothing. Most succinctly, refuge
32976 helps us cultivate a quality vital to the path and to human interaction in
32977 general: this is the quality of trust, the ability to fruitfully rely on
32978 someone or something other than oneself. Adzom Paylo Rinpoche once said that
32979 whereas relying on others in the context of samsara generally leads us astray,
32980 relying on the Dharma increases our good qualities.
32981 -- "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission", by Anne C.
32982 Klein, foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku Thondup
32983 Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
32985 1.18 Fruition of the Seed of Enlightenment
32987 When we engage in virtuous actions, we realize they are beneficial not only
32988 for others, but also for ourselves. Our good deeds can earn the praise and
32989 appreciation of others, and the benefits of our work come back to us through
32990 others. When we are involved with virtuous works, people respect us and hold
32991 us in high esteem. And we know we must be doing something good, because we
32992 experience a wholesome, pleasant feeling about our life's work. We quickly
32993 begin to see the short-term benefits of our involvement in virtuous action as
32994 our bodies and minds become more peaceful in our daily lives.
32995 This serenity in turn increases our longevity as our body and mind become
32996 more harmonized. Even after our death, we will be reincarnated in higher
32997 realms of existence as a result of our involvement with virtuous works during
32998 this life. Yet a higher rebirth is merely a short-term benefit, a temporary
32999 relief from the sufferings of samsara, for until we achieve liberation from
33000 samsara we remain trapped in the cycle of suffering, and "whatever goes up,
33002 Within the mundane world, when our evil deeds are common knowledge, no one
33003 sings their praises. If such deeds are remembered at all, it is in infamy.
33004 However, when a being lives with a mind of true bodhichitta and does great
33005 works of pure altruism, their deeds are remembered for centuries. Of such
33006 cases we have many examples within the Kagyu lineage alone: the historical
33007 Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa, the Karmapas, and countless others. Yet it
33008 is also important to remember that virtuous action eventually leads us to the
33009 liberation of buddhahood; this is the ultimate long-term benefit of planting
33010 the seed of enlightenment of which we speak. Hence, as we make this journey
33011 towards liberation, it is extremely important for us to learn to recognize
33012 which of our actions are virtuous and which are not.
33013 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", Snow Lion Publications
33015 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, addressing those who have or will undertake a
33016 retreat, gives this advice:
33018 "You will fall sick, experience pain, and encounter many adverse
33019 circumstances. At such times do not think, 'Although I am practicing the
33020 Dharma, I have nothing but trouble. The Dharma cannot be so great. I have
33021 followed a teacher and done so much practice, and yet hard times still befall
33022 me.' Such thoughts are wrong views. You should realize that through the
33023 blessing and power of the practice, by experiencing sickness and other
33024 difficulties now, you are purifying and ridding yourself of negative
33025 actions.... By purifying them while you have the chance, you will later go
33026 from bliss to bliss. So do not think, 'I don't deserve this illness, these
33027 obstacles, these negative influences.' Experience your difficulties as
33028 blessings...when you do experience such difficulties, you should be very happy
33029 and avoid having adverse thoughts like, 'Why are such terrible things
33032 As Rinpoche advises, relating to hardship properly depends on the strength
33033 of one's view. In general, having a view is knowing exactly where you want
33034 to go and how to get there. It is the vision of knowing what you want. For
33035 example, if you have the view to become a doctor, your vision guides you
33036 through financial burdens, physical and emotional difficulties, and obstacles
33037 that get in your way. You know it will be difficult and involve sacrifice,
33038 but with a strong view, you forge to the finish line.
33039 Similarly, if you want to become spiritually awakened, it is the power of
33040 your view that gets you there. If you are having a hard time getting to the
33041 meditation cushion, or engaging in the necessary study, it is because your
33042 view is not strong enough or is incomplete. A partial view, in this case, is
33043 one that doesn't include hardship. You can strengthen your view and
33044 accelerate progress by understanding how you lose your view in the fog of
33045 hardship, and therefore lose sight of your path.
33046 -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
33047 Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
33049 Chod is a very powerful path to buddhahood. Its power comes from working
33050 with the practitioner's afflictive emotions. Chod is purposely performed in
33051 frightening places to help the practitioner heighten his fear so that he has
33052 the opportunity to cut through it.
33053 -- adapted from Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition, by Alejandro Chaoul,
33054 published by Snow Lion Publications
33056 Under the heading of the great way's [Mahayana's] perspective, we read of how
33057 the Buddha merely demonstrates the process of enlightenment in this world,
33058 something he has done and will do repeatedly. Kongtrul quotes the Buddha in
33059 an important discourse:
33061 "In the past, countless ages ago, in a world-system that united as many
33062 realms as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, I attained enlightenment as
33063 Transcendent Buddha Crown of the Powerful One, aided beings, and transcended
33064 sorrow. Then once again, from that point until the present age, I have
33065 repeatedly demonstrated the inconceivable process of enlightenment.
33066 "I will continue, until cyclic existence is empty, to demonstrate [this
33067 process of] enlightenment beginning with the initial development of the mind
33068 of awakening as an ordinary being."
33070 While such statements do not help us grasp the nature of the Buddha's
33071 enlightenment, they do underline the fact that enlightenment is a specific
33072 experience, the result of a known and knowable process that the Buddha
33073 deliberately demonstrates time and again so that we might follow his example,
33074 no guesswork involved.
33075 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge, Books Two, Three,
33076 and Four: Buddhism's Journey to Tibet" translated and introduced by
33077 Ngawang Zangpo, published by Snow Lion Publications
33081 The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not
33082 inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let
33083 them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises,
33084 observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever
33085 thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as
33086 fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release
33087 them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-
33088 extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and
33089 samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances
33090 and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84,
33091 000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an
33092 instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature
33093 [of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths,
33094 and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion.
33095 -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
33096 Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans.
33097 by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33099 We must learn to trust ourselves when we practice the doctrines of the Buddha.
33100 In time, we come to trust the infallibility of karmic cause and effect and of
33101 the interdependence of all actions. We must come to know and trust the
33102 importance of the accumulation of merit and wisdom, in the same way we know
33103 and trust that even the smallest drops of water falling into a bucket will
33104 eventually fill it.
33105 We must learn to trust that our own dharma practice will remove our entire
33106 jungle of kleshas [unwholesome qualities], much like knowing a raging wildfire
33107 can clear an entire forest from the earth. All of our negativities can be
33108 swept away by the firestorm of our compassionate wisdom. We must trust that
33109 all of our happiness and sadness is completely dependent on, and a result of,
33110 our previous karma; when we trust this process we can begin the accumulation
33111 of virtuous actions immediately.
33112 No one achieves perfection in anything meaningful the very first time they
33113 try; however, we've heard the phrase over and over again that "practice makes
33114 perfect." It is true that with multiple repetitions and patience everyone can
33115 achieve perfection over time. I don't know of anyone who has sat down to
33116 meditate for the very first time and immediately attained enlightenment, but
33117 just like the drops of water that we trust will eventually fill our bucket,
33118 consistent dharma practice will eventually lead us to liberation.
33119 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion
33121 Unbroken practice is like a watchful guard.
33122 It is simply unscattered and is free from acceptance or rejection.
33123 There is no duality of things to be abandoned and their antidotes.
33124 This is my heart's advice.
33126 This verse and the following instructions concern how to continue with
33127 Mahamudra practice. Once we have received instructions, we have to accomplish
33128 them and perfect the practice. Continuity of practice is essential for the
33129 perfection of enlightenment.
33130 Unbroken practice means that one is mindful all the time, like a watchful
33131 guard. Thieves and robbers may come at any time, so the guard of a mansion
33132 containing great treasure must be alert twenty-four hours a day. In the same
33133 way, it is important to watch our mind since the thieves of attachment,
33134 desire, anger, and forgetfulness can come at any time and steal the wealth of
33135 our compassion and wisdom, along with our realization of Mahamudra.
33136 Once mindfulness is continuously established, an unscattered mind is "just
33137 there," on the spot, whether we are walking, eating, driving, or performing
33138 other activities. We can watch the mind and see how our mental state shapes
33139 our world. But when we watch it, we should just relax. Milarepa advises us
33142 Rest naturally, like a small child.
33143 Rest like an ocean without waves.
33144 Rest with clarity, like a candle flame.
33145 Rest without self-concern, like a corpse.
33146 Rest unmoving like a mountain.
33148 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
33149 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33151 Every time we begin to practice, it helps not to plunge in right away.
33152 Instead, take a few moments to stop your ordinary chain of thoughts. This is
33153 especially relevant if you are very busy and have only five minutes for your
33154 daily practice, but even ordinarily we have this constant stream of thoughts.
33155 Suppose that just before practice you have a fight with your fianc�. This
33156 will probably trigger a chain of thoughts about what you want to say to your
33157 partner. If you start your practice in the midst of all this, it is not going
33158 to go so well. This is why it helps to put a stop to this chain of thoughts
33159 for just a few moments.
33160 I have found this to be very, very useful. There are actually countless
33161 methods for stopping the chain of thoughts, but for me, before I practice, I
33162 just sit for a while. Every time a thought comes along, I try to stop it by
33163 cultivating a sense of renunciation, and I do this over and over again. I
33164 think about how I am now forty-years-old and, even if I live to be eighty, I
33165 only have half of my life left. I think that out of this forty years, I am
33166 going to sleep the equivalent of twenty years. So now there are only twelve
33167 hours a day that could actually be termed living. If we then factor in
33168 watching at least one movie a day, eating, and gossip, we have maybe five
33169 hours or so left. Out of forty years that means eight years remain, and most
33170 of that will go to indulging our paranoia, anxiety, and all that.... There is
33171 actually very little time for practice!
33172 This should give you an idea of how to stop the chain of thoughts. Don't
33173 immediately throw yourself into the practice; instead, just watch yourself,
33174 watch your life, and watch what you are doing. If you are doing ten minutes
33175 of practice every day, you should try to stop the chain of thoughts for at
33176 least two to three minutes. We do this to transform the mind by invoking a
33177 sense of renunciation. When we think, "I am dying. I am coming closer to
33178 death" and other such thoughts, it really helps.
33179 -- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in the commentary to "Entrance to the Great
33180 Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices", compiled,
33181 translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl, published by Snow Lion
33184 Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
33185 something else is more important than fear.
33188 Good timber does not grow with ease;
33189 the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
33192 Q: Does every kind of desire lead to pain?
33194 A: Not all desire leads directly to pain. However, the very word expresses
33195 the sense of sticking to something. It does not permit freedom. It binds.
33196 When attached and fastened to something, we cannot move far away. It is as if
33197 the desired object pulls us back, and we cannot free ourselves from it. For
33198 this kind of desire we use a term meaning attachment. So long as we are
33199 attached, we stick there and cannot achieve liberation. However, this does
33200 not necessarily entail chaos and pain.
33202 Q: Does that mean that some desire is actually beneficial?
33204 A: In the Tibetan language, desire names an attachment that harms ourselves
33205 and others. The source of benefit for ourselves and others receives a
33206 different name; we call that "longing."
33208 -- "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in
33209 the Middle Way School by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche", translated and
33210 introduced by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
33212 He who plants a tree plants hope. -- Lucy Larcom
33214 We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with
33215 nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a
33216 presumption that once our eyes watered.
33219 The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do
33223 It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it,
33224 helping each other, not destroying each other.
33227 When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one
33228 finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and
33229 appreciates them, one is free of fear.
33232 In Buddhism, there is a teaching called the "three bodies" (sanjin), also
33233 called the "three properties" or the "three enlightened properties". These
33234 are the three kinds of form that a Buddha may manifest as: 1) the Dharma Body
33235 (dharmakaya or hosshin) is the form in which a Buddha transcends physical
33236 being and is identical with the undifferentiated unity of being or Suchness
33237 (Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo); 2) the Bliss or Reward Body (sambhogakaya or
33238 hojin) is obtained as the "reward" for having completed the bodhisattva
33239 practice of aiding other beings to end their suffering and having penetrated
33240 the depth of the Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is
33241 immaterial, the Bliss Body is conceived of as an actual body, although one
33242 that is still transcendent and imperceptible to common people; 3) the
33243 Manifested Body (nirmanakaya or ojin) is the physical form in which the Buddha
33244 appears in this world in order to guide sentient beings. It is considered
33245 that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is nirmanakaya. Honen believed that
33246 Amida is sambhogakaya.
33248 Sometimes we put our glasses in our pockets or on our heads and later we ask,
33249 "Where are my glasses?" This is quite common. We look everywhere else without
33250 finding our glasses. That is why we need the guru, who can say to us, "There
33251 are your glasses." That is all that the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachers do:
33252 they simply point out. What they are pointing out is something that you
33253 already have. It is not something that they give you. They do not give you
33254 new glasses. They cannot afford to give you new glasses, but they can afford
33255 to point out where you can find your own glasses.
33256 When we receive pointing-out instructions from our root teacher, we are
33257 being introduced directly and nakedly to the reality of mind's nature. These
33258 instructions become very effective if we have prepared ourselves to receive
33260 ...Pointing-out is similar to pointing to the sky when it is very cloudy and
33261 saying to someone, "There is the blue sky." The person will look up and say,
33262 "Where?" You may reply, "It is there--behind the clouds." The person to whom
33263 you are pointing out the blue sky will not see it at first. However, if even
33264 a patch of blue sky appears, then you can say, "Look--the blue sky is like
33265 that." The person then gets a direct experience. He or she knows
33266 experientially that there is blue sky, which will be fully visible when the
33268 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
33271 In general, clear light is of two types--the objective clear light that is
33272 the subtle emptiness [of inherent existence], and the subjective clear light
33273 that is the wisdom consciousness realizing this emptiness.
33274 -- Lati Rinbochay, "Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth"
33276 [At the time of Buddha, a farmer asked to be ordained as a monk. Shariputra
33277 did not see his merit. But, with a great, compassionate mind, the Buddha took
33278 his hand and said, "I will give you ordination. You do have a seed to attain
33280 The Buddha explained, "Thousands and thousands of kalpas ago, this man was
33281 born as a fly. He was sitting on a pile of cow dung when a sudden rush of
33282 water caught the cow dung, along with the fly, and sent them into the river.
33283 Downstream, someone had placed a prayer wheel in the water, and that cow dung
33284 and fly swirled around and around it. Because of that circumambulation, this
33285 man now has a seed to attain arhatship in this lifetime."
33286 Cause and result are so subtle that only omniscient wisdom can perceive
33287 every detail. That is why we must be very careful that our actions are truly
33289 Reciting just one mantra, protecting the life of even one small bug, giving
33290 a small thing--we should not ignore such actions by saying, "This is nothing;
33291 it makes no difference if I do it or not." Many small actions will gather and
33292 swell like the ocean. These are not merely Buddhist beliefs; these are the
33293 causes that create our world no matter who we are. Our study and practice
33294 give us the opportunity to understand this and to be sincere with ourselves
33295 even in small things.
33296 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
33297 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33299 Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
33302 What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we
33303 open and shut our eyes!
33304 -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
33306 Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an
33307 acquaintance, or a stranger.
33308 -- Franklin P. Jones
33310 Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
33311 Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame,
33312 but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the
33316 Whosoever has heard the law of virtue and vice is as one who has eyes and
33317 carries a lamp, seeing everything and will become completely wise.
33320 ...in Dzogchen, one applies specific practices in order to create a variety of
33321 sensations, so that the practitioner is more clearly enabled to distinguish
33322 the state of presence--which always remains the same--from the sensations
33323 which change according to the practice being carried out. This obviously
33324 enables one to 'no longer remain in doubt' as to what the state of pure
33325 presence is. The practices known as the twenty-one Semdzin found in the
33326 Dzogchen Mennagde, or Upadesha, series, have this particular function,
33327 enabling the practitioner to separate the ordinary, reasoning mind from the
33328 nature of the mind.
33329 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
33330 and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
33333 People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
33334 with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
33335 Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
33336 others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
33337 expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
33338 others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
33339 open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
33340 because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
33341 previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number of
33343 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
33345 Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or
33346 discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones
33347 who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have
33348 deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are
33349 anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!
33350 The infinite vast expanse is one's own inconceivable nature. Who can say
33351 who has realized it and who hasn't? When we travel around the world or
33352 experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We
33353 can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are
33354 told--not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any
33355 tradition, and in our Western world too.
33356 This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and
33357 animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it,
33358 as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It
33359 is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial
33360 Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite
33361 numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?
33362 -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
33363 Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
33365 Many spiritual seekers are not yet ready to become the disciples of
33366 spiritual mentors. Their present levels of commitment may suit working only
33367 with Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or ritual
33368 trainers. Even if they are ready to commit themselves to the Buddhist path
33369 and to spiritual mentors, they may not yet have found properly qualified
33370 mentors. Alternatively, the spiritual teachers available to them may be
33371 properly qualified and may even have shown them great kindness. Yet, none
33372 seem right to be their mentors. They feel they can relate to them only as
33373 their Buddhism professors. Nevertheless, the Kadam style of guru-meditation
33374 may still help such seekers to gain inspiration from these teachers at the
33375 present stages of their spiritual paths.
33376 Unless our spiritual teachers are total charlatans or complete scoundrels,
33377 all of them have at least some good qualities and exhibit at least some level
33378 of kindness. Our Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or
33379 ritual trainers may lack the qualities of great spiritual mentors. Still,
33380 they have some knowledge of the Dharma, some insight from applying the Dharma
33381 to life, or some technical expertise in the practice. Our teachers are kind
33382 to instruct us, even if their motivations contain the wish to earn a living.
33383 If we correctly discern and acknowledge whatever qualities and levels of
33384 kindness that our professors, instructors, or trainers in fact possess, we may
33385 derive inspiration, through guru-meditation, by focusing on them with
33386 conviction and appreciation.
33387 -- Dr. Alexander Berzin, "Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to
33388 a Healthy Relationship", published by Snow Lion Publications
33390 A tenth-century Bengali pandita named Palden Atisha reintroduced Buddhism
33391 into Tibet. He had a servant who was really awful. He was abusive to Atisha,
33392 disobedient, and generally a big problem. The Tibetans asked Atisha what he
33393 was doing with such an awful guy who was so completely obnoxious. They said,
33394 "Send him back. We'll take care of you." Atisha replied, "What are you
33395 talking about? He is my greatest teacher of patience. He is the most
33396 precious person around me!"
33397 Patience does not mean suppression, and it doesn't mean bottling up our
33398 anger or turning it in on ourselves in the form of self-blame. It means
33399 having a mind which sees everything that happens as the result of causes and
33400 conditions we have set in motion at some time in this or past lives. Who
33401 knows what our relationship has been with someone who is causing us
33402 difficulties now? Who knows what we have have done to him in another life!
33403 If we respond to such people with retaliation, we are just locking ourselves
33404 into that same cycle. We are going to have to keep replaying this part of
33405 the movie again and again in this and future lifetimes. The only way to break
33406 out of the cycle is by changing our attitude.
33407 -- "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by
33408 Venerable Tenzin Palmo", published by Snow Lion Publications
33410 [Understanding through the merging of sound and meaning takes place when one
33411 immediately understands the meaning of a teaching through hearing the sound of
33414 One might ask what these words are in the key instructions on the Three
33415 Words That Strike the Vital Point. The sound and the word are the same. For
33416 example, the word "mother" can be understood as indicating someone who is very
33417 kind. If one says "mother," the meaning of what that word expresses is
33418 pointed out. What is known as "the three words" is like that.
33419 What are the three words? "View," "meditation," and "action." What does it
33420 mean to "strike the vital point" with these three words? If one wants to kill
33421 a man and strikes his heart with a weapon, the man will not live another hour.
33422 He will die immediately. What vital point do these three words strike? Just
33423 as oil is present in a mustard seed, all of us, all sentient beings, have
33424 buddha nature. Though it is present, we do not recognize it, because our
33425 minds are obscured by delusions. When, as a result of the view, meditation,
33426 and action, we come to recognize these delusions, we can get rid of them in a
33427 moment. In one day sentient beings can be transformed into buddhas--that is
33428 the ultimate view, meditation, and action of dzogchen. Such a power of
33429 transformation is called "striking the vital point."
33430 -- Dilgo Khyentse, "The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse", edited by
33431 Matthieu Ricard and Vivian Kurz, excerpt from Volume 3: "Primordial
33432 Purity", published by Snow Lion Publications
33434 If we can attain nondual, nonconceptual awareness in meditation, we are
33435 engaged in profound political activity, even though we may lose this awareness
33436 during the times we are not formally meditating (the buddha's awareness in
33437 post-meditation is the same as during meditation). Meditating in nondual,
33438 nonconceptual awareness, which is meditating on the dharmadhatu, immediately
33439 begins systematically to destroy in ourselves the structure of dualistic
33440 consciousness with all its attendant cognitive obscurations and emotional
33441 affiictions. From the standpoint of duality, since this dualistic
33442 consciousness also involves other sentient beings as the other pole of our
33443 duality, our activity in dissolving this consciousness has a profound impact
33445 While our nondualistic, nonconceptual meditation is purifying our own
33446 obscurations and afflictions and thereby transforming our personal experience
33447 of others, it is also becoming a spark of buddha activity in those others. As
33448 our meditation becomes effective, the attitude of others towards us begins to
33449 change, and they themselves begin to turn inward and to search with greater
33450 conscientiousness through the stuff of their own minds and lives for spiritual
33451 solutions to their own problems. And as the power of our meditation
33452 increases, this effect reaches ever-widening concentric circles of sentient
33453 beings with whom we have karmic interdependence, which in this day and age
33454 includes not only our immediate family and friends, working associates, and
33455 local communities, but also everyone with whom we are connected through all
33456 the media of our lives.
33457 --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
33458 Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
33459 published by Snow Lion Publications
33461 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
33462 Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
33463 the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
33464 the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
33465 last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
33466 ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
33467 fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
33468 obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
33469 increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
33470 you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
33471 protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
33472 be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
33473 benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
33474 births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
33475 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
33476 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
33477 published by Snow Lion Publications
33479 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
33480 Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
33481 the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
33482 the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
33483 last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
33484 ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
33485 fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
33486 obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
33487 increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
33488 you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
33489 protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
33490 be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
33491 benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
33492 births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
33493 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
33494 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
33495 published by Snow Lion Publications
33497 6. Meditation on the Buddha
33498 Begin by observing your breath for a few minutes to calm the mind.
33499 Think of the qualities of infinite love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means,
33500 and other wonderful qualities you aspire to develop. What would it feel like
33501 to have those qualities? Get a sense of the expansiveness and peace of having
33502 a wise and kind heart that reaches out impartially to work for the benefit of
33504 Those qualities of love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, and so on now
33505 appear in the physical form of the Buddha, in the space in front of you. He
33506 sits on an open lotus flower, and flat sun and moon disks. His body is made
33507 of radiant, transparent light, as is the entire visualization. His body is
33508 golden and he wears the robes of a monk. His right palm rests on his right
33509 knee and his left is in his lap, holding a bowl of nectar, which is medicine
33510 to cure our afflictions and other hindrances. The Buddha's face is very
33511 beautiful. His smiling, compassionate gaze looks at you with total acceptance
33512 and simultaneously encompasses all sentient beings. His eyes are long,
33513 narrow, and peaceful. His lips are red and his earlobes long.
33514 Rays of light emanate from each pore of the Buddha's body and reach every
33515 part of the universe. These rays carry countless miniature Buddhas, some
33516 going out to help beings, others dissolving back into the Buddha after having
33517 finished their work.
33518 The Buddha is surrounded by the entire lineage of spiritual teachers, all
33519 meditational deities, innumerable other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, dakas,
33520 dakinis, and Dharma protectors. To the side of each spiritual master is an
33521 elegant table upon which are arranged volumes of Dharma teachings.
33522 Surrounding you are all sentient beings appearing in human form, with your
33523 mother on your left and your father on your right. The people you do not get
33524 along with are in front of you. All of you are looking to the Buddha for
33526 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
33527 Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
33530 If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict
33531 harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations
33532 provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of
33533 patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the
33534 other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to
33535 accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof.
33536 The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of
33537 inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the
33538 negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the
33539 perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit.
33540 Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only
33541 because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we
33542 should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide
33543 to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy.
33544 --Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
33546 If our practice does not diminish self-grasping, or perhaps even enhances
33547 it, then no matter how austere and determined we are, no matter how many hours
33548 a day we devote to learning, reflection, and meditation, our spiritual
33549 practice is in vain.
33550 A close derivative of self-grasping is the feeling of self-importance. Such
33551 arrogance or pride is a very dangerous pitfall for people practicing Dharma.
33552 Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, with its many levels of practice, the exalted
33553 aspirations of the bodhisattva path, and the mystery surrounding initiation
33554 into tantra, we may easily feel part of an elite. Moreover, the philosophy of
33555 Buddhism is so subtly refined and so penetrating that, as we gain an
33556 understanding of it, this also can give rise to intellectual pride.
33557 But if these are the results of the practice, then something has gone awry.
33558 Recall the well-known saying among Tibetan Buddhists that a pot with a little
33559 water in it makes a loud noise when shaken, but a pot full of water makes no
33561 People with very little realization often want to tell everyone about the
33562 insights they have experienced, the bliss and subtleties of their meditation,
33563 and how it has radically transformed their life. But those who are truly
33564 steeped in realization do not feel compelled to advertise it, and instead
33565 simply dwell in that realization. They are concerned not to describe their
33566 own progress, but to direct the awareness of others to ways in which their own
33567 hearts and minds can be awakened.
33568 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
33569 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
33571 What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is
33572 a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends
33573 its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to
33574 benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the
33575 suffering of others, with the wish to remove it.
33576 Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the
33577 absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at
33578 the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an
33580 The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all
33581 the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom,
33582 first separately and then together.
33583 Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable
33584 by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization
33585 is understanding the abiding nature of reality.
33586 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
33587 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
33589 In Buddhism we speak of three types of phenomena: First, there are evident
33590 phenomena that are perceived directly.
33591 Second, there are slightly hidden phenomena, which are not accessible to
33592 immediate perception. There are differences of opinion on this even within
33593 Buddhist philosophy. Generally speaking, we think this second type of
33594 phenomena can be known indirectly by inference.
33595 One example of something known by inference is that anything arising in
33596 dependence upon causes and conditions is itself subject to disintegration and
33597 momentary change. This momentary change is not immediately evident to your
33598 senses. You can look at something with your eyes, and it does not appear to
33599 be changing right now, but by inference you can know that it is momentarily
33600 changing. This is an example of the second category of phenomena.
33601 Third, there are very concealed phenomena, which cannot be known by either
33602 of the two preceding methods. They can be known only by relying upon
33603 testimony of someone such as the Buddha.
33604 -- "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on
33605 Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B.
33606 Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33608 I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
33609 magnificent glow, than asleep and permanent as a planet.
33612 Sometimes our life can feel devoid of meaning even though we may try in
33613 different ways to put meaning into it.... Meaning comes when we go deeply
33614 within, wait, listen, and open. It begins to come when we genuinely open to
33615 the suffering of those around us with a compassionate heart. Equally, it
33616 comes as we respond to the environment within which we live with care and
33618 The meaning or purpose to be found in bodhichitta is less associated with
33619 what we do than with the quality we bring to what we engage in. Small, simple
33620 aspects of our life can be profoundly meaningful and have deep impact both for
33621 ourselves and others. Meaning lies in the quality of heart that we put into
33623 It is not, therefore, the outer manifestation of what we can achieve that is
33624 the root of meaning. It is the undercurrent of bodhichitta's intention or
33625 purpose and meaning that flows within. What bodhichitta implies is that in
33626 attuning to our buddha nature or buddha potential, we touch a source of
33627 meaning in ourselves that will come through whatever we do.
33628 This root of meaning gives the bodhisattva the capacity to live a relatively
33629 ordinary life and transform adverse circumstances into the path. Even small
33630 things become meaningful, like the way we respond to someone's distress or a
33631 gesture of friendliness that lifts someone's day. This deeper sense of
33632 purpose is reflected in the care we give to our relationships and the
33634 Being present and responsive to what arises may mean that the eventual goal
33635 of our sense of purpose is less crucial. We are seldom, if ever, able to see
33636 fully where our path will take us, and once we are open to the meaning present
33637 in bodhichitta, the ego must surrender ambitions and allow the journey to
33639 -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
33640 Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
33642 We have to admit impermanence into our lives. It's important to live with
33643 impermanence as a frame of reference so that we can approach each moment or
33644 each day with a sense of humility about what we are able to do and what we are
33645 not able to do and relinquish control over things we cannot have control over.
33646 It is important to live as if things are as permanent as stone.
33647 You have to invest yourself in love and concern for people, accept people's
33648 love as if that's the only thing that exists. The commitment to living as if
33649 everything is always there forever with the acceptance that nothing is going
33651 --David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge, "Impermanence: Embracing Change",
33652 published by Snow Lion Publications
33654 We are the people our parents warned us about. -- Jimmy Buffett
33656 To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid,
33657 you must also be well-mannered.
33660 I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.
33663 Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time.
33664 Hatred ceases through love.
33665 This is an unalterable law.
33666 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
33668 The Tibetan controversies about instantaneous enlightenment through
33669 recognition of the nature of the mind have been studied by David Jackson.
33670 As he shows, it is mainly members of the Kagyu traditions in Tibet who have
33671 maintained this doctrine, although it is certainly common in Chinese Ch'an
33672 Buddhism and in the teachings of the Great Perfection in Tibet. Dolpopa
33673 quotes the position that is the object of his refutation: "Recognizing the
33674 very essence naturally purifies them, without rejection." This expresses the
33675 view that through recognition of the essence of the thoughts as the dharmakaya
33676 they are purified or dissolved into the dharmakaya, and also the idea that any
33677 affliction that arises is actually a manifestation or self-presencing of
33678 primordial awareness itself. Thus there is no need to reject thoughts or
33679 afflictions, which are naturally purified by means of the recognition. This
33680 type of viewpoint is widespread in Tibetan Buddhism.
33681 In contrast to these views, Dolpopa claims that the definition of an
33682 ordinary sentient being or a buddha, and of samsara or nirvana, is determined
33683 by the presence or absence of the incidental and temporary obscurations that
33684 veil the true nature of reality. It is not determined solely by recognition
33685 of the nature of the mind or the thoughts.
33686 ...While the ground buddhahood of the dharmakaya and the resultant
33687 buddhahood of the dharmakaya have not the slightest difference in essence,
33688 they are distinguished as ground and result by means of the presence or
33689 absence of incidental stains.
33690 -- Cyrus Stearns, "The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought
33691 of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen", a Tsadra Foundation
33692 Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
33694 We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
33695 measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
33696 hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
33697 Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
33698 actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
33699 inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
33700 thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: 'If I do this, what will people think?
33701 If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit.' When we see
33702 something pleasant we think, 'Oh, if I could only have that!'
33703 ...Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
33704 afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
33705 and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
33706 completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
33708 To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
33709 overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
33710 have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary for
33711 achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these two
33712 prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
33713 asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
33714 standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
33715 the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
33716 manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
33718 Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you have fallen
33719 into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing outside it who
33720 does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to do so.
33721 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
33722 published by Snow Lion Publications
33724 If we were forced to choose between a sense of practical application and
33725 learnedness, a sense of practical application would be more important, for one
33726 who has this will receive the full benefit of whatever he knows. The mere
33727 learnedness of one whose mind is not tamed can produce and increase bad states
33728 of consciousness, which cause unpleasantness for himself and others instead of
33729 the happiness and peace of mind that were intended. One could become jealous
33730 of those higher than oneself, competitive with equals and proud and
33731 contemptuous towards those lower and so forth. It is as if medicine had
33733 Because such danger is great, it is very important to have a composite of
33734 learnedness, a sense of practical application and goodness, without having
33735 learnedness destroy the sense of practical application or having the sense of
33736 practical application destroy learnedness.
33737 -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
33738 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
33739 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
33741 A bodhisattva, having generated a sincere and spontaneous desire to attain
33742 full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, enters the Mahayana
33743 path of accumulation. Here the bodhisattva cultivates the four mindfulnesses
33744 and develops mental quiescence, then passes on to the path of application,
33745 where she or he strives for a conceptual insight into emptiness. When
33746 quiescence and insight are combined in examining emptiness, the bodhisattva
33747 attains a direct, non-conceptual realization of emptiness, and thus becomes an
33748 arya, on the path of seeing.
33749 The path of seeing corresponds to the first of the ten bhumis, i.e. stages,
33750 levels, or grounds said to be traversed by a bodhisattva. The other nine
33751 bodhisattva stages are coextensive with the path of development, during the
33752 course of which the disciple completely eliminates not only the defilements
33753 that are obstacles to liberation but even the traces of defilement, which are
33754 obstacles to full enlightenment.
33755 When the path of development is completed, the disciple is ready to enter
33756 the path of no-more-training; this marks the attainment of full enlightenment,
33757 the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya of an omniscient, compassionate,
33758 and powerful buddha.
33759 -- Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, John Newman, "The Wheel of Time: The
33760 Kalachakra in Context", edited by Beth Simon, published by Snow Lion
33763 "If you fear you are running after the objects of the six senses, hold
33764 yourself with the hook:"
33765 'Employ the watchman that is mindfulness.'
33767 Someone who has been captured with a hook has no option but to go wherever
33768 he is led. In the same way, if we catch hold of our mind--which risks being
33769 distracted by the objects of the six senses--with the hook of mindfulness, and
33770 with vigilance and carefulness, this will be of enormous benefit. We should
33771 use this watchman to constantly check how many positive or negative thoughts
33772 and actions we produce during the day. When we are able to control our minds
33773 through mindfulness, everything that appears in samsara and nirvana becomes an
33774 aid in our practice and serves to confirm the meaning of the teachings. All
33775 appearances are understood as being dharmakaya. We perceive everything in its
33776 natural purity, and there is nothing we can call impure.
33777 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
33778 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based on
33779 Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
33780 Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
33782 A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members.
33785 Art is science made clear. -- Jean Cocteau
33787 A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper
33788 cannot be understood.
33791 A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff
33792 that nature replaces it with.
33793 -- Tennessee Williams
33795 The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
33796 -- Willem de Kooning
33798 We need to understand the essential nature of the broad diversity of
33799 phenomena. For example, if we are obliged to be involved frequently with a
33800 man who exhibits a personality that is true only on the surface, as well as
33801 another basic personality, it is important for us to know both of them. To
33802 engage in a relationship with this person that does not go awry, we must know
33803 both aspects of his personality. To know only the facade that he presents is
33804 insufficient; we need to know his basic disposition and abilities. Then we
33805 can know what to expect from him; and he will not deceive us.
33806 Likewise, the manifold events in the world are not non-existent; they do
33807 exist. They are able to help and hurt us--no further criterion for existence
33808 is necessary. If we do not understand their fundamental mode of existence, we
33809 are liable to be deceived, just as in the case of being involved with a person
33810 whose basic personality we do not know.
33811 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
33812 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33814 One has to be cautious when one is very successful since at that time there
33815 is danger of becoming prideful and becoming involved in the non-religious, and
33816 one has to be cautious also when one has undergone lack of success and so
33817 forth since there is a danger of becoming discouraged--the life of the mind,
33818 so to speak, dying--due to which harm to one's practice could be incurred.
33819 ...Specifically, in situations of low self-esteem, Shantideva recommends
33820 reflection this way:
33821 "Even very tiny bugs and worms have the Buddha nature and thus, when they
33822 encounter certain conditions, through the power of effort they can achieve
33823 the non-abiding nirvana of a Buddha. Now, I have been born as a human with
33824 the capacity to understand what is to be adopted in practice and what is to
33825 be discarded; thus, there is no reason for me to be discouraged. The great
33826 saints and so forth of the past who achieved a high level were people with
33827 a life-basis such as I have, not something separate."
33828 Through such reflection, a resurgence of will can be generated.
33829 -- "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace by
33830 H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso", translated and edited by
33831 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
33833 When we understand the evolution of our unsatisfactory experiences in cyclic
33834 existence, we will see that meditating on emptiness is their antidote. All
33835 knowable things--people and phenomena--appear to our minds to be inherently
33836 existent. We then grasp at them as existing inherently. Our inappropriate
33837 attention focuses on them, and that gives rise to the various disturbing
33838 attitudes of anger, attachment, and so on. These disturbing attitudes
33839 motivate our actions, which in turn leave karmic imprints on our mindstreams.
33840 When these imprints ripen, we meet with suffering.
33841 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
33842 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
33843 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33845 The essential point about this condition of potentiality is that, although
33846 there is a causal relationship between the physical world and the world of
33847 mental phenomena, in terms of their own continuum one cannot be said to be the
33848 cause of the other. A mental phenomenon, such as a thought or an emotion,
33849 must come from a preceding mental phenomenon; likewise, a particle of matter
33850 must come from a preceding particle of matter.
33851 Of course, there is an intimate relationship between the two. We know that
33852 mental states can influence material phenomena, such as the body; and,
33853 similarly, that material phenomena can act as contributory factors for certain
33854 subjective experiences. This is something that we can observe in our lives.
33855 Much of our gross level of consciousness is very closely connected to our
33856 body, and in fact we often use terminology and conventions which reflect this.
33857 For example, when we say 'human mind' or 'human consciousness' we are using
33858 the human body as the basis to define a particular mind state. Likewise, at
33859 the gross levels of mind such as our sensory experiences, it is very obvious
33860 that these are heavily dependent upon our body and some physiological states.
33861 When a part of our body is hurt or damaged, for instance, we immediately
33862 experience the impact on our mental state. Nevertheless, the principle
33863 remains that mental phenomena must come from preceding phenomena of the same
33865 If we trace mental phenomena back far enough, as in the case of an
33866 individual's life, we come to the first instant of consciousness in this life.
33867 Once we have traced its continuum to this point of beginning, we then have
33868 three options: we can either say that the first instant of consciousness in
33869 this life must come from a preceding instant of consciousness which existed in
33870 the previous life. Or we can say that this first instant of consciousness
33871 came from nowhere--it just sort of 'popped up'. Or we can say that it came
33872 from a material cause.
33873 From the Buddhist point of view, the last two alternatives are deeply
33874 problematic. The Buddhist understanding is that, in terms of its continuum,
33875 consciousness or mind is beginningless. Mental phenomena are beginningless.
33876 Therefore, the person or the being--which is essentially a designation based
33877 on the continuum of the mind--is also devoid of beginning.
33878 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
33879 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
33881 If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
33882 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
33884 If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? -- Abraham Lincoln
33886 There is something about the outside of a horse
33887 that is good for the inside of a man.
33888 -- Sir Winston Churchill
33890 Life is a party on death row. Recognizing mortality means we are willing to
33891 see what is true. Seeing what is true is grounding. It brings us into the
33892 present and, eventually, into presence. It also brings us into our bodies,
33893 especially if we combine meditation on impermanence with an energetic
33894 awareness at the base of the spine. At first, the important thing about
33895 impermanence seems to be the limited time we have in this precious life. This
33896 is crucial and foundational, and yet it is not the whole story.
33897 The teachings on impermanence concern the death of a self that never
33898 existed. Our sense of such a false and finite self, which initially is
33899 inseparable from our wish to practice, can dissolve. Understanding
33900 impermanence, Khetsun Rinpoche says, will lead you into the natural clarity of
33901 your own mind. To know impermanence is thus not only a path leading to what
33902 Dzogchen traditions speak of as "unbounded wholeness" (thigle nyag cig), it is
33903 also integral to that wholeness.
33904 -- Anne C. Klein, "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of
33905 Transmission", foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku
33906 Thondup Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
33908 Now, you see, world peace through mental peace is an absolute. It is the
33909 ultimate goal. But as for the method, there are many factors that must be
33910 taken into consideration. Under a particular set of circumstances, a certain
33911 approach may be useful while under other circumstances another may be useful.
33912 This is a very complicated issue which compels us to study the situation at a
33913 particular point of time. We must take into account the other side's
33914 motivation, etc., so it is a very complex matter.
33915 But we must always keep in mind that all of us want happiness. War, on the
33916 other hand, only brings suffering--that is very clear. Even if we are
33917 victorious, that victory means sacrificing many people. It means their
33918 suffering. Therefore, the important thing is peace. But how do we achieve
33919 peace? Is it done through hatred, through extreme competition, through anger?
33920 It is obvious that through these means it is impossible to achieve any form of
33921 lasting world peace. Hence, the only alternative is to achieve world peace
33922 through mental peace, through peace of mind. World peace is achieved based
33923 only on a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, on the basis of compassion.
33924 The clear, genuine realization of the oneness of all mankind is something
33925 important. It is something we definitely need. Wherever I go, I always
33926 express these views.
33927 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
33928 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
33930 koan for dependency inversion:
33932 High-level modules should not depend upon low-level modules.
33933 Both should depend upon abstractions.
33935 Abstractions should not depend upon details.
33936 Details should depend upon abstractions.
33938 People harm others only when they are unhappy. No one wakes up in the morning
33939 and says, "I feel so great today! I think I'll go out and harm someone!" When
33940 we can allow ourselves to know the depth of the pain and confusion felt by
33941 those who have harmed us, compassion--the wish that they be free from such
33942 suffering--can easily arise. Thinking in this way does not mean whitewashing
33943 or denying harm that was done. Rather, we acknowledge it, but go beyond
33944 amassing resentment, because we know that grudges help neither ourselves nor
33946 -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Publications
33948 The reason why the qualities of a teacher are described at such length in
33949 the scriptures is because we should know what to look for when seeking a guru
33950 capable of opening up the Buddhist paths within us. To take up training under
33951 an unqualified teacher can be disastrous. It is said in the tantric
33952 scriptures that one is not unwise to examine a guru for twelve years before
33953 accepting that person as one's teacher. The choice of teachers is an
33954 important one and must be made carefully.
33955 Not only does the guru perform the work of the Buddhas and thus equal them
33956 in activity, in terms of kindness the guru surpasses them. Of all Buddhas of
33957 the past who have manifested as universal teachers, it is said that Buddha
33958 Shakyamuni is kindest to us; for it is with his teachings that we have come
33959 into contact...even though Buddha Shakyamuni is most kind of the past Buddhas,
33960 still we are unable to receive teachings from him or witness his inspiring
33962 Were all the Buddhas and lineage masters of the past to manifest before us
33963 at this very moment, we would not be able to recognize them as enlightened
33964 beings. Due to our not having a sufficiently strong karmic connection with
33965 them, they would be unable to affect us. The guru performs the great kindness
33966 of coming to us in an ordinary form which we can perceive and to which we can
33967 relate, and carries out the work of the Buddhas in our lives. The fact that a
33968 donkey like us is brought into the family of spiritual beings is purely due to
33969 the kindness of the guru. The Buddhas can only come to us through him or her.
33970 Thus if we do not respect the guru and heed his or her teachings, what hope do
33971 we have? We should meditate upon the guru's unexcelled kindness and give
33972 birth to profound appreciation.
33973 The reason why we have been wandering unceasingly in cyclic existence since
33974 time immemorial is because we have not met a spiritual master before; or even
33975 if we have met one we did not cultivate an effective relationship with him or
33976 her. We should determine to take the opportunities afforded by our present
33977 human situation and cultivate a spiritual practice under the guidance of a
33979 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
33980 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
33982 There was once a Spartan boy,
33983 who, one night, stole a fox.
33984 In order not to be caught,
33985 he hid it under his cloak.
33986 He stood stock still as his
33987 elder looked him over,
33988 but all the while the fox
33989 chewed away at his insides.
33990 The boy bit his lip against
33991 the pain until he inevitably fell,
33992 dead to the ground.
33995 An exalting task for all humankind
33996 The West is fascinated by efficiency. And there is no doubt that in many
33997 areas its efficiency is quite admirable. That is why I would like to ask this
33998 question, which seems natural to me: why not apply this technical efficiency
33999 to protect all forms of life? This would be an exalting task for all
34000 humankind, especially as we seem to lack a truly large-scale project or ideal.
34001 It is difficult, yet it is absolutely necessary. If the question of human
34002 survival is not solved, there will be nobody left to solve the problem. And
34003 Buddhism can help here.
34004 -- "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and
34005 Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
34007 If you continue to practice meditation, then your experience will gradually
34008 increase and there will be greater and greater stability and greater and
34009 greater lucidity. However, the experiences that can arise in meditation can
34010 take various different forms. And in spite of the fact that the person has a
34011 real recognition of the mind's nature, there is still the possibility or
34012 probability of fluctuation in experience even after that.
34013 Sometimes you may feel that you have amazing, tremendous meditation, and at
34014 other times you may feel that you have no meditation at all. This
34015 characterizes meditation experience, which fluctuates a great deal.
34016 Realization, which is distinct from experience, does not change, but
34017 experiences can fluctuate a great deal or alternate between good and bad.
34018 There will still be times when you will have what you regard as good
34019 experiences and, in contrast, what you regard as bad experiences. When that
34020 occurs, just keep on looking. Don't get distracted or sidetracked by the
34021 experience. Whatever meditation experience arises, you should recognize that
34022 it is transitory. As is said, "meditation experience is like mist, it will
34024 Experiences are different from the actual fact of the recognition itself.
34025 Because they are ephemeral experiences, they aren't worth investing in. So if
34026 you have a bad meditation experience, do not be alarmed, because it too will
34027 vanish. If you have a good meditation experience, you need to continue; if
34028 you have a bad meditation experience, you need to continue. In either case,
34029 you simply need to continue to rest in this recognition of the mind's nature.
34030 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", published by
34031 Snow Lion Publications
34033 The person witnessing another person's suffering has only one appropriate
34034 response: "How can I help?" When karma comes to fruition and causes suffering,
34035 the response should never be, "This is your karma. It's your destiny, so I
34036 can't help." Your own karma may very well present itself as an opportunity to
34037 help a suffering person. Misunderstanding actions and their consequences can
34039 From the Buddhist perspective, the type of fortune we encounter, happiness
34040 or sorrow, is not due to somebody doing something to us. If I win the
34041 lottery, it is not because Buddha selected me for a bonus. No god or buddha
34042 is responsible for what happens to us....This does not imply that a suffering
34043 person is morally degenerate any more than suffering the consequences of
34044 eating contaminated food does. The suffering we experience is due to karma
34045 accumulated under the influence of delusion and mental afflictions. This is
34046 true for all sentient beings.
34047 The Buddhist response to the non-virtues we all commit while strapped to the
34048 wheel of samsara can be inspiring and encouraging. The Buddhist teaching is
34049 that it is possible to neutralize negative karmic seeds embedded in the stream
34050 of consciousness. Deeds cannot be undone, but it is possible to purify one's
34051 mind-stream so that the impact of karmic seeds will be nullified.
34052 The method used to purify the mind-stream is the "four remedial powers"
34053 [remorse, reliance, resolve, and purification]. The metaphor for the
34054 effectiveness of the four remedial powers is that of burning a seed. Karma,
34055 like a seed, can be scorched in the fire of purification so that it will not
34056 sprout. The seed won't vanish, but it will not sprout.
34057 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
34058 Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
34060 ...it is said that through the power of believing one's own body, speech,
34061 and mind to be undifferentiable from the deity's exalted body, speech, and
34062 mind all one's physical actions and movements are seals and all one's speech
34063 is mantra. In this way the Vajrapani Initiation Tantra says:
34064 "A son or daughter of lineage* who has seen a mandala, who generates the
34065 mind of enlightenment, who is compassionate, skilled in means and in teaching
34066 the ways of letters--the door of Secret Mantra--should think thus, 'Separate
34067 from speech, there is no mind. Separate from mind, there is no speech.
34068 Separate from mind, there is no divine form. Mind itself is speech; speech
34069 itself is mind; divine form itself is also mind, and speech itself is also
34071 "If a mantra practitioner believes in this way that these are
34072 undifferentiable, he attains purity of mind. At those times when he has a
34073 pure mind, he always views in all ways his own body to be the same as the
34074 deity's body, his own speech to be the same as the deity's speech, and his own
34075 mind to be the same as the deity's mind; then, he is in meditative equipoise."
34076 * One who is a suitable vessel for the teaching.
34077 -- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", by His Holiness the Dalai
34078 Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Pub.
34080 My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but
34081 tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward,
34082 and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.
34083 -- Kodos gives a speech, "Treehouse of Horror VII"
34085 Mind is empty like an illusion;
34086 Separate from body, it cannot achieve.
34087 Body also is like a wall;
34088 Separate from mind it is without activity.
34089 Similarly the yoga of seals....
34092 Mind separate from body cannot openly display activities; body separate from
34093 mind is the same. Rather, actions must be done upon the aggregation of mind
34094 and body. Just so, here when practicing techniques for transforming basic--or
34095 ordinary--body, speech, mind, and activities into those of the fruit stage of
34096 Buddhahood, it is necessary both to cultivate (1) internal meditative
34097 stabilization on a divine body, on a vajra on a moon disc at the heart, on a
34098 seed syllable on a vajra in the throat, and on a vajra at the heart, and (2)
34099 at the same time to construct the appropriate gesture, or seal, with the
34100 hands. These must be done in unison, for it is said in Yoga Tantra ritual
34101 texts that if you fail to construct seals with the hands, the rite is
34102 nullified. Unlike on other occasions, it is not just that if the hand-seals
34103 are constructed, it is better, but if not, there is no fault of nullifying the
34104 rite. Here, they must be done.
34105 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
34106 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
34107 Snow Lion Publications
34109 Following the Vajrayana teachings, we do not give up or reject anything;
34110 rather we make use of whatever is there. We look at our negative emotions and
34111 accept them for what they are. Then we relax in this state of acceptance.
34112 Using the emotion itself, it is transformed or transmuted into the positive,
34113 into its true face.
34114 When, for instance, strong anger or desire arises, a Vajrayana practitioner
34115 is not afraid of it. Instead he or she would follow advice along the
34116 following lines: Have the courage to expose yourself to your emotions. Do not
34117 reject or suppress them, but do not follow them either. Just look your
34118 emotion directly in the eye and then try to relax within the very emotion
34119 itself. There is no confrontation involved. You don't do anything.
34120 Remaining detached, you are neither carried away by emotion nor do you reject
34121 it as something negative. Then, you can look at your emotions almost casually
34122 and be rather amused.
34123 When our usual habit of magnifying our feelings and our fascination
34124 resulting from that are gone, there will be no negativity and no fuel. We can
34125 relax within them. What we are trying to do, therefore, is to skillfully and
34126 subtly deal with our emotions. This is largely equivalent to the ability of
34127 exerting discipline.
34128 -- Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
34129 translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
34131 Although we did not have the fortune to see Buddha Shakyamuni himself in
34132 person, we do have the great fortune of having access to his own precious
34133 teachings, which is actually superior to seeing him in person. The same is
34134 the case with masters like Nagarjuna and his immediate disciples. If we make
34135 the necessary effort, and undertake the practice and study, we can fully enjoy
34136 a benefit equal to that of having met them in person.
34137 ...So visualize in space, in front of you, all the exalted masters,
34138 including Buddha Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, eighty mahasiddhas, the
34139 Nyingma masters, Atisha, the Kadampa masters, the five great masters of the
34140 Sakya tradition, the lineages of Lamdre practice, the great masters of the
34141 Kagyu lineage, such as Marpa, Milarepa, and also the great masters of the
34142 Gelugpa lineage, Lama Tsongkhapa, and all of their followers.
34143 Around you also are the protectors who have taken the oath in the presence
34144 of Buddha Shakyamuni to safeguard and protect the precious doctrine of Buddha.
34145 Visualize as well the harmful spirits--actually an embodiment of your own
34146 delusions--from which you are being protected by the guardians. Also
34147 visualize various emanations of the buddhas actively working for the benefit
34148 of all living beings. Surrounding you are all sentient beings...undergoing
34149 the sufferings of their individual realms of existence. Now generate a strong
34150 force of compassion directed towards all these sentient beings, particularly
34152 Having created this mental image, question yourself as to how all these
34153 objects of refuge, the buddhas and the masters of the past, achieved such a
34154 high state of realization and reached a state where they can provide
34155 protection to all living beings. You will find that it is because of their
34156 having made effort in the practice of dharma in general and, in particular,
34157 the practice of bodhicitta*. Think as follows: "I shall, from today, follow
34158 in the footsteps of these great masters, and take the initiative of generating
34160 * The aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
34161 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
34162 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
34164 To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
34167 I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire
34168 to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
34171 The question then is "How do we cultivate and develop this bodhicitta, the
34172 mind of enlightenment?" The key, and the root, is great compassion.
34173 Compassion here refers to a state of mind that makes it utterly unbearable for
34174 us to see the suffering of other sentient beings. The way to develop this is
34175 through understanding how we feel about our own suffering. When we become
34176 conscious of our own suffering, we have a spontaneous wish to be free from it.
34177 If we are able to extend that feeling to all other beings, through realizing
34178 the common instinctive desire we all have to avoid and overcome suffering,
34179 then that state of mind is called 'great compassion'.
34180 All of us have the potential to develop that kind of compassion, because
34181 whenever we see people who are suffering, especially those close to us, we
34182 immediately feel empathy towards them, and witness a spontaneous response
34183 within our minds. So all we have to do is to bring that potential out, and
34184 then to develop it to become so impartial that it can include all sentient
34185 beings within its embrace, whether friend or foe.
34186 To cultivate this great compassion within ourselves, first of all we need to
34187 develop what is called loving-kindness, a feeling of connectedness or
34188 closeness with all living creatures. This closeness and intimacy should not
34189 be confused with the kind of feeling we normally have toward our loved ones,
34190 which is tainted by attachment...ego and selfishness. On the contrary, we are
34191 seeking to develop a feeling of closeness towards other sentient beings, and
34192 affection for them, by reflecting on the fact that suffering is inherent in
34193 their very nature, on the helplessness of their situation, and on the
34194 instinctive desire they all have to overcome suffering.
34195 The greater the force of our loving kindness towards other beings, the
34196 greater the force of our compassion. And the greater the force of our
34197 compassion, the easier it will be for us to develop a sense of responsibility
34198 for taking upon ourselves the task of working for others. The greater that
34199 sense of responsibility, the more successful we will be in generating
34200 bodhicitta, the genuine altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for the
34202 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
34203 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
34204 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
34206 Understanding the power of the path provides the inspiration that keeps us
34207 going forward; exploring its pain provides the understanding of what holds us
34208 back. It doesn't take long to discover the power, nor to feel the pain.
34209 Waking up hurts. And if we don't understand why, we will run from the pain
34210 and abandon the path. There are countless people who have become spiritual
34211 dropouts, or who are lost in detours because they have not understood
34213 When your arm falls asleep, it prickles and burns as it returns to life.
34214 Frozen fingers sting when they thaw; we jolt awake when the alarm clock rings.
34215 But physical instances of anesthesia are mild compared to the anesthesia born
34216 of ignorance, and so is the level of discomfort upon awakening. The longer
34217 something has been asleep, the more painful it is to wake it up. If your
34218 fingers are merely cold, it is easy to warm them up. But if your fingers are
34219 frozen solid, it hurts like hell when they thaw. According to the traditions,
34220 unless one is already a buddha, an "awakened one," one has been snoring from
34221 beginningless time, and it can really hurt before we completely wake up.
34222 Mingyur Rinpoche writes,
34223 "I'd like to say that everything got better once I was safely settled among
34224 the other participants in the three-year retreat.... On the contrary,
34225 however, my first year in retreat was one of the worst in my life. All the
34226 symptoms of anxiety I'd ever experienced--physical tension, tightness in the
34227 throat, dizziness, and waves of panic--attacked in full force. In Western
34228 terms, I was having a nervous breakdown. In hindsight, I can say that what I
34229 was actually going through was what I like to call a 'nervous breakthrough'."
34230 -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
34231 Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
34233 Through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the
34234 universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witness through which the
34235 universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.
34236 -- McMurdo Station Forklift Driver paraphrasing Alan Watts
34238 As human beings we are deeply insecure and we do not know who we truly are.
34239 Of course this problem does not show on the surface of our lives. We are
34240 always telling ourselves who we are, based on this notion that we are separate
34241 from everything else. This sense that "I am separate" is the ground of our
34242 sense of self. It is reinforced by various false identities that we cling to,
34243 notions that "I am this" or "I am that." Whatever beliefs we have about
34244 ourselves are just another extension. Most of the time when we look around,
34245 we immediately see that our surroundings are validating these false
34246 identities. For this very reason, it is a challenging endeavor to deconstruct
34247 this illusion of self.
34248 Every time we look into our mirror we might have some thought about
34249 ourselves. Each of these thoughts adds up. They become the conceptual bricks
34250 we use to keep building this illusory castle of self. Yet, there is a
34251 suspicion that this notion of self might be very fragile and transient, and
34252 this thought is silently lurking somewhere in our consciousness. Most of the
34253 time this suspicion is not brought into the light of awareness, but if it is,
34254 some deep, inner wisdom will arise without choice.
34255 Our suspicion of the fragility of this false notion of self can go in one of
34256 two directions. In general it becomes a source of fear, anxiety, and
34257 insecurity. We often see people who are fearful and overly defensive when it
34258 comes to their own identity. We ourselves tend to become fearful if our
34259 identity is threatened. But at other times the suspicion can go another way.
34260 When that happens, it can be a life-changing revelation that can lead us to
34261 the realization of the highest level of truth. This idea is not some new,
34262 lofty theory. It is timeless wisdom that has been realized by many people in
34263 human history. Buddha taught this wisdom, and in his tradition it is called
34264 anatman or "no self." Anatman, or "no self," is the term used to mean that one
34265 has seen through this false sense of self. One has seen that this false sense
34266 of self is merely an identification with one's roles in life. It is just a
34267 mask, not the truth.
34268 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published by
34269 Snow Lion Publications
34271 It is common worldly knowledge that by believing untrue information to be
34272 true we fall into confusion and are harmed. Similarly, by believing phenomena
34273 to be inherently existent when in fact they are not inherently existent, we
34274 are also harmed. For example, with respect to the different ways in which
34275 there can be a consciousness of 'I', there is a definite difference between
34276 the way the 'I' is apprehended when desire, hatred, pride and so forth are
34277 generated based on this 'I', and the way the 'I' is apprehended when we are
34278 relaxed without any of those attitudes being manifest.
34279 Similarly, there is the mere consciousness that apprehends an article in a
34280 store before we buy it, and there is the consciousness apprehending that
34281 article after it has been bought, when it is adhered to as 'mine' and grasped
34282 with attachment. Both these consciousnesses have the same object, and in both
34283 cases the mode of appearance of the article is the appearance of it as
34284 inherently existent. However, there is the difference of the presence or
34285 absence of our adhering to it as inherently or independently existent.
34286 ...a consciousness conceiving inherent existence precedes any bad
34287 consciousness, leading it on by the nose, and also accompanies, or aids, many
34288 other bad consciousnesses as well. Thus, if there were no ignorance
34289 conceiving inherent existence, then there would be no chance for desire,
34290 hatred and so forth to be generated.
34291 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
34292 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
34296 As practitioners we will face many obstacles and sidetracks on our path to
34297 liberation, and these will provide us with many challenges along the way. We
34298 shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted due to these obstacles and
34299 sidetracks, such as the appearance and disappearance of the many friends we
34300 will have over the course of our lives.
34301 We also shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted by a change in
34302 the availability or quality of food and shelter. And we shouldn't allow our
34303 practice to become interrupted by the obstacles and sidetracks presented by
34304 the many distractions of mind that are readily available in the mundane world
34305 of our external environment. We shouldn't allow our practice to be
34306 interrupted by obstacles and sidetracks that arise due to the desire and
34307 attachment we feel for loved ones, or our aversion to enemies, or our
34308 indifference towards others. Finally, we should not allow our practice to
34309 become interrupted by our desire to accumulate wealth, or by our attachment to
34310 our material possessions. Only an advanced practitioner, motivated by deep
34311 bodhichitta, can get through these obstacles and avoid these sidetracks to
34312 reach their goal of liberation from samsara.
34313 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion Pub.
34315 Cultivating an aspiration to help other sentient beings becomes a cause for
34316 wanting to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. These are
34317 the two levels of the awakening mind of bodhichitta.
34318 Such a mind cannot be cultivated in a mere few months or years, but this
34319 does not mean it cannot be cultivated at all. If you continue your practice
34320 to cultivate bodhichitta, a time will come when you will be successful. For
34321 example, in the initial stage you may not even understand the meaning of the
34322 word bodhichitta. You might wonder how you could ever cultivate such a mind.
34323 But through repeated practice and familiarity, you will gradually come closer
34325 It is the nature of conditioned things that they change depending on causes
34326 and conditions. So it is important to recall the advantages and benefits of
34327 such a mind and cultivate a strong determination to achieve it. Make ardent
34328 prayers. Whether you sleep, walk, or sit, you should think: "How good it
34329 would be if I could cultivate such a mind." Try to cultivate bodhichitta even
34330 on an aspirational level. If you spend your days in such repeated and
34331 persistent practice, you can definitely develop it. Make the determination to
34332 cultivate it even if it will take many aeons. As Shantideva prays in his
34333 Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life:
34335 As long as space endures
34336 And as long as sentient beings remain,
34338 To dispel the sufferings of all sentient beings.
34340 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
34341 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
34342 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
34344 The theory of dependent-arising can be applied everywhere. One benefit of
34345 applying this theory is that viewing a situation this way gives you a more
34346 holistic picture, since whatever the situation is--good or bad--it depends on
34347 causes and conditions. An event is not under its own power but depends on
34348 many present causes and conditions as well as many past causes and conditions.
34349 Otherwise, it could not come into being.
34350 When you think from this viewpoint, you can see much more of the whole
34351 picture, and from this wider perspective, you can see the reality of the
34352 situation, its interdependence. With the help of this relational outlook, the
34353 action that you take will be realistic.
34354 ...Failure to look at the whole picture means realism is lost. The attitude
34355 that money alone is sufficient leads to unforeseen consequences. Money is
34356 certainly necessary; for instance, if you thought that religious retreat in
34357 meditation alone was sufficient, you would not have anything to eat. Many
34358 factors have to be considered. With awareness of the fuller picture, your
34359 outlook becomes reasonable, and your actions become practical, and in this way
34360 favorable results can be achieved.
34361 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
34362 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
34364 Fear and Fearlessness.
34366 Perhaps the first reaction we have to our own suffering is fear. Fear
34367 arises in us almost automatically when we experience strong emotions or pain.
34368 We don't have to sit there and generate fear--it just arises. When we
34369 experience a disturbing emotion such as jealousy we think, "No, I don't want
34370 this." We would rather not experience it. However, if we examine fear
34371 closely, we see that it is a thought to which we have been habituating our
34372 mind for a very long time. We have repeated this thought pattern of fear for
34373 many years, and from a Buddhist point of view, many lifetimes.
34374 In just the same way, when we habituate our minds to being fearless, to
34375 being brave and open towards our emotions, fearlessness will also arise
34376 naturally. In order for this to happen, we must train in applying antidotes
34377 to our thought patterns that are caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend
34378 fear first through a conceptual process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a
34379 natural fearlessness. In order to become fearless in this way, we need
34380 determination and the willingness to face our emotions. With that strong
34381 determination and courage, fearlessness will arise effortlessly.
34382 -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
34383 trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche,
34384 published by Snow Lion Publications
34386 There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative
34387 stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason
34388 is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The
34389 main of these are the three poisons--desire, hatred, and obscuration. Even
34390 though we have these at all times and even though the meditator will still
34391 retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning at
34392 that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before
34393 meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as
34394 having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
34395 In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a
34396 religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure
34397 motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good
34398 future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a
34399 religious practitioner of middling capacity--that of only oneself escaping
34400 from cyclic existence, this is also impure.
34401 What is a pure motivation? To take as one's aim the welfare of all sentient
34402 beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity.
34403 Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form
34404 of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath should expel all bad motivation.
34405 When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities
34406 of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into
34407 them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia.
34408 There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is
34410 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
34411 Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
34412 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
34414 Tsongkhapa pays homage to the "foremost holy lamas," for it is in dependence
34415 upon a qualified lama that the three principal aspects of the path are
34417 The high title "lama" alone does not qualify someone as a lama; the good
34418 qualities associated with the title must also be present. The three words--
34419 foremost, holy, and lama--set forth the three qualities of a lama.
34420 "Foremost" describes a person who has diminished emphasis on this lifetime
34421 and is primarily concerned with future lifetimes and deeper topics. Such a
34422 person has a longer perspective than the shortsighted one of those who mainly
34423 look to the affairs of this life and thus, in relation to common beings whose
34424 emphasis is mainly on this life, is the foremost, or a leader.
34425 "Holy" refers to one who, as a result of developing renunciation for all
34426 forms of cyclic existence, is not attached to any of its marvels and is
34427 seeking liberation. A holy person has turned his or her mind away from
34428 attachment outside to the better things of cyclic existence and focused it
34430 In the word "lama", "la" means high, and "ma" is a negative, which indicates
34431 that there is none higher; this is a person who has turned away from self-
34432 cherishing to cherishing others, has turned away from the lower concern for
34433 personal benefit in order to achieve the higher purpose of attaining benefit
34435 -- "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", by The
34436 Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, edited and translated
34437 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
34440 ...beginning with an attitude
34441 Of love for all living creatures,
34442 Consider beings, excluding none,
34443 Suffering in the three bad rebirths,
34444 Suffering birth, death and so forth.
34446 The" attitude of love" to which the text refers is the affection which sees
34447 all living beings as lovable. The stronger our affection the more easily
34448 compassion arises and the more intense and steadfast it is. Compassion can
34449 arise without it, but it will not be consistent. Unless we see all living
34450 beings as near, dear, appealing and beloved, we won't care what happens to
34451 them. On the contrary, we may even wish more suffering on those we dislike.
34452 That affection is what a doting mother feels for the apple of her eye, what a
34453 dog-owner feels for a beloved pet--a warm feeling that makes you want to hug
34454 and pat and say, "Adorable!"
34455 At present our feelings of affection are restricted to those we like and,
34456 even then, vanish quite quickly if they do something that goes against our
34457 wishes. It's a tall order to ask us to feel affection toward all living
34458 beings. It doesn't come naturally, which is why we need to train ourselves to
34459 see them in a new way.
34460 -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
34461 Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
34464 Why should one work so hard to please people, doing all sorts of things for
34465 others in order to make them feel happy? If one can't bear one's enemy's
34466 happiness, then why should one do all sorts of things to make anyone else
34468 Shantideva explains an inconsistency regarding this issue. He notes that
34469 when praise is directed toward oneself, when people speak highly of oneself,
34470 one not only feels happy but also expects others to be happy when they hear
34471 this praise. However, this is totally inconsistent with one's attitude toward
34472 others. When people praise others, then not only does one disapprove of
34473 others' happiness but one's own peace of mind and happiness are destroyed as
34474 well. So there seems to be an inconsistency when it comes to relating to
34475 praise directed toward oneself and praise directed toward others.
34476 Then, especially for a Bodhisattva practitioner who has dedicated his or her
34477 life to bringing about joy and happiness in others and leading them to the
34478 ultimate state of happiness, to be jealous of others' happiness and joy is
34479 totally inappropriate. In fact, one should feel that if other sentient beings
34480 of their own accord, from their own efforts, gain any little experience of
34481 happiness and joy here and there, we should be all the more grateful, because
34482 without our helping them, they have been able to achieve these joyful
34483 experiences and happiness.
34484 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
34485 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
34486 Snow Lion Publications
34488 What is meant by going for refuge is that you are seeking refuge from some
34489 fear. All the objects [Buddha, lama, guru, etc.] in front of you are what is
34490 known as the causal refuge, because they serve as the cause for bringing about
34491 the resultant refuge within you. You should entrust yourself to these objects
34492 from the depth of your heart, and you should see the objects as protectors.
34493 The resultant state of your own future realizations, becoming an arya being
34494 and attaining buddhahood--which depends on your own actualization of the path-
34495 -is called the resultant refuge. Someone in difficulty seeking the assistance
34496 of a high official is analogous to someone seeking refuge in the causal
34498 But depending upon others' protection forever is not a courageous way of
34499 life; therefore, one has to try to achieve a state where one is no longer
34500 dependent upon such a refuge, and this is likened to taking refuge in the
34501 resultant buddha, dharma, and sangha. That is the process of taking refuge by
34502 a person of high faculty and courage. This practice should be done not for
34503 the sake of oneself alone but rather for the sake of all other sentient
34504 beings. When you cultivate such an aspiration focused toward the achievement
34505 of the omniscient state, it is very much like the generation of the
34507 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
34508 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
34511 Many of the methods of practicing Dharma that are learned during waking can,
34512 upon development of dream awareness, be applied in the dream condition. In
34513 fact, one may develop these practices more easily and speedily within the
34514 Dream State if one has the capacity to dream lucidly. There are even some
34515 books that say that if a person applies a practice within a dream, the
34516 practice is nine times more effective than when it is applied during the
34518 The dream condition is unreal. When we discover this for ourselves within
34519 the dream, the immense power of this realization can eliminate obstacles
34520 related to conditioned vision. For this reason, dream practice is very
34521 important for liberating us from habits. We need this powerful assistance in
34522 particular because the emotional attachments, conditioning, and ego
34523 enhancement which compose our normal life have been strengthened over our
34525 In a real sense, all the visions that we see in our lifetime are like the
34526 images of a dream. If we examine them well, the big dream of life and the
34527 smaller dreams of one night are not very different. If we truly see the
34528 essential nature of both, we will find that there really is no difference
34529 between them. If we can finally liberate ourselves from the chains of
34530 emotions, attachments, and ego by this realization, we have the possibility of
34531 ultimately becoming enlightened.
34532 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light",
34533 ed. & intro. by Michael Katz, published by Snow Lion Publications
34535 Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort
34537 [This] foundational practice is engaged upon awaking in the morning. It
34538 further cultivates strong intention and also strengthens the capacity to
34539 remember the events of the night.
34540 Begin by reviewing the night. The Tibetan term for this preparation is
34541 literally "remembering." Did you dream? Were you aware that you were in a
34542 dream? If you dreamt but did not attain lucidity, you should reflect, "I
34543 dreamt but did not recognize the dream as a dream. But it was a dream."
34544 Resolve that next time you enter a dream you will become aware of its true
34545 nature while still in the dream.
34546 If you find it difficult to remember dreams, it can be helpful, throughout
34547 the day and particularly before sleep, to generate a strong intention to
34548 remember dreams. You can also record dreams in a notepad or with a tape
34549 recorder, as this will reinforce the habit of treating your dreams as
34550 something valuable. The very act of preparing the notebook or recorder at
34551 night serves to support the intention to recall the dream upon waking. It is
34552 not difficult for anyone to remember dreams once the intention to do so is
34553 generated and sustained, even over just a few days.
34554 If you did have a lucid dream, feel joy at the accomplishment. Develop
34555 happiness relative to the practice and resolve to continue to develop the
34556 lucidity the following night. Keep building intention, using both successes
34557 and failures as occasions to develop ever stronger intent to accomplish the
34558 practice. And know that even your intention is a dream.
34559 --Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
34560 published by Snow Lion Publications
34562 On some occasions, people faint. Even when your breath temporarily stops,
34563 during that moment, there is a reduced level of consciousness. Consciousness
34564 is most reduced late in the course of dying. Even after all physical
34565 functions cease, we believe that the "I," or "self," still exists. Similarly,
34566 just at the beginning of life, there must be a subtle form of consciousness to
34567 account for the emergence of consciousness in the individual.
34568 We must explore further the point at which consciousness enters into a
34569 physical location. At conception, the moment when and the site where
34570 consciousness interacts with the fertilized egg is something to be discovered,
34571 although there are some reference to this in the texts.... The Buddhist
34572 scriptures do deal with it, but I am interested to see what science has to say
34573 about this. During this period we believe that without the subtle
34574 consciousness, there would be a life beginning without consciousness. If that
34575 were the case then no one could ever recollect experiences from their past
34576 life. It is also in terms of Buddhist beliefs relating to this topic that
34577 Buddhism expounds its theory of cosmology: how the universe began and how it
34579 Based on this metaphysical reasoning and other arguments, and based on the
34580 testimony of individuals who are able to recollect their experiences in past
34581 lives very vividly, Buddhists make this claim. I am a practitioner, so based
34582 on my own limited experiences, and the experiences of my friends, I cannot say
34583 with one hundred percent certainty that there is a subtle consciousness.
34584 Scientists don't posit consciousness in the same sense that Buddhists do.
34585 At the moment of conception, however, there has to be something that prevents
34586 the sperm and egg from simply rotting, and causes it to grow into a human
34587 body. When does that occur? Why does that occur?
34588 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
34589 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
34590 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
34591 Taking the reins is the key to happiness
34593 The state of mind of a Buddhist practitioner should be stable, and should
34594 not be subject to too many conflicting events. Such a person will feel both
34595 joy and pain, but neither will be too weak or too intense. Stability is
34596 developed through discipline. The heart and mind become more full of energy,
34597 more resolute, and therefore less susceptible to being blown about by outside
34599 Deep within the human being abides the wisdom that can support him or her in
34600 the face of negative situations. In this way, events no longer throw him
34601 because he is holding the reins. Similarly, when something good happens it is
34602 also possible to rein it in. Taking the reins is the key to happiness. In
34603 Tibet we have a saying: "If you are beside yourself with joy, tears are not
34604 far behind." This shows how relative what we call joy and pain are.
34605 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
34606 Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings"
34608 From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a
34609 form of laziness, because we're lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so
34610 busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we're
34611 always running here and there. We often complain there isn't enough time for
34613 However, whenever we have a spare moment, we work overtime or call some
34614 friends to fill in the gap. We always have time to eat, but we hardly ever
34615 have time to nourish ourselves spiritually by attending Dharma classes or
34616 meditating. When the temple has entertainment and free meals, we go; but when
34617 there is meditation or lessons, we're busy.
34618 This hindrance to spiritual progress comes because we're attached to worldly
34619 pleasures: food, money, reputation, amusement, and friends. The harm comes
34620 from our inappropriate way of relating to them. Attached, we selfishly
34621 indulge in them. However, these things in and of themselves aren't bad.
34622 Through pacifying our afflictions, we can enjoy these things with a good
34623 motivation--to improve ourselves for the benefit of others.
34624 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
34626 It is important to note that we should make sure that our meditation suits
34627 our mind. If we feel comfortable doing analytical meditation on the various
34628 topics in a progressive way, we should go ahead with it. If, on the other
34629 hand, we find it difficult and it is not compatible with our mind, we should
34630 meditate on whatever topic we like.
34631 If we enjoy meditation on emptiness, we should go ahead with this. If it
34632 suits us and we derive pleasure from meditating principally on the altruistic
34633 intention, we can emphasize this. At some point if we find that we cannot
34634 really get into whatever analytical meditation we have been doing, but doing
34635 prostrations, chanting mantra, visualizing a meditation deity, or reciting
34636 aspirational prayers brings peace and pleasure to our mind, we should do that
34638 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
34639 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
34640 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
34642 Attaining realization is not such a long path once we become able to
34643 integrate all our movements of energy in our practice, because then every
34644 action is governed by presence and becomes a step on the path and an
34645 expression of virtue.
34646 Practice is not only sitting in meditation, reciting mantras, or chanting.
34647 It is the application of practice in daily life that is most difficult,
34648 working with our energy in every life situation, with every sense perception,
34649 with every person we meet, whether we want to encounter that person or not.
34650 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
34651 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", published by Snow Lion
34653 When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break the usually
34654 continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility and so forth, whatever
34655 they might be. This causes such thoughts to subside for the moment. Thus, by
34656 occupying the mind with our breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative
34657 conceptual thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as
34658 either constructive or destructive. This is the meaning of the line in the
34659 root text, "Thoroughly clean out your state of awareness." This unspecified or
34660 neutral state of mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual
34661 thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because an unspecified
34662 state of mind like this is unburdened and supple, it is relatively easy to
34663 generate it into a constructive state.
34664 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
34665 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
34668 "You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant
34669 that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to
34670 eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of
34671 the ultimate] is not prevented."
34675 If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the
34676 spiritual path--full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one
34677 cultivate compassion?
34680 Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and
34681 compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by
34682 delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the
34683 spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains
34684 awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate]
34685 examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and
34686 others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.
34687 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
34688 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
34690 The object of meditation this time is emotion. In other words, we
34691 specifically focus on the emotions that arise from our feelings of good, bad,
34692 and indifferent. In the first of the equanimity meditations, we made the
34693 choice to not follow up these emotions. This time we make the choice to
34694 meditate on them. We might choose to meditate on sensations and feelings that
34695 arise in our immediate, present environment. We might also choose to meditate
34696 on an event or person that sets off strong sensations, feelings, and emotions.
34697 Let's say you choose to base your meditation on an event such as a family
34698 argument. This time you contemplate an aspect of that event and try to
34699 disentangle the sensations, feelings, and emotions. Sensations are what you
34700 feel with your body. Feelings assess whether that sensation is nice, nasty,
34701 or neutral. What emotions arise as a result of those sensations and feelings?
34702 As we now know, equanimity means not getting caught in further
34703 exaggerations: "Oh, I am so bad because this is what I did," "Look how good I
34704 am," "How could anyone love someone like me?" and so on. In this meditation,
34705 equanimity means not judging whether we are good or bad people, but just
34706 noting what happened.
34707 -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
34708 Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
34710 Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of
34711 techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level--aiming at a
34712 minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove
34713 all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual
34714 practice is of this deeper type.
34715 These techniques involve an adjustment of attitude; thus, spiritual practice
34716 basically means to adjust your thought well. In Sanskrit it is called dharma,
34717 which means "that which holds." This means that by adjusting counterproductive
34718 attitudes, you are freed from a level of suffering and thus held back from
34719 that particular suffering. Spiritual practice protects, or holds back,
34720 yourself and others from misery.
34721 From first understanding your own situation in cyclic existence and seeking
34722 to hold yourself back from suffering, you extend your realization to other
34723 beings and develop compassion, which means to dedicate yourself to holding
34724 others back from suffering. It makes practical sense...by concentrating on
34725 the welfare of others, you yourself will be happier.
34726 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
34727 and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
34729 Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight
34730 times, I must be a f**king idiot.
34731 -- Jon Stewart, on the last eight presidents vowing to end America's
34732 addiction to foreign oil
34734 A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner
34735 waiting for the bus marked "Perfection".
34738 In his closing discussion on loving-kindness, Buddhaghosa asks: "What is the
34739 proximate cause of loving-kindness?" The answer is the observation of
34740 lovableness in the person to whom you are attending.
34741 Bring to mind right now someone whom you find lovable. It could be a person
34742 you have a romance with, or a child, or a dear friend, or a great teacher--
34743 someone to whom your heart would leap like a deer in the forest if this person
34744 were to walk through the door, someone whose presence is so lovable that a
34745 gladness arises on seeing him or her. If you can sense that in a dear friend,
34746 then try to seek out the lovableness of a neutral person. Then, finally, when
34747 you break down all the barriers, see it in a person who has done you injury.
34748 It's a great key if you can seek out something to love, even in the enemy.
34749 Bear clearly in mind that this does not endorse or embrace evil. The crucial
34750 point here is to be able to slice through like a very skilled surgeon,
34751 recognizing vicious behavior that we would love to see annihilated as separate
34752 from the person who is participating in it. The doctor can be optimistic. A
34753 cure is possible: the person is not equivalent to the action or the
34754 disposition. Moreover there is something there that we can hold in affection,
34755 with warmth. That really seems to be a master key that can break down the
34756 final barrier and complete the practice.
34757 One way of approaching this is to look at the person you hold in contempt,
34758 and try to find any quality he might share with someone you deeply admire and
34759 respect. Is there anything at all noble to be seen, anything that would be
34760 akin to what a truly great spiritual being would display? Focus on that:
34761 There is something there that you can love. The rest is chaff, that hopefully
34762 will be blown away quickly, to everyone's benefit. It is as if you could see
34763 a little ray of light from within, knowing that its source is much deeper than
34764 the despicable qualities on the outside. That light is what you attend to.
34766 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart",
34767 edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
34769 Question: I have the strong wish to be reborn in any of the realms in a
34770 position to truly help other sentient beings in that realm. Is it wrong for
34771 me in these circumstances not to have the strong wish to leave the wheel of
34774 Answer: Your wish to stay in order to help is certainly right. One of
34775 Shantideva's prayers, roughly translated is, "As long as there is space, I
34776 will remain with sentient beings, to serve and help them." Therefore, I also
34777 am trying to practice this. Helping others is the real purpose of life; it
34778 will bring the most satisfaction. The one action of helping others out of a
34779 sincere motivation brings two results--satisfaction for yourself and benefit
34780 to others. It is most beautiful.
34781 One might ask whether there is a contradiction between a Bodhisattva's
34782 developing a determination to leave cyclic existence by viewing it as faulty
34783 and a Bodhisattva's wishing to remain in cyclic existence in order to help
34784 others. An answer to this is given in Bhavaviveka's Heart of the Middle Way:
34785 ...because of being under the influence of love and compassion, one is not
34786 captivated by the idea of retreating into solitary peace and, with an attitude
34787 of seeking to bring about the welfare of other sentient beings, remains in
34788 cyclic existence. This attitude is really marvelous. Though you are really
34789 fed up with cyclic existence, still because of a willingness and a
34790 determination to serve others, you voluntarily accept to remain.
34791 However, as is indicated by the frequently cited example of a lotus that is
34792 produced from mud but not polluted by it, a Bodhisattva stays in cyclic
34793 existence but is not affected by its faults. It would indeed be hypocritical
34794 to claim from one's mouth that one had taken up the practice of a Bodhisattva
34795 but actually to be happily stuck in cyclic existence with great attachment.
34797 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
34798 Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
34799 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
34801 Sutras, tantras, esoteric instructions, and experiences teach
34802 The vital point of deathlessness, awakening without meditating:
34803 How this body of karma fully ripening
34804 Arises as a naturally pure awareness body.
34805 Visualize the fully ripening karmic body as the deity's form
34806 And meditate without fixation on it.
34807 It is itself inseparable from mind.
34808 No essence of mind is established,
34809 So where is something that dies?
34810 "Death" is just a concept.
34811 The hosts of concepts are nonexistent phenomena of samsara and nirvana.
34814 According to this and other statements, since one's own mind in essence has
34815 no real existence whatsoever, it was always unborn. Therefore the great
34816 natural liberation of deathlessness is attained. As for this body of fully
34817 ripening karma, since it is a conglomeration of inert matter, it is not a
34818 basis on which to attribute the designations of birth or death. In fact, the
34819 body even arises as a mere appearance of mind.
34820 When one gains confidence in the realization that the mind is unborn and
34821 undying, then the body appears as the deity's form in mahamudra and one
34822 becomes bound to basic space without erring into the path of deluded
34823 appearance. By this kind of instruction one discovers the kaya of union in
34824 this lifetime. Even just hearing it can cause one to get enlightened in the
34825 intermediate state as the sambhogakaya of the victors. Of the Five Golden
34826 Dharmas, it is said to be like the ripened fruit. (p. 248)
34827 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
34828 Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
34829 Meditation in Vajrayana", translated by Sarah Harding, published by Snow
34832 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
34833 preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
34834 effects are responsible for all our miseries. The feeling that it doesn't
34835 matter what we do as long as we can get away with it kills our chances of
34836 liberation and enlightenment. Our selfishness robs us of worldly and
34837 supramundane good qualities, leaving us naked and empty-handed. It separates
34838 us from happiness now and in the future and fetters us to suffering.
34839 Resolve never again to let yourself be dominated by this mean and selfish
34840 way of thinking and do everything in your power to combat it. Your happiness
34841 begins the moment you recognize self-cherishing as your chief foe. There are
34842 many good reasons why cherishing others makes sense. Shantideva says:
34843 The state of Buddhahood is accomplished
34844 Equally through living beings and Victorious Ones.
34845 What kind of behavior then is it to revere
34846 Victorious Ones but not living beings?
34847 ...If we truly want to please Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all those noble
34848 beings in the world whom we admire and whose sole guiding principles are their
34849 affection, love and compassion for others, we can do nothing better than to
34850 cherish living beings. (p. 100)
34851 -- "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path", an oral teaching by Geshe
34852 Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
34855 How Purification Works
34857 During Nyungne [fasting] practice, true purification is possible primarily
34858 because of the power of Chenrezig's compassion and blessing, as well as our
34859 faith, devotion, and correct motivation to do the practice. When such causes
34860 and conditions come together, a result inevitably occurs, and this result is
34861 understood as the interdependently-arising nature of all phenomena.
34862 For the most part, enlightened and unenlightened phenomena all arise due to
34863 this interdependently-arising nature. As a spiritual practitioner, the basic
34864 qualities one must bring to the practice are faith, devotion, and a trust in
34865 the power of the practice and Chenrezig. These qualities stem from our own
34866 pure nature of mind, a purity that is identical to Chenrezig's heart, that is,
34867 unceasing love and compassion. When these two things are combined together,
34868 our devotion and faith and Chenrezig's love and compassion, one could say
34869 miracles happen; a true purification takes place.
34870 It has been said that when one is sitting before the mandala of Chenrezig,
34871 one should believe that although Chenrezig is not physically visible to us, in
34872 fact he is really there in front of us. Just as we would be very careful of
34873 our thoughts and behavior if we were in the presence of a powerful and
34874 clairvoyant enlightened guru, in the same way we must generate vigilance so
34875 that we don't act shamefully in front of this great being. If we develop such
34876 vigilance and noble habit, then our negativities will automatically decrease.
34878 -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
34879 Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
34881 Reflect on the basic pattern of our existence. In order to do more than
34882 just barely survive, we need shelter, food, companions, friends, the esteem of
34883 others, resources, and so on; these things do not come about from ourselves
34884 alone but are all dependent on others. Suppose one single person were to live
34885 alone in a remote and uninhabited place. No matter how strong, healthy, or
34886 educated this person were, there would be no possibility of his or her leading
34887 a happy and fulfilling existence.... Can such a person have friends? Acquire
34888 renown? Can this person become a hero if he or she wishes to become one? I
34889 think the answer to all these questions is a definite no, for all these
34890 factors come about only in relation to other fellow humans.
34891 When you are young, healthy, and strong, you sometimes can get the feeling
34892 that you are totally independent and do not need anyone else. But this is an
34893 illusion. Even at that prime age of your life, simply because your are a
34894 human being, you need friends, don't you? This is especially true when we
34895 become old and need to rely more and more on the help of others: this is the
34896 nature of our lives as human beings.
34897 In at least one sense, we can say that other people are really the principal
34898 source of all our experiences of joy, happiness, and prosperity, and not only
34899 in terms of our day-to-day dealings with people. We can see that all the
34900 desirable experiences that we cherish or aspire to attain are dependent upon
34901 cooperation and interaction with others. It is an obvious fact.
34902 Similarly, from the point of view of a Buddhist practitioner, many of the
34903 high levels of realization that you gain and the progress that you make on
34904 your spiritual journey are dependent upon cooperation and interaction with
34905 others. Furthermore, at the stage of complete enlightenment, the
34906 compassionate activities of a buddha can come about spontaneously only in
34907 relation to other beings, for those beings are the recipients and
34908 beneficiaries of those enlightened activities. (p.5)
34909 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
34911 The difficulty with a purely materialistic interpretation of life is that,
34912 in addition to ignoring an entire dimension of the mind, it does not deal
34913 effectively with the problems of this life. A materialistic mind is an
34914 unstable mind, for its happiness is built on transient, physical
34915 circumstances. Mental disease is as high among the affluent as it is among
34916 the poor, which is a clear indication of the limitations of the approach.
34917 Although it is essential to maintain a reasonable material basis on which to
34918 live, the emphasis in one's life should be on cultivating the mental and
34919 spiritual causes of happiness. The human mind is very powerful and our
34920 worldly needs are not so great that they must demand all of our attention,
34921 especially in light of the fact that materialistic success solves so few of
34922 the many challenges and problems that confront men and women throughout their
34923 lives, and it does nothing for them at death.
34924 On the other hand, if one cultivates spiritual qualities such as mental
34925 harmony, humility, non-attachment, patience, love, compassion, wisdom and so
34926 forth, then one becomes equipped with a strength and intelligence able to deal
34927 effectively with the problems of this life; and because the wealth one is
34928 amassing is mental rather than material, it will not have to be left behind at
34929 death. There is no need to enter the after-death state empty-handed. (31)
34930 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
34931 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
34933 The bardo* of this life does not last forever. We know that, like a guest
34934 in a hotel, our mind is only temporarily sheltered in this body. As we face
34935 the challenges of this life and the impending challenges of the bardos to
34936 come, how does engaging in the three-stage process of study, contemplation and
34937 meditation help us? By applying ourselves to these three, we acquire the
34938 skills to stabilize our mind and we develop actual insight into how our mind
34939 functions. First we gain an understanding of the nature of mind; then, we
34940 experience that nature; and finally, we arrive at the ultimate benefit, which
34941 is fully realizing that nature.
34942 When we practice these stages of the path, it is like accumulating the exact
34943 things we will need to take with us on our trip. When we are ready to pack
34944 our suitcase, we will have what we need without looking further. We will not
34945 have to go out at the last minute and buy a map or a guidebook. We will not
34946 have to worry about whether we are forgetting something crucial.
34947 We have knowledge and experience that has blossomed into realization;
34948 therefore we can handle any situation. We have confidence in ourselves, in
34949 the teachings, and the guidance of our lineage teachers. At this point, we
34950 can let go of all our doubt and hesitation. We can simply relax and be who we
34951 are, wherever we are. (p.58)
34952 * in-between state, interval
34953 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
34956 The thoughts that in this year and month
34957 I will put right all my tasks and plans
34958 And then start a perfect dharma practice
34959 Is in fact the devil which brings all downfalls.
34961 The lack of death awareness prevents one from undertaking the practice of
34962 dharma. This is very true: If one is not aware of the eventuality of death,
34963 one will be totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
34964 lifetime alone, and with actions that are just for the benefit of this
34965 lifetime. Such ventures may take all one's time and energy, but no matter how
34966 important they appear to be, since they are directly related to this lifetime
34967 alone, their benefits are limited--once one leaves the present body, their
34968 benefit ends. Even though one might have a best friend, when one has to leave
34969 the body, one cannot take the friend along.
34970 ...Think that after twenty or thirty years even the Dalai Lama will also be
34971 no more. While I am alive, there will be people who are, from the depths of
34972 their hearts, prepared to give their lives for my sake, but on the day when I
34973 have to leave, I cannot take even one among them with me. Neither will I be
34974 able to take any of my possessions, even the body which I have always
34975 preserved and protected. This also will be left behind. At that time of my
34976 death, what will benefit is only the positive seeds that are imprinted upon my
34977 consciousness. No other factors will help at that time. (p.106)
34978 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
34979 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
34981 At the beginning of the process of deity meditation and mantra repetition
34982 one meditates on emptiness, settling the non-inherent existence of oneself and
34983 the deity through a reasoning such as that of dependent-arising--the fact that
34984 both oneself and the deity arise in dependence on their respective bases of
34985 designation. One's own final nature and the final nature of the deity are the
34986 same, an emptiness of inherent existence.
34987 To perform deity yoga one does not just withdraw ordinary appearances and
34988 then appear as a deity but causes the mind realising emptiness itself to
34989 appear as a deity. Thus, it is essential initially to meditate on emptiness,
34990 cleansing all appearances in emptiness. One then uses that wisdom
34991 consciousness realising emptiness as the basis of emanation of a divine body.
34992 This must be done at least in imitation of a consciousness actually doing
34993 this, for meditation on a truly existent divine body, instead of helping, will
34994 only increase adherence to inherent existence. Meditated properly, the
34995 appearance of a divine figure is the sport of the ultimate mind of
34996 enlightenment, first in imitation and later in fact. (p.39)
34997 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
34998 Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
35000 If one could attain the state of perfect buddhahood that is free from all
35001 faults, that sees directly all aspects of the qualities to be cultivated and
35002 faults overcome in the quest for enlightenment, and that is physically adorned
35003 with the marks and signs of perfection, the mere perception of which is
35004 beneficial, then one would be beyond the distinction of feeling attraction or
35005 aversion toward the infinite sentient beings. One would regard all beings
35006 with an equal compassion, and would have the ability to really benefit them.
35007 Think, "I should make every effort to attain this all-beneficial state."
35008 In brief, the motivation should be, "For the ultimate benefit of the
35009 sentient beings, who are as infinite as the sky is vast, I must attain the
35010 state of a peerless, perfect, pure buddha." This is the aspirational aspect of
35012 -- Glenn Mullin, "The Practice of Kalachakra", foreword by H.H. the Dalai
35013 Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
35015 After suffering severe puncture wounds without shooting any goop on my
35016 opponent, I realized I was simply outgunned. Never bring caulk to a
35018 -- Stephanie S. Thompson
35020 My cat Elea added a trick to her repertoire this morning.
35021 I sleep in a bit on the weekend, and both cats protest by
35022 visiting the bed every few minutes until I get up.
35023 Elea, being toothless, is afflicted with a mean case of drool when
35024 she's hungry. So this morning I got a "drool shower" since she
35025 sat next to my face and shook her head vigorously,
35026 flinging drool everywhere (especially onto my face).
35027 I know this wasn't just a fluke because a few minutes later
35028 she came back and did it again.
35031 On Arcadia Asylum, pioneering creator in Second Life...
35032 "Nope, she can't log into Arcadia, Aley Arai, nor Lora Lemon. She's great
35033 at building, but she doesn't think she should have to pay the Lindens for
35034 anything, so she doesn't, and they get mad about that and close her
35037 The important thing is the obvious thing nobody is saying.
35038 -- William S. Burroughs
35040 Our fundamental nature--what we term 'the buddha nature', the very nature of
35041 our mind, is inherently present within us as a natural attribute. This mind
35042 of ours, the subject at hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time,
35043 and so has the more subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the
35044 continuity of that subtle nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to
35045 attain enlightenment. This potential is what we call 'the seed of
35046 buddhahood', 'buddha nature', 'the fundamental nature', or 'tathagatagarbha'.
35047 We all have this buddha nature, each and every one of us. For example, this
35048 beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here, in the presence of which we are now
35049 sitting, is a representation that honours someone who attained buddhahood. He
35050 awakened into that state of enlightenment because his nature was the buddha
35051 nature. Ours is as well, and just as the Buddha attained enlightenment in the
35052 past, so in the future we can become buddhas too.
35053 ...In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
35054 awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
35055 that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
35056 empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
35057 nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
35058 Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
35059 the five families. In particular, you are 'ripened' within that particular
35060 family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
35062 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
35063 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
35064 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
35066 For achieving calm abiding... your mind must have two qualities:
35067 -great clarity of both the object and the consciousness itself
35068 -staying one-pointedly on the object of observation.
35069 Two factors prevent these from developing--laxity and excitement. Laxity
35070 prevents the development of clarity, and excitement prevents the stability of
35071 staying with the object.
35072 That which interferes with the steadiness of the object of observation and
35073 causes it to fluctuate is excitement, which includes any scattering of the
35074 mind to an object other than the object of meditation. To stop that, withdraw
35075 your mind more strongly inside so that the intensity of the mode of
35076 apprehension of the object begins to lower. If you need a further technique
35077 to withdraw the mind, it helps to leave the object of meditation temporarily
35078 and think about something that makes you more sober, such as the imminence of
35079 death. Such reflections can cause your heightened mode of apprehension of the
35080 object, the mind's being too tight, to lower or loosen somewhat, whereby you
35081 are better able to stay on the object of observation.
35082 It is not sufficient just to have stability; clarity is also needed. That
35083 which prevents clarity is laxity, which is a case of the mind's becoming too
35084 relaxed, too loose, lacking intensity--the tautness of the mind having become
35085 weak, caused by over-withdrawal inside. Heaviness of mind and body can lead
35086 to becoming lax, which can lead to a type of lethargy in which, losing the
35087 object of observation, you have as if fallen into darkness; this can lead even
35088 to sleep. When this begins to occur, it is necessary to raise, to heighten,
35089 this excessive declination of the mind by making it more taut, more tight. To
35090 accomplish this, it helps to brighten the object of meditation or, if that
35091 does not work, to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think on
35092 something that makes you joyous, such as the wonderful opportunity that a
35093 human lifetime affords for spiritual practice. If that does not work, you can
35094 even leave off meditating and go to a high place or where there is a vast
35095 view. Such techniques cause your deflated mind to heighten, to sharpen.
35096 While holding the object of observation with mindfulness, investigate with
35097 introspection from time to time to see whether the mind has come under the
35098 influence of laxity or excitement and determine the best practice for lowering
35099 or heightening it. In time, your will develop a sense of the proper level of
35100 tautness of the mind such that you will be able to catch laxity and excitement
35101 just before they arise and prevent their arising. (p.50)
35102 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
35103 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow
35106 The position of the body [during meditation] is very important because the
35107 channels within the body will follow the external disposition of the body.
35108 The way the body is placed will set the channels; and the winds, of course,
35109 flow inside the channels, so if they are properly set, the winds will flow
35110 properly. Mind follows the wind. To focus the mind properly, the winds must
35111 also be functioning properly. (p.39)
35112 -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", translated
35113 by Robert Clark, ed. by Ani K. Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion
35115 The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
35116 my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
35117 What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
35118 on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
35119 out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
35120 without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
35121 alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
35122 Let's continue with an example. You see that there is a dent in the car.
35123 What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify the
35124 police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply do it
35125 and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind further, to
35126 develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to become a
35127 Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp.
35128 Patience does not suddenly appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part
35129 of the whole process of awakening is to develop greater forbearance and
35130 equanimity in adversity. Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the
35131 Bodhisattva's Way of Life, eloquently points out that there is no way to
35132 develop patience without encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable
35133 for our own growth on the path to awakening. (p.66)
35134 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
35135 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
35137 While the great adept [Tangtong Gyalpo] did not stray from vajralike
35138 meditative concentration on the peak of glorious Riwoche, the ornamental wheel
35139 of his inexhaustible enlightened body, speech, and mind manifested in three
35140 great regions of Kham.
35141 At Gyalmorong, a person who had received the Path with the Result at Sakya,
35142 and who meditated single-mindedly on the Time of the Path during four sessions
35143 and on the Profound Path Guruyoga, saw the great adept to be Vajradhara, the
35144 lord of all spiritual families, and made countless prostrations.
35145 ...A person who recited a thousand of the heart-mantra of Tara every day,
35146 declared, "This isn't Avalokiteshvara. It's Tara."
35147 Also, a person said, "This is the Great Adept of Iron Bridges. O great
35148 adept, why do different visual manifestations appear to us?" The great adept
35150 By bringing the vital winds
35151 and mind under control,
35152 taking control of how things appear to myself,
35153 overwhelming how things appear to others,
35154 and positioning magical bodies,
35155 I display whatever will tame sentient beings
35156 according to their various inclinations.
35158 -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder
35159 Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
35161 When I was a boy, Ling Rinpochay, who was then my junior tutor, was always
35162 very stern; he never smiled, not even a little. This bothered me a lot. By
35163 wondering why he was so humorless, I examined more and more what I was doing
35164 in my own mind. This helped me develop self-awareness with regard to my
35165 motivation. By my early twenties when I had matured, Ling Rinpochay
35166 completely changed; he always had a big smile when we were together.
35167 Effective practice of the morality of individual liberation depends upon
35168 sound, long-term motivation. For example, one should not become a monk or a
35169 nun to avoid having to work at a worldly job for food and clothing. Also, it
35170 is not sufficient merely to seek to avoid difficulty in this lifetime. To be
35171 motivated by such trifling purposes does not help to achieve freedom from
35172 cyclic existence--the ultimate reason to practice the morality of individual
35174 This is confirmed by Buddha's life story. One day Shakyamuni slipped
35175 outside the palace wall to experience life for himself. For the first time he
35176 saw a sick person, an old person, and a corpse. Deeply troubled by the
35177 suffering of sickness, aging, and death, he came to the conclusion that
35178 worldly life is without substance. Later, inspired by several religious
35179 practitioners, Buddha became captivated by the possibility of a higher, more
35180 meaningful, spiritual life. At that point he escaped from the palace, leaving
35181 his ordinary life behind to pursue that vision.
35182 What does this teach us? Like Buddha we need to begin by becoming concerned
35183 about the suffering of cyclic existence and by turning away from temporary
35184 distractions. Influenced by this new attitude, we must take up a system of
35185 morality by renouncing cyclic existence and by taking vows of pure behavior
35186 through seeking to avoid the ten nonvirtues. (p.29)
35187 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
35188 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
35190 Tsong-ka-pa's intention in praising Buddhism is not to insult other
35191 teachers. Statements of the greatness of Buddhism are made in order to
35192 develop one-pointedness of mind toward practice, for one who is able to
35193 practise Buddhism must generate effort to do so. It is necessary for him to
35194 have confidence in Buddha's teaching from the round orb of his heart.
35195 There is a Tibetan saying that one cannot sew with a two-pointed needle or
35196 achieve aims with a two-pointed mind. Similarly, if a practitioner is
35197 hesitant, he will not put great force into the practice of any one system.
35198 Tsong-ka-pa states that Buddhism is the best in order that persons who would
35199 be helped more through engaging in the Buddhist path than through another
35200 system might not be diverted to another path. (p.48)
35201 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
35202 published by Snow Lion Publications
35204 At the level of conventional truth we all naturally possess both the desire
35205 and the potential to overcome suffering and to attain happiness. In this
35206 context, we can reflect upon the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths
35207 and the Two Truths, and on the basis of such reflection we gradually develop
35208 an understanding of how we can gain freedom from suffering and of the
35209 potential we possess within ourselves for accomplishing such a goal.
35210 We can reflect further that: 'Just like me, all other sentient beings
35211 possess this same desire and potential to be happy and overcome suffering',
35212 and ask ourselves: 'If I continue to be guided by my own self-centredness and,
35213 through my single-pointed concern for my own well-being, continue to ignore
35214 the well-being of others, what will the consequences be?'
35215 Then we can reflect: 'From beginningless lifetimes I have harboured this
35216 self-cherishing attitude and have grasped onto the notion of an intrinsically
35217 real, enduring self. I have nurtured these two thoughts of self-cherishing
35218 and self-grasping deep in my heart as if they are twin jewels. But where has
35219 this way of being led me? By pursuing the dictates of my self-grasping and
35220 self-centredness, have I actually managed to attain the fulfilment of my self-
35221 interest? If it were possible, surely by now I should have achieved my goal.
35222 But I know that this is not the case.'
35223 We should then compare ourselves to enlightened beings such as the Buddha
35224 Shakyamuni who achieved total victory over all defilements and perfected all
35225 qualities of goodness. We should then ask ourselves: 'How did the Buddha
35226 accomplish this?' Through contemplation we will come to recognise that, at a
35227 certain point in his existence, the Buddha reversed the normal way of thinking
35228 and being. In the place of self-cherishing he cultivated the thought of
35229 cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings, and in place of self-
35230 grasping he cultivated the wisdom realising the absence of self-existence. In
35231 this way he attained full awakening. (p.30)
35232 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
35233 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
35235 In the history of the Nyungne tradition, many practitioners have been able to
35236 overcome incurable disease through the practice of Nyungne. We could say
35237 miracles like this literally do take place, although in the Buddhist
35238 understanding, overcoming great obstacles and disease would be considered
35239 blessings. A miracle is something else. It is the enlightened power that is
35240 demonstrated by enlightened masters. A true miracle in the Buddhist sense
35241 would be like the miracle of Milarepa entering into a little horn while his
35242 student, Rechungpa, sees him in his usual size yet he is inside the horn. Or
35243 like the miracle of Milarepa sitting on a lake and people seeing that he
35244 hasn't become any larger nor has the lake shrunk in size, yet he is completely
35245 covering it. These are real, enlightened miracles.(p.13)
35246 -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
35247 Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
35249 [In listening to teachings one] of the defects is to listen in a way that is
35250 like a container with holes. This means that even though we are listening to
35251 the teachings, we do not retain their contents. In this case we lack
35252 mindfulness and memory. Practice of Dharma means that we should be able to
35253 benefit from what we have heard. It is not a pastime, like listening to a
35254 story. The teachings give us guidance on how to live meaningful lives and how
35255 to develop proper attitudes. So in order to benefit from the teachings, we
35256 must retain them with mindfulness.
35257 In all kinds of learning processes, listening, reading, etc., we must pay
35258 full attention and should endeavor to remember their contents. When our
35259 interest is halfhearted, we only remember half the points, and we retain them
35260 for only a short time. We should reflect and think about whatever we have
35261 heard, over and over again. In this way, the knowledge will stay in our mind
35262 for a long time. Another technique for remembering instructions is debate as
35263 it is practiced in the traditional debating schools. (p.22)
35264 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
35265 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
35266 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
35268 We are duped by maya. The whole display of our senses has tricked us into
35269 believing it and thus seduces us into the world of suffering. And the
35270 illusionist is that old trickster, one's own mind. But when this illusory
35271 nature is recognized to be just that, one is released from the bondage of the
35272 magic show, at which time it becomes a wonderful spectacle, even a display of
35273 the unimpeded creativity and freedom of mind. Then maya itself is both the
35274 medium for this realization and the expression of it.
35275 This conscious and intentional method of relating to all phenomena as
35276 illusion is thus cast in a totally positive light on the spiritual path, a
35277 complete turn-around from the original negative valuation of it as deceit.
35278 Now illusion is seen as illumination and opportunity. The nature of our
35279 relationship with it is the salient point, rather than its own nature, which
35280 certainly does not exist anyway, in any way.
35282 Since everything is an illusory display,
35283 it is possible to attain enlightenment.
35284 The transformation of the maya concept from something to escape to something
35285 to engage may be loosely correlated with the shift of emphasis on
35286 understanding emptiness that emerged in the mahayana teachings. A further
35287 development may be seen in the vajrayana teachings with the esoteric
35288 instruction known as Illusory Body (sgyu lus). This occurs as one of the Six
35289 Dharmas of Niguma and in other configurations of completion stage practices in
35290 many lineages. (p.40)
35291 -- Sarah Harding, "Niguma, Lady of Illusion", a Tsadra Foundation Series
35292 book, published by Snow Lion Publications
35294 Afflictions are classed as peripheral mental factors and are not themselves
35295 any of the six main minds [eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental
35296 consciousnesses]. However, when any of the afflicting mental factors becomes
35297 manifest, a main mind [a mental consciousness] comes under its influence, goes
35298 wherever the affliction leads it, and 'accumulates' a bad action.
35299 There are a great many different kinds of afflictions, but the chief of them
35300 are desire, hatred, pride, wrong view and so forth. Of these, desire and
35301 hatred are chief. Because of an initial attachment to oneself, hatred arises
35302 when something undesirable occurs. Further, through being attached to oneself
35303 the pride that holds one to be superior arises, and similarly when one has no
35304 knowledge of something, a wrong view that holds the object of this knowledge
35305 to be non-existent arises.
35306 How do self-attachment and so forth arise in such great force? Because of
35307 beginningless conditioning, the mind tightly holds to 'I, I' even in dreams,
35308 and through the power of this conception, self-attachment and so forth occur.
35309 This false conception of 'I' arises because of one's lack of knowledge
35310 concerning the mode of existence of things. The fact that all objects are
35311 empty of inherent existence is obscured and one conceives things to exist
35312 inherently; the strong conception of 'I' derives from this. Therefore, the
35313 conception that phenomena inherently exist is the afflicting ignorance that is
35314 the ultimate root of all afflictions. (p.26)
35315 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
35316 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
35318 With regard to awareness of the present moment, our mind is utterly
35319 insubstantial and yet has this characteristic of luminosity (Tib. salwa).
35320 "Luminosity" here simply means the cognitive capacity, the fact that our mind
35321 can know, experience, feel, and so on. This awareness always occurs in the
35322 present. When we are not thinking of the past or thinking of the future, when
35323 we're letting our mind simply rest in the direct experience of the present
35324 moment, then this awareness or lucidity emerges as an unfabricated
35326 Initially we do this very briefly, for one moment, two moments, and so on,
35327 but as we work with this, it starts to take on a momentum. However, it's
35328 important not to interfere with the naturalness of this awareness by
35329 appraising what is occurring, which means that we shouldn't think, "Well, this
35330 is happening, that is happening, I'm aware of this, I'm aware of that." Nor
35331 should we judge what's happening by thinking, "Well, this is good, this is
35332 what's supposed to be happening," or, "This is bad, this isn't what's supposed
35334 On the other hand, we do need to "plant the watchman of mindfulness and
35335 alertness," which means that we maintain some intentional awareness of what is
35336 occurring. Here, mindfulness means a simple, direct recollection of what
35337 we're trying to do. In other words, mindfulness is recollecting that we are
35338 trying to rest in a direct experience of the present moment. Alertness then
35339 is that faculty of mind that becomes aware when we become distracted from this
35340 present experience. However, this watchfulness or, this watchman, has to be
35341 very relaxed and gentle. It can't be too heavy-handed, otherwise the whole
35342 thing becomes a conceptual judgement. The technique of mind is to rest in
35343 this awareness of the present moment with a gentle watchman of mindfulness and
35345 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", foreword by
35346 the Dalai Lama, introduction by Lama Tashi Namgyal, published by Snow
35349 The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet. -- William Gibson
35351 Complete spiritual fulfillment requires the ability to act compassionately,
35352 and that involves making practical distinctions. Therefore, Tsong-kha-pa
35353 insists upon the clarifying power of analysis that is not ultimate, analysis
35354 that operates within the constraints and boundaries of conventional fact and
35355 language so as to illuminate what does and what does not exist, what is and
35356 what is not helpful.
35357 Not all useful analysis need immediately reduce everything to emptiness. In
35358 other words, we can learn valuable, practical things by analyzing which car is
35359 good to drive, which action is good to do, which seed is good to plant,
35360 without at each step interrogating the final ontological status of the car,
35362 ...A pervasive sense that things are real and solid and exist just as they
35363 appear is woven right into the fabric of the world as we experience it. While
35364 tables do exist, we have yet to see them just as they are. Our very
35365 perception of them--while a valid source of information--is at the same time
35366 contaminated with a layer of distortion. That distortion is the appearance of
35367 the table as something that is able to be there on its own power, something
35368 that exists in and of itself.
35369 Thus when we begin to see, or even to suspect, that things lack essence and
35370 are not at all as we had supposed, we may feel terrified, as though our world
35371 is coming apart at the seams or evaporating beneath our feet. We calm those
35372 fears by again remembering that it is not that there is nothing. There is
35373 dependent arising, just as there has always been. Analysis threatens nothing
35374 but the false overlay, the distorting superimposition, which has caused us and
35375 others so much misery. (p.43)
35376 -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
35377 Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion Pub.
35379 The play of this divine mind,
35380 The union of bliss, the supreme father, and emptiness,
35381 Is unlimited and thus beyond concept.
35382 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso
35384 Cultivate a state of mind focused on bliss and emptiness as forcefully as
35385 possible. The wisdom of bliss and emptiness is compared to space, which is
35386 non-obstructive and expansive. Because offerings are the manifestation of the
35387 wisdom of bliss and emptiness, these substances are called "offerings of
35388 Samantabhadra (All-Good)."
35389 Generally speaking, a bodhisattva named Samantabhadra is renowned for his
35390 elaborate offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. But here the term all-
35391 good (samantabhadra) refers most appropriately to the wisdom of bliss and
35392 emptiness. It is all-good from the viewpoint of emptiness and also from the
35393 viewpoint of bliss. This emptiness is the ultimate truth and also the
35394 ultimate virtue. And the wisdom of great bliss is the clear light wisdom:
35395 With a feeling of joy, imagine that offerings having such a nature pervade
35396 entire space. (p.64)
35397 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
35398 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
35401 The spiritual path is truly simple. It is simple because it is not about
35402 acquiring, accumulating, or achieving anything. It is all about giving up
35403 what we don't need. It's about giving up what isn't useful instead of
35404 acquiring things with the idea of going somewhere or achieving something.
35405 That was the old game. That game which we have been playing for a long time
35406 is like a vicious circle. It has no end.
35407 Sometimes the spiritual search itself prevents us from seeing the truth that
35408 is always one with us. We have to know when to stop the search. There are
35409 people who die while they are searching for the highest truth with
35410 philosophical formulas and esoteric techniques. For them spiritual practice
35411 becomes another egoic plot which simply maintains and feeds delusions.
35412 Amazing! Buddha, God, truth, the divine, the great mystery, whatever you have
35413 been searching for, is here right now. (p.37)
35414 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published
35415 by Snow Lion Publications
35417 Practice of the morality of individual liberation, whether lay or monastic,
35418 leads to contentment.... Examine your attitudes toward food, clothes, and
35419 shelter. By reducing expectations you will promote contentment. The extra
35420 energy which is released should be devoted to meditation and to achieving
35421 cessation of problems, corresponding to the fourth and third noble truths. In
35422 this way, contentment is the basis, and the resulting action is called "liking
35423 meditation and abandonment."
35424 We should be contented in material areas, for those are bound by limitation,
35425 but not with regard to the spiritual, which can be extended limitlessly.
35426 Though it is true that a discontented person who owned the whole world might
35427 want to own a tourist center on the moon, that person's life is limited, and
35428 even the amount that can be owned is limited. It is better right from the
35429 beginning to be contented.
35430 However, with regard to compassion and altruism there is no limit, and thus
35431 we should not be content with the degree that we have. We are just the
35432 opposite; in the spiritual field we are content with slight amounts of
35433 practice and progress, but materially we always want more and more. It should
35434 be the other way around. Everyone needs to practice this, whether lay or
35436 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
35437 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
35439 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
35440 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
35441 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
35442 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
35443 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
35444 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
35445 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
35446 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
35447 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
35448 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
35449 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
35450 ...Different kinds of food have different tastes: one may be very hot, one
35451 may be very sour, and one very sweet. They are opposite tastes, they
35452 conflict. But whether a dish is concocted to taste sweet, sour, or hot, it is
35453 nonetheless made in this way so as to taste good. Some people prefer very
35454 spicy, hot foods with a lot of chili peppers. Many Indians and Tibetans have
35455 a liking for such dishes. Others are very fond of bland tasting foods. It is
35456 a wonderful thing to have variety. It is an expression of individuality; it
35457 is a personal thing. Likewise, the variety of the different world religious
35458 philosophies is a very useful and beautiful thing. (p.13)
35459 -- "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists by the Dalai Lama", edited
35460 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
35462 The basic principles and precepts of all true religions are very pure. What
35463 you see as impure is simply the inability of those who adhere to them. So as
35464 Buddhists, for instance, if you fail to embrace and internalize the basic
35465 principles and precepts of the practice, then your mind is always going to be
35466 overrun by the five mental afflictions. These negative afflictions are
35467 desire, hatred, jealousy, pride, and ignorance. They are the basic obstacles
35468 which impede you from making any true progress on the path. It is, in fact,
35469 the function of the preliminary training to prepare the field of the mind so
35470 that you are actually able to put to rest the gross delusions and give rise to
35471 your innermost qualities. This allows you to actualize your true bodhicitta
35472 nature, the mind which cares about others more than self.
35473 Leaving aside the idea of the so-called spiritual path, or religion, if you
35474 are able to uproot these delusions, the stones and boulders, from the field of
35475 your mind, then you will become an honorable person, respected in the world,
35476 with an easier, flexible attitude toward yourself and others. If you are
35477 able, through your development of wisdom and skillful means, to unite the
35478 teachings with your life, then true results will be achieved. (p.96)
35479 -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
35480 trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
35482 What premises or grounds do we have for accepting that mental afflictions
35483 can be ultimately rooted out and eliminated from our mind? In Buddhist
35484 thought, we have three principal reasons for believing that this can happen.
35485 One is that all deluded states of mind, all afflictive emotions and thoughts,
35486 are essentially distorted in their mode of apprehension, whereas all the
35487 antidotal factors such as love, compassion, insight, and so on not only are
35488 undistorted, but they also have grounding in our varied experience and in
35490 Second, all these antidotal forces also have the quality of being
35491 strengthened through practice and training. Through constant familiarity, one
35492 can enhance their capacity and increase their potential limitlessly. So the
35493 second premise is that as one enhances the capacity of these antidotal forces
35494 and increases their strength, one is able to correspondingly reduce the
35495 influences and effects of delusory states of mind.
35496 The third premise is that the essential nature of mind is pure; in other
35497 words, there is the idea that the essential nature of mind is clear light or
35499 So it is on these three premises that Buddhism accepts that delusions, all
35500 afflictive emotions and thoughts, can be ultimately eliminated through
35501 practice and meditation. (p.38)
35502 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
35503 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
35504 by Snow Lion Publications
35506 As we become aware of the working of our mind, we'll find ourselves
35507 grappling with an inner trickster. Pay attention! The mind in which anger
35508 arises is also the mind that holds it, hides it, fans it, justifies it, or
35509 suppresses it. That's why this first step is crucial--before we can
35510 understand, befriend, tame, and transform our anger, we have to recognize it
35511 clearly and acknowledge it frankly. This is no small task.
35512 Self-awareness is a precondition for understanding and healing our anger.
35513 If we become aware of the workings of our mind we can discover the means by
35514 which we create our anger and the key to healing it. If we become aware that
35515 we are harboring irrational beliefs, ideas with false premises, mistaken
35516 assumptions or flawed logic, we can examine them and correct them. If we
35517 discover that we cherish ideas which are not in harmony with the realities of
35518 life and nature we can learn to relax into existence. If we find that we
35519 harbor desires, hopes, and expectations which cannot be achieved we have the
35520 option of letting them go.
35521 ...To develop awareness is to take a journey within--into the heart of our
35523 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
35524 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
35526 A kind heart is the essential cause of happiness. Being kind to others is
35527 the nicest thing we can do for ourselves. When we respect others and are
35528 considerate of their needs, opinions and wishes, hostility evaporates. It
35529 takes two people to fight, and if we refuse to be one of them, there is no
35531 ...A kind heart is the root of harmony and mutual respect. It prevents us
35532 from feeling estranged or fearful of others. It also protects us from
35533 becoming angry, attached, closed-minded, proud or jealous. When opportunities
35534 arise to help others we won't lack courage or compassion. If political
35535 leaders had impartial minds and kind hearts, how different our world would be!
35536 As all problems arise from the self-cherishing attitude, it would be wise
35537 for each of us, as individuals, to exert ourselves to subdue it. World peace
35538 doesn't come from winning a war, nor can it be legislated. Peace comes
35539 through each person eliminating his or her own selfishness and developing a
35540 kind heart...we can each do our part beginning today. The beneficial result
35541 in our own lives will immediately be evident. (p.76)
35542 -- Thubten Chodron, "Open Heart, Clear Mind", foreword by His Holiness
35543 the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
35545 In order to have strong consideration for others' happiness and welfare, it
35546 is necessary to have a special altruistic attitude in which you take upon
35547 yourself the burden of helping others. In order to generate such an unusual
35548 attitude, it is necessary to have great compassion, caring about the suffering
35549 of others and wanting to do something about it. In order to have such a
35550 strong force of compassion, first you must have a strong sense of love which,
35551 upon observing suffering sentient beings, wishes that they have happiness--
35552 finding a pleasantness in everyone and wishing happiness for everyone just as
35553 a mother does for her sole sweet child.
35554 In order to have a sense of closeness and dearness for others, you first
35555 train in acknowledging their kindness through using as a model a person in
35556 this lifetime who was very kind to yourself and then extending this sense of
35557 gratitude to all beings. Since, in general, in this life your mother was the
35558 closest and offered the most help, the process of meditation begins with
35559 recognizing all other sentient beings as like your mother. (p.44)
35560 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
35561 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
35562 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
35565 Most people feel cozy enough in samsara. They do not really have the
35566 genuine aspiration to go beyond samsara; they just want samsara to be a little
35567 bit better. It is quite interesting that "samsara" became the name of a
35568 perfume. And it is like that. It seduces us into thinking that it is okay:
35569 samsara is not so bad; it smells nice! The underlying motivation to go beyond
35570 samsara is very rare, even for people who go to Dharma centers. There are
35571 many people who learn to meditate and so forth, but with the underlying motive
35572 that they hope to make themselves feel better. And if it ends up making them
35573 feel worse, instead of realizing that this may be a good sign, they think
35574 there is something wrong with Dharma. We are always looking to make ourselves
35575 comfortable in the prison house. We might think that if we get the cell wall
35576 painted a pretty shade of pale green, and put in a few pictures, it won't be a
35578 ...There are two basic reasons we follow a spiritual path and look for
35579 liberation. One reason is that we want to be free. Let's take the
35580 traditional example of a burning house: your whole house is on fire, and you
35581 run out from it. But all your family--your partner, your children, your
35582 parents, even your pet dog--are all still inside. What are you going to do?
35583 You don't just say, "Well, I'm out. So too bad. Do your best to get out,
35584 too." Naturally this leads to the second basic reason for following a
35585 spiritual path: we will try to pull them out as well. (p.71)
35586 -- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, "Into the Heart of Life", foreword by H.H. the
35587 Gyalwang Drukpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
35589 "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form."
35591 We are empty, or rather the matter of which we are composed is empty. But I
35592 must emphasize that emptiness does not mean nothingness. Some commentators
35593 have been mistaken when they have accused Buddhism of being nihilistic. We
35594 believe that the world in which we live is part of a flux, a stream of events.
35595 This does not mean it is nothing. Everything depends on everything else.
35596 Nothing exists on its own. On account of all the influences that come to bear
35597 upon them, things appear, exist, and disappear, and then reappear again. But
35598 they never exist independently. Form is therefore empty, by which we mean it
35599 is not separate and independent. Form depends on a multitude of different
35600 factors. And emptiness is form because all forms emerge from emptiness, from
35601 this absence of independent existence. Emptiness exists only to give rise to
35603 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
35604 Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings".
35606 When we understand the empty nature of our own mind, then the consequences
35607 of merit and sin will not be realized. In the state of emptiness, there
35608 exists no objective merit or sin.
35609 ...The nature of the mind is like a mirror; merits and sins are like the
35610 reflections in this mirror; and reflections in no way affect or modify the
35611 nature of the mirror. When we are in a state of contemplation, we are living
35612 in the condition of the mirror. At the time when all phenomena are exhausted
35613 and pass into the nature of reality, then our virtuous and vicious deeds will
35614 cause no benefit or harm to us. There is no basis for effect--all
35615 limitations, all frames of reference, all solid ground having been eliminated.
35616 But if we do not understand the nature of the mind and intrinsic awareness
35617 through direct personal experience, it will be a very dangerous situation for
35619 Indeed, it is not sufficient merely to understand these teachings
35620 intellectually; one must first practice and attain realization from this
35621 practice. Otherwise the virtuous and the vicious acts we commit in this life
35622 will create and accumulate karma, leading us again inevitably into
35623 transmigration. From the present time until we realize the ultimate
35624 exhausting of all phenomena into the nature of reality, our behavior must be
35625 refined; it must be heedful and scrupulous. Otherwise our view is only so
35626 much empty intellectual talk. (p.66)
35627 -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
35628 commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu, published
35629 by Snow Lion Publications
35631 The attainment of shamata is a serenely stilled state of mind, settled on
35632 mind itself. Although the attainment of such a meditational state focused on
35633 mind is the foundation for developing the highest attainments and is, of
35634 course, very excellent, by itself it is insufficient for reaching those goals.
35635 When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
35636 absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
35637 increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
35638 we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
35639 the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
35640 that fulfills the definition of shamata.
35641 Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
35642 sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
35643 the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
35644 the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
35645 attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
35646 our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
35648 To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
35649 into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
35650 mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
35651 such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
35652 disturbing emotions and attitudes. (p.142)
35653 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
35654 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
35656 The Yolmo Valley has many different aspects that are beneficial to
35657 practitioners. Ian Baker writes:
35658 Chatral Rinpoche said that specific [places] in Yolmo are conducive to
35659 particular kinds of practice. Places with waterfalls inspire reflection on
35660 impermanence. Places with steep cliffs where the rocks are dark and jagged
35661 are good for meditating on wrathful deities. Places with rolling hills and
35662 flowering meadows support meditation on peaceful deities....
35663 Chatral Rinpoche clarified that the beyul [hidden lands] that Padmasambhava
35664 established in Tibet are not literal arcadias, but paradises for Buddhist
35665 practice, with multiple dimensions corresponding to increasingly subtle levels
35666 of perception. Beyond Yolmo's visible terrain of mountains, streams, and
35667 forests, he said, lies an inner level, corresponding to the flow of intangible
35668 energies in the physical body. Deeper still, the subtle elements animating
35669 the environment merge with the elements present within the practitioner--the
35671 Finally, at the beyul's innermost level--yangsang--lies a paradisiacal, or
35672 unitary dimension revealed through an auspicious conjunction of person, place,
35673 and time.... Chatral Rinpoche contended that yangsang is not merely a
35674 metaphor for the enlightened state, but an ever-present, if hidden, reality.
35676 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited and annotated by Zach
35677 Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
35679 Distinguishing between constructive and destructive emotions is right there
35680 to be observed in the moment when a destructive emotion arises--the calmness,
35681 the tranquillity, the balance of the mind are immediately disrupted. Other
35682 emotions do not destroy equilibrium or the sense of well-being as soon as they
35683 arise, but in fact enhance it--so they would be called constructive.
35684 Also there are emotions that are aroused by intelligence. For example,
35685 compassion can be aroused by pondering people who are suffering. When the
35686 compassion is actually experienced, it is true that the mind is somewhat
35687 disturbed, but that is more on the surface. Deep down there is a sense of
35688 confidence, and so on a deeper level there is no disturbance. A consequence
35689 of such compassion, aroused by intelligent reflection, is that the mind
35691 The consequences of anger--especially its long-term effects--are that the
35692 mind is disturbed. Typically, when compassion moves from simply being a
35693 mental state to behavior, it tends to manifest in ways that are of service to
35694 others, whereas when anger goes to the point of enactment it generally, of
35695 course, becomes destructive. Even if it doesn't manifest as violence, if you
35696 have the capacity to help, you would refrain from helping. That too would be
35697 a kind of destructive emotion. (p.158)
35698 -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?" A Scientific Dialogue
35699 with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman
35701 I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety
35702 of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic
35703 smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or
35704 suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a
35705 genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come.
35706 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
35708 Suffering is something very concrete, which everyone knows and wants to
35709 avoid if possible, and the Buddha therefore began his teaching by talking
35710 about it in his famous formulation of the Four Noble Truths.
35711 The first truth draws our attention to the fact that we suffer, pointing out
35712 the existence of the basic dissatisfaction inherent in our condition; the
35713 second truth explains the cause of dissatisfaction, which is the dualistic
35714 state and the unquenchable thirst (or desire) inherent in it: the subject
35715 reifies its objects and tries to grasp them by any means, and this thirst (or
35716 desire) in turn affirms and sustains the illusory existence of the subject as
35717 an entity separate from the integrated wholeness of the universe.
35718 The third truth teaches that suffering will cease if dualism is overcome and
35719 reintegration achieved, so that we no longer feel separate from the plenitude
35720 of the universe. Finally, the fourth truth explains that there is a Path that
35721 leads to the cessation of suffering, which is the one described by the rest of
35722 the Buddhist teachings.
35723 All the various traditions are agreed that this basic problem of suffering
35724 exists, but they have different methods of dealing with it to bring the
35725 individual back to the experience of primordial unity. (p.47)
35726 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra,
35727 and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
35729 To disciples of increasing purity, ability, and rarity the Buddha gave more
35730 private guidance in the subtle mysteries. It appears that such teachings are
35731 included in the Mahayana sutras. There is no certainty, however, that all of
35732 the tantras were taught while the historical Buddha was alive. To an
35733 extremely small number of pure disciples the Buddha could appear today. They
35734 could encounter Vajradhara, the King of the Tantras, and he could reveal
35735 tantras and quintessential guidance to them.
35736 This is possible even though more than twenty-five hundred years have gone
35737 by since the historical Buddha passed away. There is no possibility, after
35738 the Buddha's death, of additions being made to his public discourses. But I
35739 think that teachings to disciples of pure action do not necessarily have to be
35740 given during the historical Buddha's lifetime. (pg.44)
35741 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
35742 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
35745 Since the five perfections without wisdom
35746 Cannot bring perfect enlightenment,
35747 Along with skillful means cultivate the wisdom
35748 Which does not conceive the three spheres [as real]
35749 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
35750 -- Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo
35752 Practice of the five perfections without the understanding of reality
35753 remains contaminated, and though it may yield boundless happiness, it doesn't
35754 lead to omniscience. Love and compassion without the understanding of reality
35755 cannot help us to escape from worldly existence.
35756 On the other hand, we may easily remain trapped in a state of personal peace
35757 if we have understood reality but lack enough love and compassion. It is
35758 therefore the practice of Bodhisattvas to combine the two--skillful means and
35759 wisdom. Which of us can say we don't want to possess knowledge, kindness and
35760 pure conduct? Our text is a manual of instruction on how to gain these
35761 qualities and become a fully developed human being. (p.70)
35762 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
35763 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
35765 "The Buddhas have already achieved all their own goals, but remain in the
35766 cycle of existence for as long as there are sentient beings. This is because
35767 they possess great compassion. They also do not enter the immensely blissful
35768 abode of nirvana like the Hearers. Considering the interests of sentient
35769 beings first, they abandon the peaceful abode of nirvana as if it were a
35770 burning iron house. Therefore, great compassion alone is the unavoidable
35771 cause of the non-abiding nirvana of the Buddha."
35774 Compassion's importance cannot be overemphasized. Chandrakirti paid rich
35775 tribute to compassion, saying that it was essential in the initial,
35776 intermediate, and final stages of the path to enlightenment.
35777 Initially, the awakening mind of bodhichitta is generated with compassion as
35778 the root, or basis. Practice of the six perfections and so forth is essential
35779 if a Bodhisattva is to attain the final goal.
35780 In the intermediate stage, compassion is equally relevant. Even after
35781 enlightenment, it is compassion that induces the Buddhas not to abide in the
35782 blissful state of complacent nirvana. It is the motivating force enabling the
35783 Buddhas to enter non-abiding nirvana and actualize the Truth Body, which
35784 represents fulfillment of your own purpose, and the Form Body, which
35785 represents fulfillment of the needs of others. Thus, by the power of
35786 compassion, Buddhas serve the interests of sentient beings without
35787 interruption for as long as space exists. This shows that the awakening mind
35788 of bodhichitta remains crucial even after achieving the final destination.
35790 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, root text by Kamalashila, "Stages of Meditation",
35791 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
35792 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
35794 [During sleep and waking states] there are physiological processes that
35795 correspond to different mental states, and these are associated with
35796 subjectively experienced energies in the body.
35797 In the waking state, these energies tend to be drawn into a locus in the
35798 center of the head, at the level of the forehead. In the dreaming stage,
35799 these energies will be even more drawn to a point in the throat. In the deep
35800 sleep state, these energies are more drawn into the heart. The location is
35801 not the physical heart, the organ, but the heart center which is right in the
35802 center of the chest.
35803 Certain events are experienced in meditation that seem to corroborate this
35804 theory. For example, in meditation, it is possible to bring your awareness
35805 into the heart cakra, and sometimes when this happens, the person will faint.
35806 On other occasions, the meditative awareness, finely concentrated, may be
35807 brought into the area of the navel. And at this juncture, it has been found
35808 experientially that heat is produced by such concentration. If you look at
35809 the anatomy of the body, you don't find these cakra points. (p.106)
35810 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
35811 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
35812 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Pub.
35814 When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular experiences
35815 that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought.
35816 The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
35817 happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
35818 suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
35819 body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
35820 use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
35821 that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
35822 last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
35823 experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
35824 inside you remain very joyful.
35825 The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
35826 meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
35827 Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
35828 Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
35829 kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
35830 read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
35831 The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
35832 distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
35833 than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
35834 suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
35835 ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
35836 you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
35837 distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
35839 Bliss, clarity, and nonthought are the main qualities of concentration.
35840 However, it is important not to be attached to them or concerned about whether
35841 they arise or not; one should simply continue to practice. (p.29)
35842 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
35843 "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
35844 Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
35846 The Buddha's teachings can be divided into two main categories: the
35847 scriptures and realization. A verse states:
35849 The teachings of the Teacher have two aspects:
35850 Scripture and realization presented as they truly are.
35851 There is nothing else to do but
35852 Sustain them, speak of them, and practice them.
35854 When we practice listening, reflecting, and meditating, the teachings will
35855 free us from the heavy darkness of suffering. They are like a never-setting
35856 sun whose luminous rays reach to the farthest corners of this world. Among
35857 the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha are those found in Tibet that
35858 maintain the unity of the sutra and mantra traditions. These teachings are
35859 like a tree trunk with numerous branches: a variety of lamas hold lineages
35860 within diverse traditions.
35861 ...In showing how to cut through the delusion of duality, these teachings
35862 open up to every living being the possibility of attaining true mastery over
35863 the immense and profound gates to the eighty-four thousand teachings. They
35864 are precious because they make nonconceptual wisdom manifest and bring forth
35865 the amrita of all-pervading emptiness. Like placing a perfect fruit in the
35866 palm of our hand, these teachings bring about two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom
35867 that sees the multitude of all phenomena distinctly and the wisdom that sees
35868 clearly into their nature.
35869 Relying on an appropriate path allows the fruition of practice to manifest.
35870 This result is possible because buddha nature is found in the mindstream of
35871 all living beings. (p.160)
35872 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
35873 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
35875 All is neither real nor delusive--
35876 Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon on water by the learned.
35877 Just this ordinary mind
35878 Is called "dharmadhatu" and "Heart of the victors."
35879 --Venerable Rangjung Dorje
35881 ...Thus, seeming reality consists of the adventitious stains that are like
35882 [mistakenly seeing] a [white] conch as being yellow. Ultimate reality is the
35883 tathagata heart, which is like the [natural] white of the conch. Except for
35884 the mere appearances from the perspective of a mistaken [perceiving] subject,
35885 within the object--the conch--there is nothing white or yellow to be added or
35886 to be removed. Therefore, the pith instruction is to rest naturally and
35888 In brief, what are called "samsara" and "nirvana" are set up from the point
35889 of view of mere seeming appearances, while the nature of both--luminosity free
35890 from reference points--is called tathagata heart. Consequently, in terms of
35891 the definitive meaning, mere appearances and their nature cannot be separated,
35892 just like fire and its heat. For this reason, the mother [sutras] say:
35893 "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is nothing other than
35894 form. Form is nothing other than emptiness." (p.165)
35895 -- "Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
35896 Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition", Volume One
35897 translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, a Tsadra Foundation Series book,
35898 published by Snow Lion Publications
35900 In the Mahayana 'cause and effect' refer to totally supreme emptiness and
35901 supreme immutable bliss. The Brief Explication of Initiations (Shekhoddesha)
35902 [included in the Kalachakra cycle] says:
35904 That bearing the form of emptiness is the cause,
35905 That bearing immutable compassion is the effect.
35906 Emptiness and compassion indivisible
35907 Are called the mind of enlightenment.
35909 The indivisibility of these two is a Cause Vehicle in the sense of being the
35910 means by which one progresses, and it is an Effect Vehicle in the sense of
35911 being that to which one is progressing. Such a Vajra Vehicle has reference to
35912 Highest Yoga Tantra and cannot occur in the lower tantras. For the supreme
35913 immutable bliss can only arise when one has attained the branch of meditative
35914 stabilisation (in the system of the Kalachakra) and thus the branches of
35915 mindfulness and those below must be the means of achieving it. The three
35916 lower tantras do not have all the factors that are included in these causal
35918 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
35919 published by Snow Lion Publications
35921 ...one of the things you can learn from history is that men have learned
35922 to live with machinery at least as well as, and probably a good deal better
35923 than, they have learned to live with one another.
35924 -- E. E. Morison, from "Computers and the World of the Future"
35926 Everything is perfect in the universe--even your desire to improve it.
35931 I encourage you to conduct your own research on the results of practicing in
35932 various environments. Tibetan yogis are especially attracted to places with
35933 an enormous amount of open space and distant vistas. I have greatly enjoyed
35934 meditating in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada range, where the
35935 views extend to peaks sixty miles away. The ability to direct the attention
35936 to such distant points gives a very expansive feeling to the intervening
35938 In such a spacious environment, allow your awareness to come out, with your
35939 eyes open and your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you. The
35940 experience in a vast space is very different from that in a tiny room. Gazing
35941 up at a clear night sky studded with stars is a wonderful way to experience
35942 the sheer enormity of space.
35943 It is important to distinguish between the contents of a space and the space
35944 itself. Colors and shapes constitute the contents of visual space. These are
35945 aspects or representations of ordinary phenomena in the visual field.
35946 Attending to the space of the mind means attending to that space from which
35947 all such contents emerge, in which they are present, and into which they
35948 dissolve; it is the space that lingers in between discrete events. (p.220)
35949 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness",
35950 published by Snow Lion Publications
35952 "Through analytical meditation, you come to a point of clarity and decisive
35953 insight, and at this point it is beneficial to abide in that revelation. Your
35954 insight will grow gradually like a sprout. Simply be present and settle your
35955 mind in the absolute nature of reality. Remain in a state of meditative
35956 equipoise, and do not think of this as a waste of your time. If you think you
35957 should rather be actively engaged in such practices as circumambulations or
35958 the stage of generation, it is the time for you to be simply present in
35959 meditative equipoise. But do not just sit and space out."
35962 In some scholarly discursive meditations in the sutra tradition, one
35963 continually seeks out the mind, and there is a tradition in which
35964 investigation is needed. Here, in the tradition of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, it
35965 is enough to seek and investigate during this phase of Dharma practice, but
35966 afterwards it is not necessary to continue the search. In the Katok
35967 tradition, the investigation of the mind is said to takes months, for one
35968 examines for three days each of the points of the mind's color and shape as
35969 well as the exterior and the interior of the body. Our tradition does not
35970 take so long, so it is important for you to seek out the mind without even a
35971 moment's distraction. (p.100)
35972 -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
35973 Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans. by B.
35974 Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
35976 When the root of duality--dualistic clinging, dualistic perceptions, deluded
35977 perceptions--is severed, all the leaves, the branches, and even the tree trunk
35978 of samsara and nirvana naturally wither on their own and topple in their own
35979 time. Then this great spreading tree of samsara and nirvana, of duality, of
35980 worldliness, of conditioned being, does not need to be chopped down: it is
35981 already as if dead. We can relax; done is what had to be done, as the Buddha
35983 This is the whole point of the Dharma, of spiritual awakening, of
35984 Buddhahood; this is its ultimate evolution or unfolding. If we aspire to
35985 experience such an awakening, there is nothing else to do except recognize the
35986 true nature of our primordial awareness, our own essential being, our own
35987 birthright, which is within. This is the intrinsic nature of our own heart-
35988 mind, also known as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind. It is our own being, our own
35989 nature, this renowned buddha-nature. It is not a Buddha anywhere else. (p.103)
35990 -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
35991 Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
35993 A common [Tibetan Buddhist] motif is the "Wheel of Life," symbolizing the
35994 workings of cyclic existence. This is frequently found at the doorway to a
35995 main assembly hall and serves to remind the inhabitants of the dangers of
35996 mundane existence. This striking image has a large central circle divided
35997 into two halves. The top half has three sections, representing the three
35998 "happy transmigrations"--humans, demi-gods, and gods. The lower half also has
35999 three sections, indicative of the three bad transmigrations--animals, hungry
36000 ghosts, and hell beings. A pigeon symbolizes the mental affliction of desire,
36001 a snake represents hatred, and a pig--symbol of ignorance--holds the tails of
36002 the first two in its mouth. These three afflictions are the primary factors
36003 that bind people to cyclic existence, causing them to transmigrate helplessly
36004 from birth to birth.
36005 The theme of cause and effect is further illustrated by twelve sections
36006 around the rim of the wheel, symbolizing the twelve links of dependent arising
36007 (a summary of the process of transmigration). The whole wheel is held in the
36008 jaws of the Lord of Death, indicating that death is inevitable for those who
36009 are caught up in this cycle. Outside of the wheel are buddhas and
36010 bodhisattvas, often shown teaching the dharma, which provides an avenue of
36011 escape for those who are perceptive enough to recognize this and follow their
36012 instructions. (p.239)
36013 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
36016 Is Anger Beneficial?
36018 We generally consider something beneficial if it promotes happiness. But
36019 when we ask ourselves, "Am I happy when I'm angry?" the answer is undoubtedly
36020 no. We may feel a surge of physical energy due to physiological reasons, but
36021 emotionally we feel miserable. Thus, from our own experience, we can see that
36022 anger does not promote happiness.
36023 In addition, we don't communicate well when we're angry. We may speak
36024 loudly as if the other person were hard of hearing or repeat what we say as if
36025 he had a bad memory, but this is not communication. Good communication
36026 involves expressing ourselves in a way that the other person understands. It
36027 is not simply dumping our feelings on the other. Good communication also
36028 includes expressing our feelings and thoughts with words, gestures, and
36029 examples that make sense to the other person. Under the sway of anger,
36030 however, we neither express ourselves as calmly nor think as clearly as usual.
36031 Under the influence of anger, we also say and do things that we later
36032 regret. Years of trust built with great effort can be quickly damaged by a
36033 few moments of uncontrolled anger.... If we could tame our anger, such
36034 painful consequences could be avoided.(p.23)
36035 -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Pub.
36037 Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
36038 various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
36039 have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
36040 which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
36041 consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
36043 If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
36044 to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
36045 regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
36046 their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
36047 love and compassion. (p.52)
36048 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
36049 Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
36051 On top of the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death, we encounter
36052 the pains of facing the unpleasant, separating from the pleasant, and not
36053 finding what we want. The basic problem lies with the type of mind and body
36054 that we have. Our mind-body complex serves as a basis for present sufferings
36055 in the form of aging, sickness, and death, and promotes future suffering
36056 through our usual responses to painful situations.
36057 By reflecting on birth and on the nature of mind and body, you will be moved
36058 from the depths of your heart to seek relief, thinking, "If I could only be
36059 free from a life driven by afflictive emotions and karma!" Without such
36060 reflection on pain, your knowledge of your own condition will be limited,
36061 which itself will put a limit on your compassion. As Tsonghkapa says:
36062 "If you do not cultivate a genuine sense of disenchantment with cyclic
36063 existence--whose nature is a mind-body complex under the sway of afflictive
36064 emotions and karma--you will have no chance to develop a genuine attitude
36065 intent on liberation, and there will be no way to develop great compassion for
36066 beings wandering in cyclic existence. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on
36067 your situation." (p.151)
36068 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Becoming Enlightened", trans. and ed. by
36069 Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD
36071 When I was a young boy, Tantra was just a matter of blind faith. At age
36072 twenty-four I lost my own country, and then after coming to India started
36073 really reading Tsongkhapa's explanations on emptiness. Then, after moving to
36074 Dharamsala, I put more effort into the study and practice of the stages of the
36075 path, emptiness, and Tantra. So it was only in my late twenties after gaining
36076 some experience of emptiness that deity yoga made sense.
36077 One time in the main temple in Dharamsala I was performing the ritual of
36078 imagining myself as a deity of Highest Yoga Tantra, called Guhyasamaja. My
36079 mind continuously remained on the recitation of the ritual text, and when the
36080 words "I myself" came, I completely forgot about my usual self in relation to
36081 my combination of mind and body: Instead, I had a very clear sense of "I" in
36082 relation to the new, pure combination of mind and body of Guhyasamaja that I
36083 was imagining. Since this is the type of self-identification that is at the
36084 heart of Tantric yoga, the experience confirmed for me that with enough time I
36085 could definitely achieve the extraordinary, deep states mentioned in the
36086 scriptures. (p.188)
36087 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36088 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36090 In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which
36091 are sequential--an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an
36092 understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and
36093 an understanding acquired through meditative experience.
36094 There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis of
36095 study and learning--which is the first level--we deepen our understanding of a
36096 given topic by constantly reflecting upon it until we arrive at a point where
36097 we gain a high degree of certainty or conviction that is firmly grounded in
36098 reason. At this point, even if others were to contradict our understanding
36099 and the premises upon which it is based we would not be swayed, because our
36100 conviction in the truth has arisen through the power of our own critical
36101 reflection. This is the second level of understanding which, however, is
36102 still at the level of the intellect.
36103 If we pursue this understanding further and deepen it through constant
36104 contemplation and familiarity with the truth, we reach a point where we feel
36105 the impact at the emotional level. In other words, our conviction is no
36106 longer at the level of mere intellect. This is the third level of
36107 understanding, which is experiential, and this is referred to in the Buddhist
36108 texts as an understanding derived through meditative experience.... You will
36109 need to deepen your understanding still further by engaging in regular
36110 meditation so that you can progress to the third level of understanding.
36111 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
36112 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
36114 Shortly after attaining enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the Buddha gave
36115 a sermon in Varanasi sharing the fruits of his realization. This sermon is
36116 referred to as the "first turning of the wheel of Dharma." The word Dharma
36117 here refers to the Buddha's teachings themselves. It was this sermon in which
36118 the Buddha developed what would become the framework for the entirety of his
36119 teachings: the four noble truths.
36120 These four truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of its origin, the
36121 truth of the possibility of its cessation, and the truth of the path that
36122 leads to that cessation. In essence, the four noble truths say that we all
36123 naturally desire happiness and do not wish to suffer--and that the suffering
36124 we wish to avoid comes about as a result of a chain of causes and conditions
36125 begun even before our birth. If we are to pursue our aspiration to gain
36126 freedom from suffering, we need to clearly understand the causes and
36127 conditions that give rise to suffering and strive to eliminate them.
36128 Additionally, we must clearly understand the causes and conditions that give
36129 rise to happiness as well, and actively practice them. This is the essence of
36130 the four noble truths.
36131 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's
36132 Heart of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
36134 In Dzogchen, while thoughts are active, rigpa permeates them all, so that
36135 even at the very moment when powerful thoughts like attachment and aversion
36136 are arising, there remains a pervasive quality of clear light rigpa.
36137 Dodrupchen says, "in Dzogchen, since the clear light's natural way of being is
36138 like the sun and its rays, inseparable, if you are able, through this, to
36139 bring out the radiance of genuine mind, you will be able to maintain the
36140 experience of clear light in meditation, without it fluctuating, or coming and
36142 Longchen Rabjam speaks of self-arising wisdom, which is in fact rigpa:
36143 "Self-arising wisdom is rigpa that is empty, clear and free from all
36144 elaboration, like an immaculate sphere of crystal. Its very being is such
36145 that it never explores objects of the senses."
36146 This "self-arising wisdom" is rigpa, which in essence is primordially pure.
36147 Longchenpa describes it as "empty and clear". To call it empty is to refer to
36148 its essence, primordially pure. To call it clear is to speak of its nature,
36149 spontaneously present. As such, it is "free from all elaboration", and free
36150 from the elaborations of adventitious phenomena. So it is like a flawless
36151 crystal sphere, and truly "its very being is such that it never explores
36152 objects of the senses". (p.180-5)
36153 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
36155 There is an Indian saying: if you are struck by a poisonous arrow, it is
36156 important first to pull it out, there is no time to ask who shot it, what sort
36157 of poison it is and so on. First handle the immediate problem, and later we
36158 can investigate. Similarly, when we encounter human suffering, it is
36159 important to respond with compassion rather than question the politics of
36160 those we help. Instead of asking whether their country is enemy or friend, we
36161 must think, "These are human beings, they are suffering, and they have a right
36162 to happiness equal to our own."
36163 Our attitude towards suffering is very important because it can affect how
36164 we cope with it when it arises. Our usual attitude consists of an intense
36165 aversion and intolerance of our own pain and suffering. However, if we can
36166 transform our attitude, adopt an attitude that allows us greater tolerance of
36167 it, this can do much to help counteract feelings of mental unhappiness,
36168 dissatisfaction and discontent. (p.92)
36169 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
36172 Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
36173 various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
36174 have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
36175 which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
36176 consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
36178 If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
36179 to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
36180 regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
36181 their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
36182 love and compassion. (p.52)
36183 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
36184 Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
36186 If you are totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
36187 lifetime, there is a great danger of causing your own downfall. If by such
36188 concern you were able to achieve the desired happiness, that is okay, but this
36190 We all let ourselves be caught in this web of preoccupation with the
36191 activities and confusion of this lifetime. Having too much worldly
36192 involvement ends in confusion. We spend our whole lives thinking that this
36193 might be better than that, I should do this, or perhaps something else is
36194 better and I should do that. If you reflect upon the underlying
36195 dissatisfaction, then you will be able to find that, well, after all, whatever
36196 they might be, the affairs of this lifetime are not that important, because
36197 they yield a limited benefit. This does not mean that you should not work for
36198 your own livelihood, but it does indicate that you should not be preoccupied
36199 with that alone. (p.107)
36200 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
36201 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
36203 Do you understand who the enemy is? You do not need to beat anyone up, and
36204 you do not need a weapon to kill your enemy. You do not need money to buy a
36205 weapon. It is all very easy.
36206 How is liberation accomplished? The offering of liberation is accomplished
36207 by abandoning the dualistic mind of discursive thoughts. The sharp weapon of
36208 primordial wisdom, which completely annihilates the dualistic mind, is the
36209 means for achieving this separation. This "weapon" has been part of your
36210 continuum for a long time now. With this weapon you can completely devastate
36211 the dualistic mind, leaving not even a trace behind, thus liberating the mind
36212 into the sphere of unborn truth. The enemy will never return. This is called
36214 I must emphasize that primordial wisdom is not something you can buy, get
36215 from your best friend or have handed to you by a buddha in heaven. It is not
36216 something that someone else has but you do not. Abandon such concepts.
36217 Primordial wisdom does not come from an external source. It is simply your
36218 true nature. It is something that you and everyone else have as the very
36219 essence of your mind.
36220 You should know what your qualities and capabilities are. (p.79)
36221 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
36222 by Snow Lion Publications
36224 With regard to ordinary study, except for the fact that there is a limit to
36225 our lifetime, it is not that you arrive at a point where there is no more room
36226 in your brain. No matter how much you study, even if you study a hundred
36227 thousand million words, the mind can still retain them. This indicates that
36228 the basis of these qualities, consciousness, is stable and continuous.
36229 The other day, I made a joke to someone who was asking about the brain. I
36230 said that if, like a computer, you needed a cell for each moment of memory,
36231 then as you become more and more educated, your head would have to get bigger
36233 Because of these reasons--that compassion, wisdom, and so forth are
36234 qualities that depend on the mind, and the mind is stable and continuous--they
36235 can be developed to a limitless degree.
36236 It is from this point of view that it is said that the conception of
36237 inherent existence can be extinguished. When one removes the conception of
36238 inherent existence, one thereby also ceases the afflictive emotions generated
36239 in dependence upon that ignorance. Also, since the ignorance that drives
36240 contaminated actions has ceased, this class of actions ceases. Once the
36241 motivator of the action and the actions cease, the results of those actions
36242 will cease. That is how the third noble truth--true cessation--comes to be.
36244 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at
36245 Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and
36246 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
36248 "Accumulating merit" can be approached from a psychological perspective that
36249 lends itself to experiential verification or from a spiritual dimension that
36250 requires some faith. "Merit" can be understood as "spiritual power" that
36251 manifests in day-to-day experience. When merit, or spiritual power, is
36252 strong, there is little resistance to practicing Dharma and practice itself is
36254 Tibetans explain that people who make rapid progress in Dharma, gaining one
36255 insight after another, enter practice already having a lot of merit. By the
36256 same theory, it is possible to strive diligently and make little progress.
36257 Tibetans explain this problem as being due to too little merit. Merit is the
36258 fuel that empowers spiritual practice.
36259 How do you accumulate merit? Engaging in virtue of any sort, with your
36260 mind, your speech, or your body results in merit. Just as merit can be
36261 accumulated, it can also be dissipated by doing harm. In general, mental
36262 afflictions dissipate merit. The mental affliction that is like a black hole
36263 sucking up merit, worse than all the others, is anger. Attachment or sensual
36264 craving can get you in a lot of trouble, but it doesn't have the debilitating
36265 impact upon spiritual practice that anger does. Remember the warrior
36266 metaphor--standing at the gateway of the mind, vigilant, spear ready. The
36267 spear is for mental afflictions, especially anger. Nip anger in the bud. (p.208)
36268 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind
36269 Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
36271 It is necessary to alternate stabilising meditation and analytical
36272 meditation... by merely cultivating non-conceptuality and non-analysis it is
36273 impossible to enter into the yoga of signlessness.
36274 Even after emptiness has been realised, powerful and repeated analysis is
36275 needed. Merely to set one's mind on the meaning of emptiness is the mode of
36276 cultivating calm abiding observing emptiness; in order to cultivate special
36277 insight it is necessary to analyse again and again. These two modes of
36278 meditation--stabilising and analytical--are alternated until analysis itself
36279 induces even greater stablisation, at which point stabilisation and wisdom are
36280 of equal strength, this being a union of calm abiding and special insight.
36281 In Performance as well as in Action Tantra the meditative stabilisation
36282 which is a union of calm abiding and special insight is used to gain feats for
36283 the sake of aiding sentient beings and accumulating merit quickly. (p.42)
36284 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
36285 Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
36287 Seeking a Place of Refuge.
36289 A spiritual aspirant requires a model, something he or she can look up to as
36290 an ideal and thus find guidance and inspiration. In Buddhism this is the
36291 Triple Gem, or the Three Jewels of Refuge: the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha.
36292 When we think of the fully enlightened Buddhas--the beings who have purified
36293 their minds of all stains and obscurations and who have expanded their wisdom
36294 to the limits of existence--we feel very attracted and awed; but somehow there
36295 always seems to be a great distance between the Buddhas and us. Therefore,
36296 there is the refuge of Sangha, the community of spiritual aspirants, the
36297 assembly of practitioners dwelling in the various stages of practice and
36299 These beings provide us with a perspective on the path. We have to look up
36300 to the Sangha, but not as far as to the Buddhas. The Sangha make us think,
36301 "This person is not that far ahead of me. If I just make a bit more
36302 effort...." They give us confidence for spiritual practice. Sometimes they
36303 make us feel like we can even race them to enlightenment. These are the
36304 Sangha of spiritual friends.
36305 Thoughts of the Buddhas make us numb with admiration; thoughts of the Sangha
36306 cause us to jump to it and to apply ourselves with zeal to the spiritual path.
36307 This path and the methods for traversing it are the third Jewel of Refuge, the
36308 Dharma. This is the collection of teachings to be practiced and the
36309 realizations to be attained. (p.97)
36310 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
36311 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
36313 Suppose there is this religious group building thousands of childcare
36314 facilities and hospices.... Although these religious workers are doing a lot
36315 of caring work, there is no wish to enlighten sentient beings. Their aim is
36316 just to provide food and education. At the same time, imagine there is one
36317 hermit living somewhere in the mountains of the Himalayas who is doing none of
36318 this. In fact, within close range of him, there are a lot of babies dying,
36319 yet outwardly he is doing nothing about it. Inwardly, however, he is actually
36320 meditating, "May all sentient beings be enlightened!" and he continues to do
36321 this every day. Purely because of the enlightenment aspect, this person is
36322 worthier of homage than the first group. Why? Because it is so difficult to
36323 truly and genuinely wish for the enlightenment of others. It is much easier
36324 to give people food and educate them.
36325 Most of us don't really appreciate this fact. We have never before
36326 genuinely wished for someone else to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, if
36327 someone were to come over and say to us: "Here you go, you have a ticket for
36328 enlightenment. There is only one ticket." I don't think we would even think
36329 about giving it to someone else! We'd grab it and go for it. Enlightenment
36330 is such a valuable thing.
36331 Actually, enlightenment is much too large a subject, so let's not take that
36332 as an example. Instead, let's say someone comes along with a potion that
36333 promises you clairvoyance or omniscience. We would drink it ourselves, not
36334 even sharing half of it with others!
36335 Just think how often we are jealous when someone is a better practitioner.
36336 How often do we get jealous when someone receives a better or a higher
36337 teaching than we do? If you have genuine bodhichitta, you should be happy,
36338 shouldn't you? After all, isn't that what you wished for? Their getting
36339 enlightenment means your wish is at last coming true. Their receiving higher
36340 teachings, or becoming better practitioners, means that your aspiration is
36341 finally being fulfilled! But we don't feel this way, instead we feel jealous
36342 or envious. Some of us may be so-so Dharma practitioners, so we don't really
36343 feel jealous or envious, but we still feel left behind. Who cares? If you
36344 are a genuine bodhisattva, you shouldn't care about these things. (p.123)
36345 -- "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary
36346 Practices", compiled, translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl,
36347 published by Snow Lion Publications
36349 It is very difficult to help somebody overcome his or her problems when the
36350 problems are unstructured, when in a certain way this person does not have any
36351 problems, though deep inside all the problems are there. It is very difficult
36352 for a human being whose problem is confused, whose ego is ill-defined and
36353 without foundation, to really purify, clarify, and develop anything.
36354 The same principle applies to praying. As long as we have our self, our
36355 ego, we pray to the Buddha: "Please bless me so that my prayers for the
36356 benefit of all sentient beings be fulfilled." Otherwise our prayer does not
36357 follow any line or direction. It would be like going to a big five-star hotel
36358 with five hundred rooms and not knowing your room number, or taking an
36359 elevator without knowing which floor to go to--this would be a big problem.
36360 This is the reason for calling upon the great compassion of the Buddha and
36361 asking him to consider our prayers. The reason is not that the Buddha only
36362 listens to someone who prays to him; rather, without praying to the Buddha we
36363 are not developed enough to have the condition necessary to receive his
36364 blessing. Rain might be falling for ten thousand years, yet if our cup is
36365 upside down it will remain empty. Through praying we open up, we turn our cup
36366 to let the water get inside. (p.48)
36367 -- XII Khentin Tai Situpa Rinpoche, "The Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer",
36368 translated and edited by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Pub
36370 Catproof is an oxymoron, childproof nearly so. -- unknown
36372 In Tibetan there is no word for "emotion."
36373 Bearing in mind that the fundamental goal of Buddhist practice is the
36374 achievement of nirvana, when you study the mind what you're really concerned
36375 with is what specific mental states impede the accomplishment of that end.
36376 That's what the six primary states and twenty derivative states (the
36377 unwholesome mental factors) all have in common. Some are emotions and some
36378 are not, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is they all share
36379 that common factor of being impediments.
36380 In contrast, modern psychology does not have the aim of nirvana. My
36381 conjecture, in terms of trying to understand why the West places such a strong
36382 emphasis on identifying emotion, is that, going back to the Enlightenment,
36383 even as far back as Aquinas, there is an enormous priority placed on reason
36384 and intelligence. What can impede reason? Emotion.
36385 You have two categories that are set in opposition to each other. The fact
36386 that there is a specific term for emotion in Western thought does not
36387 necessarily imply that there was a special emphasis placed on understanding
36388 the nature of emotion. Perhaps initially the motive for labeling something as
36389 emotion was to enhance reason by identifying something that is unreasonable,
36390 something that is irrational. (p.159)
36391 -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? A Scientific Dialogue
36392 with the Dalai Lama", narrated by Daniel Goleman, foreword by the Dalai
36395 The solution of this problem is trivial and is left as an exercise for the reader.
36396 -- Standard textbook cookie
36399 Your Holiness and other teachers tell us to be sincerely joyful about
36400 others' worldly achievements, happiness, and acquisitions. But if we know
36401 with certainty that a person has acquired or achieved something through
36402 unskillful or non-virtuous means, such as lying, stealing, cheating, harming,
36403 in what manner should that happiness for them be experienced and expressed?
36406 One's attitude toward superficial successes that are achieved through wrong
36407 means of livelihood such as lying, stealing, cheating, and so on, should not
36408 be the same as for achievements and happiness which are genuine. However,
36409 here you must bear in mind that if you examine this carefully, you will find
36410 that although the immediate circumstances that gave rise to a person's joy and
36411 happiness may be a wrong means of livelihood, that is merely the immediate
36412 circumstance: the actual cause of that happiness is the individual's merit in
36414 So one has to see the difference between immediate circumstances and long-
36415 term causes. One of the characteristics of karmic theory is that there is a
36416 definite, commensurate relationship between cause and effect. There is no way
36417 that negative actions or unwholesome deeds can result in joy and happiness.
36418 Joy and happiness, by definition, are the results or fruits of wholesome
36419 actions. So, from that point of view, it is possible for us to admire not so
36420 much the immediate action, but the real causes of joy. (p.119)
36421 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
36422 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
36423 Snow Lion Publications
36425 At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself,
36426 while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example
36427 of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddha).
36428 Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly
36429 practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead,
36430 be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may
36432 In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one,
36433 and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be
36434 ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.
36435 Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever
36436 wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death,
36437 practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling
36438 faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty
36439 will have no regrets. When realization's clear light becomes continuous day
36440 and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the
36441 enclosure of the body.
36442 If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be
36443 liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for
36444 death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send
36445 your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the
36446 remaining paths and stages to become enlightened. (p.58)
36447 -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by Ron Garry,
36448 a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
36450 There are many different forms of bodywork that can purify and heal in the
36451 context of preparing for tantric practice. Trauma held in the body from early
36452 experiences is cleared only when we are able to work therapeutically in the
36453 body. Whether it is body-centered therapy or the various practices of
36454 acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, and so on, if the practice releases and
36455 transforms trauma, then it is beneficial as a preliminary to any further
36456 tantric practice. I often suggest to people I teach that they follow some
36457 form of body-energy healing in order to further their release of trauma.
36458 Also, after trauma has been released, it is often extremely useful to then
36459 explore some form of psychotherapy.
36460 We should not assume that the traditional practices will do it all for us.
36461 It is simply idealistic and naive to think that all our ills can be resolved
36462 by doing the traditional preliminary practices or, indeed, by classical
36463 "dharma practice" alone. We should consider a healthy body-mind-life
36464 relationship as a necessary part of our practice. When we get this balance
36465 right, we create the basis for a sound dharma practice.
36466 The practice of tantra in particular needs this healthy, balanced basis
36467 because when we work with tantric practices, we stimulate processes in the
36468 body that are often very powerful. If we have a sound base for practice and
36469 have a level of emotional and energetic maturity, then the effects of tantra
36470 can be held and grounded without creating the potential for problems to arise.
36471 Without a sound relationship to the body, the practice of tantra has no real
36472 base from which to unfold.(p.53)
36473 -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground
36474 for Practice", published by Snow Lion Publications
36476 During a visit to America, Winston Churchill was invited to a buffet luncheon
36477 at which cold fried chicken was served. Returning for a second helping, he
36478 asked politely, "May I have some breast?" "Mr. Churchill," replied the
36479 hostess, "in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat." Churchill
36480 apologized profusely. The following morning, the lady received a magnificent
36481 orchid from her guest of honor. The accompanying card read: "I would be most
36482 obliged if you would pin this on your white meat."
36486 What are the methods for causing one's own mind to become the practices?
36487 Initially, one should take refuge and think about actions and their effects.
36488 The refuge is the Three Jewels: Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual
36491 [Buddha] When a sentient being purifies the taints of his own mind as well
36492 as their latent predispositions, he is free of all defects that act as
36493 obstructions. Thus, he simultaneously and directly knows all phenomena. Such
36494 a being is called a Buddha, and he is a teacher of refuge, like a physician.
36496 [Dharma] The Doctrine jewel is the superior paths--the chief right paths
36497 which remove the taints as well as their latent predispositions--and the
36498 absences which are states of having removed what is to be removed. The
36499 Doctrine is the actual refuge, like medicine.
36501 [Sangha] The Spiritual Community jewel is all persons, whether lay or
36502 ordained, who have generated a superior path in their continuum. They are
36503 friends helping one to achieve refuge, like nurses.
36505 The three refuges that have been achieved and presently exist in other
36506 beings' continuums are one's own causal refuge; one relies on a protector just
36507 as a weak person takes refuge in a stronger person. The three refuges that
36508 one will attain in the future are one's own effect refuge. One who relies on
36509 the Three Jewels from the point of view of knowing that he is to attain them,
36510 must cause them to be generated in his own continuum.(p.35)
36511 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
36512 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
36514 Buddhism was extremely helpful to me during the process of my sister's
36515 lingering death two years ago. She was forty-five years old and had very few
36516 spiritual aspirations. She was actually fearful and closed to any suggestions
36517 that she might find comfort in expanding her degree of awareness and
36518 understanding. At first I was extremely upset by her attitude, but then I
36519 realized it was not for me to decide what she should or should not do with the
36520 last few months of her life. I was with her for support and comfort and not
36521 to force her to view her life in a way which was foreign and threatening to
36523 Enabling a person to accomplish a sense of having lived purposefully and
36524 with significance is a major goal of caregivers and loved ones. Being able to
36525 support someone during their dying trajectory, regardless of what they are
36526 thinking or feeling is probably one of the most valuable services one person
36527 can offer to another. But, it is difficult to stay close to someone who is
36528 dying. Not trying to evade an open encounter with the intense psychic pain
36529 that usually accompanies the recognition of impending death is one of the most
36530 valuable contributions that a nurse or any other caregiver or loved one can
36531 make to the patient who wishes to discuss his or her circumstances. Facing
36532 forthrightly the situation of dying, however, requires feeling comfortable
36533 with one's own feelings about death and the frailty of being human.
36534 Buddhism has taught me that death need not be approached only as a tragedy;
36535 it is also an event from which a profound understanding can unfold. (p.44)
36536 -- "Buddhism through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo,
36537 published by Snow Lion Publications
36539 Offerings should not be influenced by fluctuations of motivation and they
36540 should not be procured by devious means--offerings procured through wrong
36541 means are not good offerings. They should be arranged with proper motivation.
36542 As explained in the precepts of refuge, you should make offerings of the first
36543 portion of your food or drink of the day, whether it be food, milk or tea.
36544 Offerings should be made of what is edible; it is not helpful to arrange a
36545 torma that could not be eaten and then to say OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. If you
36546 can in reality transform something into delicious food just by reciting OM AH
36547 HUM three times, then it is alright! On the other hand, if your offerings
36548 remain as mere tsampa (roasted barley flour) after having repeated OM AH HUM a
36549 thousand times, it will not help much. The offerings should be the best you
36550 can afford. At least you can offer the first portion of your daily food, as
36551 no one can live without food! Our offerings should be something which is
36552 edible.... [Even] if you make water offerings in a proper manner, you can
36553 generate great merit.(p.35)
36554 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
36555 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
36558 Hundreds of people may be more popular, powerful, and wealthy than we are,
36559 but from the point of view of the Dharma, no one is more fortunate. We have a
36560 very precious opportunity to make the best of our lives by working toward the
36561 attainment of buddhahood. We have obtained this precious human birth and have
36562 come in contact with the teachings and spiritual friends. All the favorable
36563 conditions are available--we could not ask for more. Yet this is only for a
36564 very short period of time. Within this very short time, the best thing we can
36565 do for ourselves is commit ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to practicing
36566 the disciplines, which are an essential part of the practice of the teachings.
36567 ...The practice of discipline is very profound. In terms of the
36568 effectiveness of the practice of the Dharma, there is a hundredfold difference
36569 between someone who follows some level of discipline and someone who does not.
36570 Whether visualizing a deity, practicing basic meditation, or reciting mantras,
36571 the benefit is a hundredfold greater when we have the ground of discipline.
36572 The teachings of the Buddha say that if we take dust from the footprint of a
36573 person who embodies discipline and put it on our heads, it is a blessing.
36574 Even the king of the devas would do that, because of the sacredness of
36575 discipline. There is a tradition, followed to this day in India, of touching
36576 the feet of a holy person or touching the doorstep before entering his or her
36577 door, and then touching our foreheads. This is not merely a cultural
36578 tradition, but is acknowledging something very profound.(p.73)
36579 -- Khenpo Karthar, "Dharma Paths" 2nd Edition, translated by Ngödup Burkhar
36580 and Chöjor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
36583 According to the lower schools of Buddhist thought, when a being, like
36584 Sakyamuni Buddha, attains mahaparinirvana and passes away, he ceases to exist,
36585 there is no further continuity of consciousness. Therefore, according to the
36586 Vaibhasika school, for example, after this point there is no more being, no
36587 more consciousness. Only the name remains. And yet, they believe that this
36588 being who has now disappeared can influence the course of those who follow him
36589 due to the virtues that he created in the past.
36590 This is not accepted by the higher schools of thought, however, that instead
36591 believe that there are two kinds of bodies, those that are pure in nature and
36592 those that are impure. The latter is more gross, whereas a body that has been
36593 purified is more subtle. Now, for example, when Sakyamuni Buddha gave up his
36594 body, there still remained the more subtle one. So, according to these
36595 schools of thought, at the stage of Buddhahood, there are two bodies: a mental
36596 body and a physical one. I don't know whether the English word "body" is the
36597 most appropriate one. In Sanskrit, the words used to signify these two bodies
36598 of the Buddha are dharmakaya and rupakaya. The first is of the nature of
36599 mind, whereas the latter is material. So when the Buddha passes away, there
36600 is still this more subtle body, which is of the nature of mind, and since the
36601 mental continuum is also present, we can say that the personality is still
36602 there. Even today, the Buddha remains as a living being. I think this is
36603 better, don't you?(p.91)
36604 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
36605 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
36607 Blame everything on one thing. It simplifies life incredibly, and yet it
36608 truly is not simplistic. If we believe from our hearts that all of our
36609 misfortunes can be attributed to self-centeredness, this must radically
36610 transform our lives.
36611 Do we have reservations? Isn't there some part of the mind that says,
36612 "Self-centeredness is not such a bad idea. It got me my job, a good salary,
36613 my house and car. How can this be my enemy?" On the surface self-centeredness
36614 may seem like an aide who looks after our interests. There is one powerful
36615 answer to this: insofar as self-centeredness dominates our lives, it brings us
36616 into conflict with virtually everyone else. Because most people are dominated
36617 by self-centeredness, their interests are at odds with our own. There is
36618 bound to be conflict, and conflict gives rise to suffering.
36619 Imagine what life would be like without self-centeredness. Would we give
36620 away all our possessions, waste away from malnutrition, and die prematurely of
36621 disease? No. This would be a partial lack of self-centeredness combined with
36622 a large part of stupidity. If we are to serve others effectively, we must
36623 take care of ourselves. A bodhisattva has no self-centeredness, but there
36624 have been people in all stations of life, including kings, who are
36625 bodhisattvas. If we free ourselves of self-centeredness and really concern
36626 ourselves with the cherishing of others, then our own welfare comes as a kind
36628 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
36629 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
36631 When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
36632 absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
36633 increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
36634 we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
36635 the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
36636 that fulfills the definition of shamata.
36637 Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
36638 sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
36639 the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
36640 the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
36641 attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
36642 our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
36644 To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
36645 into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
36646 mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
36647 such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
36648 disturbing emotions and attitudes.(p.142)
36649 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
36650 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
36652 Focusing the mind on the object of meditation is like planting a seed for
36653 the arisal of the realization.... Even in the beginning stages one might
36654 become impatient, thinking, "I really want to get this done quickly." One
36655 might think that by exerting more effort, by adding more and more stuff, by
36656 changing things this way or that way the process can be made to go faster.
36657 The good gardener knows that too much water or fertilizer is harmful, not
36658 helpful. The mature meditator must understand this as well. The Kadampa
36659 masters of old gave this counsel: First, pay great heed to getting the proper
36660 causes and conditions together. Next, engage in the practice without
36661 agitation and without anxiety. Then, with the mind at ease, carry on to the
36663 --Gen Lamrimpa, "How to Practice Shamatha Meditation: The Cultivation of
36664 Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
36667 The Need for Reasoning
36669 All Buddhist schools agree that the analytical reasoning process which leads
36670 to an inference (a conceptual realization) derives from basic, shared, direct
36671 perception. As an example let us consider the following reasoning:
36673 A plant does not inherently exist because of being a dependent-arising.
36675 You begin by reflecting on the fact that a plant is a dependent-arising
36676 because its production depends on certain causes and conditions (such as a
36677 seed, soil, sunlight, and water), but eventually the reasoning process must be
36678 supported by direct perception, or it cannot stand. We can see with our eyes
36679 that plants change; they grow; mature, and finally dry up. In this sense,
36680 inference is blind, since it must eventually rely on direct perception.
36681 Inference depends on reasoning, which in turn rests on basic, shared,
36682 indisputable experience through direct perception. (p.153)
36683 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36684 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36686 The root of all qualities of the Bodhisattva vehicle is caring for sentient
36687 beings. We admire and respect the Buddha because he has reached the state
36688 free of all faults and possessing all good qualities, knows the method to
36689 reach that state, and teaches it to us. If we do as the Buddha did, by
36690 meditating on love and compassion for all sentient beings, not harming or
36691 getting angry with them, we too can become a Buddha.
36692 Our enlightenment depends on the Buddhas and on sentient beings, and from
36693 this point of view, they are equally important to us. Thus when we look at
36694 any sentient being, we should recognize that she is indispensable to our
36695 attainment of enlightenment. Our enlightenment comes from cherishing sentient
36696 beings; it does not come from cherishing only ourselves. Understanding this,
36697 whenever we encounter people in our lives, it becomes easy to feel, "May this
36698 person be happy and free from suffering."
36699 Caring for sentient beings means freeing them from the suffering of
36700 unfortunate rebirths and of cyclic existence in general, teaching the Dharma
36701 to those who want to hear it, providing the means for them to eliminate the
36702 causes which bring suffering temporarily and ultimately, not harming them, not
36703 lying to them, not creating discord among them, not speaking harshly to them,
36704 and so on. Through caring about them now, excellent results will follow, for
36705 us and for them.(p.179)
36706 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
36707 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
36708 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
36710 The term 'karma' literally means 'action', and more specifically refers to
36711 the process of cause and effect, where the intention of an agent or being is
36712 involved. So here karma means an intentional act committed or carried out by
36713 a being who possesses a sentient nature and who is also capable of having a
36714 sentient experience.
36715 ...Buddhist texts state that only a buddha's omniscient mind can penetrate
36716 the subtlest aspects of the workings of karma, and know at the most
36717 microscopic level which specific causes and conditions give rise to which
36718 specific consequences. At our level, we can only recognise that an intimate
36719 relationship exists between the external elements of the material world and
36720 the internal elements of our mental world; and, based on that, we can learn to
36721 detect varying levels of subtlety within our mental and emotional experiences.
36723 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
36724 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
36726 All attachment and aversion come from what we have mentally created. We
36727 have made an image and that is our mind as we normally experience it. In
36728 order to solve this problem in a more profound and permanent way, we have to
36729 look at our mind and see its true nature. In our innate, unfabricated nature,
36730 which is the basic state of our mind, there is no problem. We make all our
36731 problems by creating concepts and all kinds of mental conditioning.
36732 Seeing the true nature of mind means experiencing the way the mind is when
36733 we do not fabricate and contrive anything. We need to look at our mind when
36734 it is devoid of our creations and free from mental elaborations. If we can
36735 see this state of mind, there is no grasping, no grasped object, and no
36736 subject doing the grasping. There is simply perception or seeing, which in
36737 itself does not cause a problem.
36738 When the true nature of mind is seen, there are just appearances without any
36739 evaluation. One thing arises in the mind and then another thing arises. The
36740 arising that is pleasant is no better than the one that is unpleasant. They
36741 are simply different manifestations of the mind. There is no need to grasp
36742 one and reject the other. Once this is seen clearly, we see the true nature
36743 of mind. This is something that we need to experience directly. When we see
36744 the truth, we become liberated from our struggle within the nets of aversion
36745 and attachment.(p.97)
36746 --Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
36747 translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
36749 In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being
36750 outside the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a
36751 refuge, or of a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course
36752 this is fine. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated
36753 on as being outside the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being
36754 one's own essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One
36755 therefore thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates.
36756 Why is it justifiable to meditate in this manner? As previously seen, the
36757 five afflictions are actually self-expressions of the five kinds of primordial
36758 awareness; thus our own mind is in essence exactly the same as the mind of a
36759 Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is sometimes referred to as
36760 'sugatagarbha' or 'buddha-nature'.
36761 Because all beings possess this innately pure buddha-nature, they are pure
36762 by nature and not at all impure. Being pure by nature it is perfectly
36763 justified to meditate that you are the deity, because this is exactly how it
36765 --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
36766 Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by Snow
36769 In day to day life if you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with
36770 compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to
36771 nirvana....We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you
36772 believe in God or not does not matter so much; whether you believe in Buddha
36773 or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in
36774 reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.
36775 And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter.
36776 These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion,
36777 without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that
36778 others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human
36779 dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human
36780 capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering; even if you cannot
36781 help with money, to show concern, to give moral support and express sympathy
36782 are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities;
36783 whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.... In my simple
36784 religion, love is the key motivation.(p.20)
36785 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
36786 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated by
36787 Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
36789 All beings suffer in the same way as we do, and some are even more deeply
36790 immersed in sorrow. Yet all of these beings wish to experience only happiness
36791 and to avoid all suffering, frustration, and pain. They wish lasting
36792 happiness but do not know how to cultivate its causes, and they wish to avoid
36793 misery but automatically collect only causes of further misery. As Shantideva
36794 said, "Although seeking happiness, they destroy their own causes of happiness
36795 as they would an enemy. And although seeking to avoid misery, they treat its
36796 causes as they would a close friend."
36797 Were the countless sentient beings unrelated to us, or were they not to mind
36798 their sufferings, perhaps there would be no need for us to bother with their
36799 welfare. In reality, however, all are related to us and not one of them
36800 wishes to suffer. Over the billions of lifetimes that we have experienced
36801 since beginningless time, we have known all the living beings again and again.
36802 Sometimes they have been parents to us, sometimes friends or mates, sometimes
36803 enemies. Without exception, each of them has been even a mother to us again
36804 and again, performing all the kindnesses of a mother. How can we be
36805 indifferent to them?
36806 Wishing them to have only happiness and its causes and to be free of
36807 suffering and its causes, we ourselves should generate a sense of
36808 responsibility for their well-being. Finally, as only an omniscient
36809 Enlightened One is effectively able to benefit beings in deep, lasting, and
36810 ultimate ways, we must quickly attain enlightenment. This is the wishing
36811 bodhimind, the inner basis of Mahayana practice.(p.136)
36812 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
36813 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
36815 Recalling our interconnectedness, we begin to recognize our total
36816 interdependence and that whatever we enjoy in our life comes through others--
36817 through their efforts, their work, their hardships.
36818 It does not necessarily require that others had a specific intention to
36819 enable us to enjoy the things of our life. If we think of this in terms of
36820 the obvious examples like food and clothing, we can immediately see the global
36821 meaning of this contemplation. Our food comes from all over the world and if
36822 we consider the people and other creatures involved in its production,
36823 picking, packaging, transportation, and selling so that we can enjoy it, the
36824 numbers are vast. It is through their labor, their efforts, their struggles
36825 that we enjoy what we eat. Often their lives are terribly hard, and to feed a
36826 family they must work for very little--yet we enjoy the fruits of their labor.
36827 This is something to feel a huge gratitude for.
36828 If we begin to look more closely at our Western life, we can see how much we
36829 are dependent upon people in considerably poorer circumstances all over the
36830 world for what we consume. What we often don't consider is the impact of this
36831 consumption on those who produce it. In this meditation, it can be very
36832 useful to spend some time dwelling upon this so that we really feel the
36833 profound depth of appreciation for our interdependence upon others for our
36834 lives. This can counter the tendency to take our good fortune for granted and
36835 can open up a sense of gratitude for the kindness of those around. If guilt
36836 arises, it can be used to increase our awareness of the responsibility we have
36838 Gradually, we may begin to see the complete interdependent nature of our
36839 relationship with the countless other beings around us. We cannot overlook
36840 this connectedness to others and the kindness and benefit we have gained
36841 through them. When we come to feel this deeply, we will be able to hold
36842 others dear and automatically respond to others with a greater sense of care
36844 -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
36845 Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
36847 If you cannot stop worrying over something in the past or what might happen in
36848 the future, shift your focus to the inhalation and exhalation of your breath.
36849 Or recite this mantra: om mani padme hum (pronounced "om mani padmay hum").
36850 Since the mind cannot concentrate on two things simultaneously, either of
36851 these meditations causes the former worry to fade.(p.133)
36852 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36853 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36855 When serving society or others in general, it is very important to set a
36856 proper motivation at the start of each day. When we wake up each morning, we
36857 reflect, 'Today I am not going to come under the power of either attachment or
36858 hostility. Today I am going to be of benefit and help to others.' Thus we
36859 consciously set the tone for the entire day so that we go through it within
36860 the context of a pure, altruistic motivation and attitude.
36861 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, excerpted from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
36862 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
36864 We all have a certain style for doing things--how we drive, how we cook, how
36865 we dress. Some of us are shy or cautious, others assertive or flamboyant.
36866 We've refined that style over the years based on how successful it is, but
36867 it's not usually something of which we're completely aware. As long as it
36868 gets the job done, as long as we get the appropriate feedback from others, our
36869 style goes unnoticed, and when questioned we'll say, "That's just the way I
36871 When we begin meditation, it is inevitable that we will meditate with the
36872 same style with which we do everything else, because it's who we think we are.
36873 Furthermore, this style has proven to be reasonably successful in our other
36874 activities. However, in this case, it is not at all appropriate. If there is
36875 any style, there is a hidden agenda and an implicit judgment of the various
36876 phenomena of meditation. There is not the true detachment or choiceless
36877 awareness of real meditation. Our style contains our unacknowledged attitudes
36879 ...What's the problem in meditating with an attitude? First, a large amount
36880 of energy goes into maintaining the attitude. To make this clearer, if we are
36881 trying to be aware of our breathing, 100 percent of our attention should be on
36882 our breathing. If we're thinking, "I'm a shy person and I'm a little afraid
36883 of what's going on here," even if we're not consciously aware of that thought,
36884 it will be taking our energy away from the breathing and keeping it tied up in
36885 the world of ego. Consequently, this energy is not available for our
36886 practice. And your evaluation of your practice and progress will be based on
36887 your agenda rather than on the Buddha's teaching.
36888 Of course, no one is a perfect meditator. It's not like we have to wait
36889 until we have a perfect attitude before we begin. If that were the case, we
36890 would never start..With time, the purity of your attitude will grow...refining
36891 one's approach is a lifetime's work and is at the same time the practice
36893 -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
36894 Snow Lion Publications
36896 Developing a sense of good cheer in the face of adversity, you can
36897 specifically use adversity as the support for refuge and true spiritual
36898 development. I am discussing how you relate to your suffering, how you relate
36899 to your adversity, as it affects you in life and on the path.
36900 Now, as you know, whenever you are suffering by way of the body, speech, and
36901 mind, be it physical illness or a mental affliction, this is a very big deal
36902 to you. Usually it appears as something major. Even if it's minor, you make
36903 it into some great distress. If you lose a little money or if someone speaks
36904 nastily to you, it invokes a strong reaction. This is called "appearances
36905 arising as the enemy." When your habituation to adversity reaches such a
36906 point that you actually fall prey to appearances arising as the enemy, it
36907 means that you no longer have patience for suffering.
36908 ...If you can't bear the minor aspects of adversity in this, the best
36909 rebirth in cyclic existence, the precious human rebirth, what will you do when
36910 you're reborn in the three lower realms? Samsara is so vast, so deep and
36911 limitless, and the number of sentient beings within samsara are equal to that.
36912 All of them want to be free; all of them desire liberation. You should
36913 consider then how unnecessary or pointless it is to think that your small
36914 problems in this fortunate life are so great, when in fact they really are
36916 Any rebirth in this ocean of cyclic existence will by nature bring this type
36917 of discontent or suffering. Since you've been in this cycle of rebirths from
36918 beginningless time until now and you are still not free, it points out the
36919 fact that help is needed. Refuge is necessary. Adversity then becomes the
36920 support for training in refuge, which demonstrates that adversity is used to
36921 your advantage.(p.44)
36922 -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
36923 trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion Pub.
36925 The practice of Dharma is to pacify the afflictions and concepts that fill
36926 our minds. When we blend the teachings with our minds, the power of the
36927 Dharma can act upon and pacify afflictions and concepts. If on the outside we
36928 look like Dharma practitioners while on the inside our Dharma practice has not
36929 diminished our afflictions or concepts, we merely call ourselves practitioners
36930 without actually being one. This is not to say that outer behavior, our
36931 reflection in the world, is not important, but what is crucial is to train in
36933 What we tame are the three main afflictions: ignorance, attachment, and
36934 aversion. Ignorance, the root of the two others, is defined as the continual
36935 fixation on our self that we assume to be permanent and independent. This
36936 ego-clinging is the main cause for our cycling in samsara. We wish to be in
36937 paradise for our own advantage; we wish to erase all suffering for our own
36938 advantage. We cling to this "I" of ours, thinking that it is so special that
36939 we should not be bothered with problems but enjoy wealth, power, and charisma.
36940 If we honestly look into our minds, it is quite easy to see this kind of
36941 coarse and obvious grasping to a self.
36942 There are also subtle forms of fixating on the self ("I") and what belongs
36943 to it ("mine"), like the quick thought of ourselves before another one comes.
36944 When practicing Dharma, we are taming this coarse and subtle clinging to an
36945 ego. If this does not happen, we will merely be able to suppress the
36946 afflictions temporarily, distancing ourselves for the time being. To cut
36947 through them completely, we must steadily apply ourselves to practice.(p.187)
36948 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
36949 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
36952 "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom--the mantra of great knowledge,
36953 the unexcelled mantra, the mantra equal to the unequalled, the mantra
36954 that quells all suffering--is true because it is not deceptive."
36957 The perfection of wisdom is called "the mantra of great knowledge" because
36958 thoroughly understanding its meaning eliminates the three poisons of craving,
36959 hatred, and delusion. It is called the "unexcelled mantra" because there is
36960 no greater method than the perfection of wisdom for saving one from the
36961 extremes of cyclic existence and the isolated peace of individual nirvana. It
36962 is called the mantra "equal to the unequalled" because the Buddha's
36963 enlightened state is unequalled, and, through the deepest realization of this
36964 mantra, one attains a state equal to that state. Finally, the perfection of
36965 wisdom is known as the "mantra that quells all suffering" because it quells
36966 manifest sufferings and also removes all propensities for future suffering.
36967 The perfection of wisdom is the ultimate truth, thus the statement "it is
36968 true." In the realm of the ultimate truth, there is no disparity, as there is
36969 in conventional reality, between appearance and reality, and thus this
36970 manifest ultimate truth is "not deceptive." This nondeceptiveness also
36971 suggests that, through actualization of this mantra, the perfection of wisdom
36972 can enable one to attain total freedom from suffering and its causes. From
36973 this perspective too, we can say that it is the truth.
36974 "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed: tadyatha gate gate
36975 paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha! Shariputra, the bodhisattvas, the great
36976 beings, should train in the perfection of wisdom in this way."
36977 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
36978 of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
36980 For as long as space endures
36981 And for as long as sentient beings remain,
36982 Until then may I too abide,
36983 To dispel the misery of the world.
36984 -- Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
36986 Global Responsibility
36988 Occasionally I notice that people are making a convenient distinction
36989 between ethics on the personal level and ethics on the wider social level. To
36990 me, such attitudes are fundamentally flawed, as they overlook the
36991 interdependence of our world.
36992 That individual ethics--or rather their absence--can have an impact on the
36993 lives of many is powerfully demonstrated by the global financial crisis that
36994 began in 2008, the repercussions of which are still being felt around the
36995 world. It revealed the way unbridled greed on the part of a few can adversely
36996 affect the lives of millions. So, just as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks we
36997 started to take the dangers of religious extremism and intolerance seriously,
36998 so too, in the wake of the financial crisis, should we take the dangers of
36999 greed and dishonesty seriously. When greed is seen as acceptable, even
37000 praiseworthy, there is clearly something wrong with our collective value
37002 In this age of globalization, the time has come for us to acknowledge that
37003 our lives are deeply interconnected and to recognize that our behavior has a
37004 global dimension. When we do so, we will see that our own interests are best
37005 served by what is in the best interests of the wider human community. By
37006 contrast, if we concentrate exclusively on our inner development and neglect
37007 the wider problems of the world, or if, having recognized these, we are
37008 apathetic about trying to solve them, then we have overlooked something
37009 fundamental. Apathy, in my view, is itself a form of selfishness. For our
37010 approach to ethics to be truly meaningful, we must of course care about the
37011 world. This is what I mean by the principle of global responsibility, which
37012 is a key part of my approach to secular ethics.(p.84)
37013 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole
37014 World", trans. by Thupten Jinpa Langri
37016 Speech that is not harmful is the meaning of "right speech." It is wise
37017 speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is
37018 needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things.
37019 There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or
37020 harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise
37022 Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by
37023 practicing wise speech to ourselves--replacing the inner voice of guilt that
37024 is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs.
37025 What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I
37026 use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying
37027 something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in
37028 your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your
37029 life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136)
37030 -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
37031 Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
37033 The famous nineteenth-century dzogchen master Paltrul Rinpoche explained self-
37034 liberation concretely and precisely:
37036 The practitioner of self-liberation is like an ordinary person as far as
37037 the way in which the thoughts of pleasure and pain, hope and fear,
37038 manifest themselves as creative energy. However, the ordinary person,
37039 taking these really seriously and judging them as acceptable or rejecting
37040 them, continues to get caught up in situations and becomes conditioned by
37041 attachment and aversion.
37043 Not doing this, a practitioner, when such thoughts arise, experiences
37044 freedom: initially, by recognizing the thought for what it is, it is freed
37045 just like meeting a previous acquaintance; then it is freed in and of
37046 itself, like a snake shedding its skin; and finally, thought is freed in
37047 being unable to be of benefit or harm, like a thief entering an empty
37050 ...Freeing or liberating thought does not mean ignoring, letting go of, being
37051 indifferent to, observing, or even not having thoughts. It means being
37052 present in hope and fear, pain and pleasure, not as objects before us, but as
37053 the radiant clarity of our natural state. Thus anger, for example, when
37054 experienced dualistically, is an irritation which we may indulge in or reject,
37055 depending on our conditioning. Either way we are caught up in it and act out
37056 of it. But when aware of anger as a manifestation of clarity, its energy is a
37057 very fresh awareness of the particulars of the situation. However, these
37058 particulars are no longer irritating.(p.77)
37060 -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard Lipman
37061 and Merrill Peterson, introduction by Namkhai Norbu, published by Snow
37064 In this practice one recollects negativity, contemplates its nature,
37065 generates apprehension of its karmic implications, and resolves to purify
37066 one's mind of the negative traces. On the basis of this resolve one takes
37067 refuge, develops the bodhimind and enters the Vajrasattva meditation or
37068 whatever method is being used. One can also do exercises such as prostrations
37069 and so forth. This concentration of purifying energies destroys the potency
37070 of negative karmic imprints like the germ of a barley seed roasted in a fire.
37071 Here it is important to begin the meditation session with a contemplative
37072 meditation and then to transform this into settled meditation for a prolonged
37073 period of time. One abides in the settled meditation until it begins to lose
37074 intensity, and then temporarily reverts to contemplative meditation in order
37075 to invigorate the mind, returning to fixed meditation once a contemplative
37076 atmosphere has been restored.
37077 Generally our mind is habituated to directing all of our energies into
37078 things that benefit this life alone, things of no spiritual consequence. By
37079 performing these types of meditations, our natural attachment to the
37080 meaningless activities of this life subsides and we begin to experience an
37081 inner appreciation for spiritual values. When spontaneously one's mind
37082 appreciates spiritual rather than mundane goals one has become an active
37083 practitioner of initial perspective.(p.117)
37084 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
37085 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
37087 When doing lamrim meditations, it is important to know clearly the state of
37088 mind you want to reach as a conclusion to the meditation. Lamrim texts
37089 describe the purpose of each meditation, and we want to make sure that our
37090 mind arrives at that conclusion and not at an incorrect or irrelevant
37091 conclusion. For example, when meditating on the disadvantages of the self-
37092 centered thought, our mind may twist that meditation and conclude, "I'm a
37093 horrible person because I'm so selfish." This is the wrong conclusion to reach
37094 from that meditation. The Buddha didn't teach the disadvantages of self-
37095 centeredness so that we would deride ourselves.
37096 If you meditate on a lam rim topic and arrive at an incorrect conclusion,
37097 the meditation hasn't been done correctly. In the above case, thinking, "I'm
37098 a bad person because I'm so selfish," indicates that we have misunderstood the
37099 purpose of the meditation and probably have fallen into an old pattern of
37100 putting ourselves down. Stop and ask yourself,
37101 "What conclusion does the Buddha want me to reach from this meditation? He
37102 wants me to ascertain that the self-centered mind is the actual 'enemy' that
37103 destroys my happiness. Self-centeredness is not an intrinsic part of me; it
37104 is not who I am. It's an incorrect, but deeply entrenched, thought that
37105 creates problems for me. I can free myself from it. Since I want to be
37106 happy, I will realize this selfish attitude for what it is and will stop
37107 following it! Instead, I will cultivate love and compassion for all beings."
37108 This is the conclusion you want to reach.(p.58)
37109 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
37110 Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
37112 Greed is a form of desire. However, it is an exaggerated form of desire,
37113 based on overexpectation. The true antidote of greed is contentment.
37114 For a practicing Buddhist, for a Dharma practitioner, many practices can act
37115 as a kind of counterforce to greed: the realization of the value of seeking
37116 liberation or freedom from suffering, recognizing the underlying
37117 unsatisfactory nature of one's existence, and so on. These views also help an
37118 individual to counteract greed. But in terms of an immediate response to
37119 greed, one way is to reflect upon the excesses of greed, what it does to one
37120 as an individual, where it leads. Greed leads one to a feeling of
37121 frustration, disappointment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of problems.
37122 When it comes to dealing with greed, one thing which is quite characteristic
37123 is that although it arises from the desire to obtain something, it is not
37124 satisfied by obtaining it. Therefore, it becomes limitless or boundless, and
37125 that leads to trouble. The interesting thing about greed is that although the
37126 underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, as I pointed out, even after
37127 obtaining the object of one's desire, one is still not satisfied. On the
37128 other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn't matter
37129 whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content.(p.32)
37130 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
37131 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
37132 Snow Lion Publications
37134 We will hereby start scouring the net for people who say git is hard to
37135 understand and use, and just kill them. They clearly are just polluting
37141 What is the Bodhisattva's Way of life? It is the way of life that follows
37142 naturally from having cultivated the awakening mind of bodhicitta.
37143 Omniscience is achieved only through the process of purifying the disturbing
37144 emotions within your mind. It cannot be achieved merely through wishes and
37145 prayers. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing emotions
37146 within your mind. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing
37147 emotions by relying on specific antidotes.
37148 All the activities of a Bodhisattva can be included in two major categories:
37149 the practice of skillful means and the practice of wisdom. If the practices
37150 of giving, ethics, and so forth are to be perfected, they should be supported
37151 and influenced by the practice of wisdom. Without the practice of wisdom, the
37152 first five of the six perfections cannot actually become practices of
37153 perfection. In order to cultivate such wisdom, you must first cultivate the
37154 genuine unmistaken philosophical view that is known as the view of the Middle
37155 Way, or Madhyamika.
37156 ...even when you have understood the wisdom realizing emptiness, that alone
37157 will not become a powerful antidote to ignorance if it is not supported by
37158 other practices such as giving, ethics, patience, and so forth. Mere
37159 understanding of selflessness is not sufficient to defeat the disturbing
37161 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
37162 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
37163 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
37165 The many tantras of both the Ancient and New traditions unanimously agree
37166 that these, and others, are the consequences of violating the pledges.
37168 Means of Restoration
37169 The proclaimers' vows, like a clay pot, once broken cannot be repaired;
37170 The awakening mind commitments, like gold or silver, can be restored;
37171 The tantric pledges, like a dented vessel, are restored by the
37172 practitioner's strength.
37175 When is it possible to restore a vow that has been transgressed? All the
37176 tantras and transmissions state that if a monk has incurred a defeat with
37177 concealment, the transgressed vow, like a broken clay pot, cannot be repaired.
37178 An awakening mind commitment that has been transgressed is like a cracked gold
37179 or silver vase which can still be soldered by a blacksmith. A violated vow or
37180 pledge in this Secret Mantra system is likened to a dented golden vessel,
37181 which can be straightened out by the practitioner's own strength.
37182 Pledges are restored through action, precious substances, earnest desire,
37183 contemplation, and reality.
37184 The Great Cleansing can purify all transgressions.(p.296)
37185 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge--Book Five: Buddhist
37186 Ethics", trans. by the Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, under the
37187 direction of Ven. Bokar Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
37189 How to Become a Receptacle Suitable for Cultivating the Paths.
You are
37190 made into a vessel suitable for cultivating the path through entering a
37191 mandala such as that of the Vajra Element, receiving initiation, and receiving
37192 the pledges and vows.
37193 Concerning this, there are two types: those who merely enter a mandala and
37194 those who enter and receive initiation, of which there are two types. The
37195 former are those who cannot hold the vows of the five lineages but who hold
37196 the Bodhisattva vows; only the initiation of a student is granted to them.
37197 However, to those who can hold both Bodhisattva and mantra vows the full
37198 initiation of a vajra master is granted.(p.78)
37199 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
37200 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
37201 Snow Lion Publications
37203 Awareness as virtue. Beyond choosing more virtuous forms of speech, you can
37204 also try to cultivate awareness of the subtle vibration underlying your speech
37205 and of how your speech manifests from there. Is your voice creating the right
37207 In dzogchen the concept of virtuous speech is taken to its highest level.
37208 For example, the A-Tri system of dzogchen offers a group of successive
37209 practices in which one learns to maintain awareness while engaging in various
37210 virtuous, neutral, and nonvirtuous activities.
37211 One initially tries to stay present amid virtuous activity such as praying
37212 or chanting mantras. Once that experience is stabilized, one integrates
37213 presence with neutral speech, such as conversing casually with a friend about
37214 cooking or gardening. Finally, one tries to integrate with negative speech
37215 such as lying, arguing, or giving insults. It is easier if you can establish
37216 your intent for self-awareness before you get drawn into an angry argument.
37217 For example, think of how courtroom lawyers argue a case: although they may
37218 use strong, sharp language, they are never driven by their emotions--every
37219 word is carefully chosen for its impact and is guided by intent, if not
37221 From this perspective "nonvirtuous speech" might be defined as speech that
37222 is driven and not guided and through which you lose connection with your self.
37223 In dzogchen practice you aim to arrive at a place where all activity of body,
37224 speech, and mind becomes an expression of contemplative awareness and an aid
37225 to spiritual development--therefore virtuous in the truest sense of the word.
37227 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech, and Mind",
37228 edited by Polly Turner, published by Snow Lion Publications
37230 Bodhisattvas give solely out of concern for others, without a self-
37231 cherishing attitude. That is the proper way of giving. Courageous
37232 Bodhisattvas risk even their lives to help others, and so, when we are in
37233 relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
37234 giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
37235 improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
37236 find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
37237 they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
37238 decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
37239 -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
37240 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
37241 by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
37243 Merely understanding the mind is not good enough. Recognizing it as the
37244 source of happiness and suffering is good, but great results come only from
37245 looking inward and meditating on the nature of the mind. Once you recognize
37246 its nature, then you need to meditate with joyful effort. Joyful meditation
37247 will actualize the true nature of the mind, and maintaining the mind in this
37248 natural state will bring enlightenment. This type of meditation reveals the
37249 innermost, profound wisdom that is inherent in the mind.
37250 Meditation can transform your body into wisdom light, into what is known as
37251 the rainbow body of wisdom. Many masters in the history of the Nyingma
37252 lineage have achieved this, as can anyone who practices these methods of
37253 meditation. The wisdom aspect of our nature exists at all times in each of
37254 us. You have always had this nature and it can be revealed through
37255 meditation. When you maintain the mind in its natural state, wonderful
37256 qualities shine out like light from the sun. Among these qualities are
37257 limitless compassion, limitless loving-kindness, and limitless wisdom.
37258 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
37259 "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
37260 Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
37262 In order for the wisdom of special insight to remove impediments to proper
37263 understanding, and to remove faulty mental states at their very roots, we need
37264 concentrated meditation, a state of complete single-mindedness in which all
37265 internal distractions have been removed.
37266 Single-minded meditation involves removing subtle internal distractions such
37267 as the mind's being either too relaxed or too tight. To do so we must first
37268 stop external distractions through training in the morality of maintaining
37269 mindfulness and conscientiousness with regard to physical and verbal
37270 activities--being constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and
37271 your speech. Without overcoming these obvious distractions, it is impossible
37272 to overcome subtler internal distractions. Since it is through sustaining
37273 mindfulness that you achieve a calm abiding of the mind, the practice of
37274 morality must precede the practice of concentrated meditation.(p.23)
37275 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
37276 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37278 Buddha means one who is fully enlightened. In other words, a buddha has
37279 fully awakened from the sleep of delusion. He is free from all obscurations,
37280 both gross and subtle, and has revealed the two intrinsic wisdom awarenesses.
37281 Buddhahood is the spontaneously established, uncompounded nature that does not
37282 depend on any other conditions. A buddha has perfect wisdom, has perfectly
37283 accomplished the nature of compassion, and has every ability to manifest all
37284 excellent activities.
37285 There are many buddhas in the past, present, and future. In fact, there are
37286 as many buddhas as there are particles of dust. Basically, the term buddha
37287 refers to anyone whose mind is fully awakened and who is free from all
37288 suffering and its causes. When we point to Buddha Shakyamuni as a buddha, he
37289 is an example of this. A buddha has four forms, all of which emanate from the
37291 1. Nirmanakaya is a buddha who has emanated in a physical form. A
37292 nirmanakaya can emanate anywhere as anything animate or inanimate--as a human
37293 being, an animal, or even a bridge, if necessary...
37294 2. Sambhogakaya is the expression of the complete, perfect manifestation
37295 of the Buddha's excellent, infinite qualities, called the enjoyment body--
37296 splendid and glorious. All the buddhas appear and manifest in the limitless
37297 buddha fields in this form...
37298 3. Dharmakaya is one's own perfection, fully free from all delusion and
37299 suffering. It is infinite and transcends all boundaries...
37300 4. Svabhavikakaya is the indivisible nature of the other three forms.(p.165)
37301 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
37302 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
37304 Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
37305 beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
37306 envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
37307 to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
37308 wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
37309 offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
37310 other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
37311 their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
37312 and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
37313 Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
37314 kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
37315 genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
37316 The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
37317 their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
37318 the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
37319 of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
37320 are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
37321 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
37322 translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
37323 Snow Lion Publications
37325 Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
37326 them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
37327 being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
37328 I used them last time.
37331 External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
37332 caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
37333 emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
37334 covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
37335 deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
37336 We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
37337 attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
37338 When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
37339 the harmful actions arising from them.
37340 As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
37341 itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
37342 familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
37343 founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
37344 was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
37345 is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
37347 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
37348 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37350 Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
37351 our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
37352 chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
37353 duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
37354 that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
37355 But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
37356 This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
37357 binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
37358 duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
37359 breaking every chain.
37360 Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
37361 frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
37362 we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
37363 kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
37364 That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
37365 it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
37366 -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
37367 by Snow Lion Publications
37369 The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
37370 is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
37371 karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
37372 therefore be brought forth again.
37373 Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
37374 consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
37375 of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
37376 what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
37377 Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
37378 seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
37379 'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
37380 mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
37381 similar with strong mental afflictions.
37382 ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
37383 the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
37384 out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
37386 * The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
37387 aspects of the mind.
37389 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
37390 Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
37391 Snow Lion Publications
37393 Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers?
37395 HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of
37396 Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely
37397 beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career.
37398 This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent
37399 yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not
37400 fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed.
37401 Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone
37402 observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances.
37403 For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection
37404 appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same
37405 way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your
37406 attitude too will be mirror-like.
37407 Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to
37408 go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on
37409 the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at
37410 having these 'reflections' in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and
37411 relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause
37412 you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of
37413 objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from
37414 being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.
37416 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
37417 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
37418 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37420 The quality of one's rebirth in the next life is determined by the quality
37421 of one's mental activity in this life. Generally speaking, we have no power
37422 to choose how we are born; it is dependent on karmic forces. However, the
37423 period near the time of death is very influential in terms of activating one
37424 from among the many karmas that a person has already accumulated, and,
37425 therefore, if one makes particular effort at generating a virtuous attitude at
37426 that time, there is an opportunity to strengthen and activate a virtuous
37427 karma. Moreover, when one has developed high realization and has gained
37428 control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
37429 "reincarnation" rather than mere rebirth.(p.42)
37430 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
37431 Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
37432 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
37434 Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
37435 determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
37436 there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically. For just as
37437 Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
37438 death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
37439 must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
37440 so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
37442 If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
37443 impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
37444 inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
37445 this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
37446 Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
37447 cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
37448 condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
37449 miseries of cyclic existence.
37450 Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
37451 everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
37452 anything of real significance about it. In fact, the usual ways of dealing
37453 with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
37454 them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering. What
37455 we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
37456 our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
37457 the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
37458 Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
37459 eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
37460 conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
37461 -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
37462 and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications
37464 We must distinguish between pride and self-confidence. Self-confidence is
37465 necessary. It is what enables us, in certain situations, not to lose courage
37466 and to think with some justification, 'I am capable of succeeding.' Self-
37467 confidence is quite different from excessive self-assurance based on a false
37468 appreciation of our capacities or circumstances.
37469 If you feel able to accomplish a task that other people cannot manage, then
37470 you cannot be called proud as long as your assessment is well founded. It is
37471 as if someone tall came across a group of short people who wanted to get
37472 something too high for them to reach, and said to them, 'Don't exert
37473 yourselves, I can do it.' This would simply mean that he was more qualified
37474 than the others to carry out a particular task, but not that he is superior to
37475 them or that he wants to crush them.(p.259)
37476 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the
37477 Heart", edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat,
37478 published by Snow Lion Publications
37480 What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror
37481 before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think
37482 back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech,
37483 and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then
37484 the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.
37485 The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the
37486 right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of
37487 it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It
37488 would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before
37489 adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing
37490 the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to
37492 The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with
37493 the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it
37494 into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents.
37495 When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to
37496 fade away and disappear.
37497 Ignorance and the "I"-grasping syndrome have been with us since
37498 beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger,
37499 jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating
37500 them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a
37501 room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and
37502 the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are
37503 strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both
37504 contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim
37506 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
37507 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
37509 We are beings of the Desire Realm, and thus our minds are also included
37510 within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds
37511 are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient
37512 beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves
37513 great compassion. At that point, the mental basis--one's own mind--has become
37514 of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that
37515 time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an
37516 object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one's object and
37517 developing compassion for them such that the mind comes to be of the nature of
37519 The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm
37520 abiding, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path.
37521 The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether,
37522 when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that
37523 path. It is important to understand this question because that is, in fact,
37524 what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the
37525 nature of calm abiding.
37526 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
37527 Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
37528 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
37530 Nature's law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
37531 As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
37532 They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training,
37533 but because of their nature, they labor faithfully together. Occasionally,
37534 they may fight, but in general, based on cooperation, the whole colony
37536 We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force. We have
37537 religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with a great capacity for love.
37538 We have many extraordinary qualities, but in actual practice, I think we are
37539 lagging behind those small insects. In some respects I feel we are poorer
37541 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
37544 Nagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential
37545 accomplishing the practice, in verse 116:
37547 And even those who realized the truth
37548 Did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge
37549 Like crops of corn from earth's dark depths, but once
37550 Were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary men.
37552 Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had
37553 direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime
37554 being right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they
37555 emerge from the darkness of the earth like a crop. In the past they were
37556 subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']--they were ordinary people
37557 dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are therefore worth following as
37558 an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
37559 -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
37560 Rinpoche", with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur
37561 Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
37562 Snow Lion Publications
37566 As long as we cling to some notion of objective existence--the idea that
37567 something actually exists in a concrete, identifiable way--emotions such as
37568 desire and aversion will follow. When we see something we like--a beautiful
37569 watch, for example--we perceive it as having some real quality of existence
37570 among its parts. We see the watch not as a collection of parts, but as an
37571 existing entity with a specific quality of watch-ness to it. And if it's a
37572 fine mechanical timepiece, our perception is enhanced by qualities that are
37573 seen to exist definitely as part of the nature of the watch. It is as a
37574 result of this misperception of the watch that our desire to possess it
37576 In a similar manner, our aversion to someone we dislike arises as a result
37577 of attributing inherent negative qualities to the person. When we relate this
37578 process to how we experience our own sense of existence--how the thought "I"
37579 or "I am" arises--we notice that it invariably does so in relation to some
37580 aspect of our physical or mental aggregates.
37581 Our notion of ourselves is based upon a sense of our physical and emotional
37582 selves. What's more, we feel that these physical and mental aspects of
37583 ourselves exist inherently. My body is not something of which I doubt the
37584 specificity. There is a body-ness as well as a me-ness about it that very
37585 evidently exists. It seems to be a natural basis for my identifying my body
37586 as "me." Our emotions such as fear are similarly experienced as having a valid
37587 existence and as being natural bases for our identifying ourselves as "me."
37588 Both our loves and our hates serve to deepen the self sense. Even the mere
37589 feeling "I'm cold" contributes to our sense of being a solid and legitimate
37591 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday
37592 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Richard Gere
37594 In the Mahayana, there exist the vows of the Bodhisattva... but in Dzogchen,
37595 there exist no such rules or vows.
37596 When the Indian Buddhist master Atisa came to Tibet in the eleventh century,
37597 he met the famous Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo. Atisa asked him how he
37598 practiced the Tantras which he had translated, and he replied that he
37599 practiced them meticulously one after the other. But Atisa told him that this
37600 was not the correct way. He pointed out to the translator that all of the
37601 Tantras could be condensed and integrated into a single Upadesa and one need
37602 only practise that in order to maintain all of the transmissions which he had
37604 The same is true with Dzogchen. If we really understand this single
37605 teaching here which comes directly from Guru Padmasambhava, we can attain
37606 liberation. But we must grasp this vital core of the teaching. No matter
37607 what we are doing, which ever among the four modes of behavior--walking,
37608 sitting, lying down, or eating, we must always hold to awareness, never
37609 forgetting, never losing this awareness. This is the real meaning of Rigdzin,
37610 one who is totally aware. In Dzogchen, there is only one rule--always be
37611 aware in whatever we do, never be distracted!(p.68)
37612 -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
37613 commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu,
37614 published by Snow Lion Publications
37616 Our mind needs to stretch to encompass emptiness. Our minds are so stuck in
37617 the idea, "Things exist the way they appear to me. What I see is reality. It
37618 is 100 percent true. There's nothing to doubt. Things exist exactly as they
37619 appear to my senses, exactly as they appear to my mental consciousness." We
37620 hardly ever doubt that. Not only do we have the appearance of inherent
37621 existence to our sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, but also our
37622 mental consciousness grasps on to that appearance and says, "Yes! Everything
37623 really exists in this findable, independent way. Everything is real as it
37625 When we believe there's a real "me," then we have to protect that self and
37626 bring it happiness. Thus, we are attached to things that are pleasurable and
37627 become angry at anything unpleasant. Pride, jealousy, laziness, and the whole
37628 gamut of negative emotions follow. Motivated by these, we act physically,
37629 verbally, and mentally. These actions, or karma, leave seeds on our
37630 mindstream, and when these ripen, they influence what we experience. We again
37631 relate to these experiences ignorantly, so more emotions arise, motivating us
37632 to create more karma. As a result, cyclic existence with all its difficulties
37633 continues on and on, created by our mind, dependent on the ignorance that
37634 misconceives the nature of ourselves and all other phenomena.
37635 ...However, when we investigate more deeply and look beyond appearances, we
37636 realize that it's impossible for things to exist in the way they appear.
37637 Seeing this gives us a kind of spaciousness and freedom because, if samsara
37638 were inherently existent and everything really did exist the way it appears to
37639 us, then transformation and change could not occur...and the best we could
37640 ever have is what we have right now. Thinking about the emptiness of inherent
37641 existence shows us the possibility for change. Beauty can come forth because
37642 nothing is inherently concrete, fixed, or findable.(p.105)
37643 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
37644 Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37648 If one does not sow the seed
37649 Of appreciation for a perfect guru,
37650 The tree of spiritual power is not born.
37651 With undivided mind entrust yourself.
37653 Human life is rare and precious,
37654 Yet if not inspired by thoughts of death,
37655 One wastes it on materialism:
37656 Be ready to die at any moment.
37658 All living beings have been our mothers,
37659 Three circles of suffering always binding them.
37660 Ignoble it would be not to repay them,
37661 Not to strive to attain enlightenment. (p.100)
37663 The colophon [inscription] for this poem reads, "Written at the request of
37664 Ritropa Samdrub, an Amdo monk from Dechen Monastery, who begged for a short
37665 teaching...." The Seventh Dalai Lama advises him to establish three central
37666 pillars in his spiritual practice: (1) a disciplined spiritual connection with
37667 his teacher; (2) awareness of the preciousness of life, and the uncertainty of
37668 the time of death; and (3) the mind of love and compassion for all living
37669 beings, coupled with the aspiration to enlightenment as the best means of
37670 fulfilling that love and compassion.
37671 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, "Meditations to Transform the Mind", translated,
37672 edited, and introduced by Glenn Mullin, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37674 Courageous Bodhisattvas risk their lives to help others, and so, when we are
37675 in relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
37676 giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
37677 improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
37678 find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
37679 they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
37680 decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
37681 -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
37682 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
37683 by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
37685 One day, when a very learned scholar or geshe and I were discussing the fact
37686 that the self is an elusive phenomenon, that it is unfindable in either body
37687 or mind, he remarked: 'If the self did not exist at all, in a sense that would
37688 make things very simple. There would be no experience of suffering and pain,
37689 because there would be no subject to undergo such experiences. However, that
37690 is not the case. Regardless of whether we can actually find it or not, there
37691 is an individual being who undergoes the experience of pain and pleasure, who
37692 is the subject of experiences, who perceives things and so on. Based on our
37693 own experience we do know that there is something--whatever we may call it--
37694 that makes it possible for us to undergo these experiences. We have something
37695 called discernment or the ability to perceive things.'
37696 In fact, when we examine the experience of suffering, although some
37697 sufferings are at the sensory or bodily level, such as physical pain, even the
37698 very experience of pain is intimately connected with consciousness or mind and
37699 therefore is part of our mental world. This is what distinguishes sentient
37700 beings from other biological organisms, such as plants, trees and so on.
37701 Sentient beings have a subjective dimension, which we may choose to call
37702 experience, consciousness or the mental world.
37703 ....One thing we can understand, both through scientific analysis and also
37704 from our own personal experience or perception, is that whatever experiences
37705 we have now are consequences of preceding conditions. Nothing comes into
37706 being without a cause. Just as everything in the material world must have a
37707 cause or condition that gives rise to it, so must all experiences in the
37708 mental world also have causes and conditions.(p.74)
37709 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
37710 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
37712 Meditation, when learned skillfully, can enable a return to awareness of the
37713 body, our sensations, and feelings. When we are not given specific guidance
37714 to ground our meditation within the body, however, meditation can easily
37715 perpetuate a disembodied spiritual practice. This is accentuated if our view
37716 of spirituality sees the body as some kind of problem to be transcended.
37717 Unfortunately, this view can prevail even within the Buddhist world, despite
37718 being counter to the essential principle of mindfulness and presence. When,
37719 however, we cultivate the capacity to remain present in our felt experience
37720 within the body, our relationship to ourselves changes. We can begin to feel
37721 more grounded in our life and more stable in our identity.
37722 Engaging in a disembodied spirituality is no solution to our life demands.
37723 It may be a way of experiencing states of mind that can be very seductive,
37724 even addictive. Seldom does it address the roots of our emotional problems.
37725 Transformation comes when we are willing and able to restore or develop a
37726 sound relationship to our body in a healthy way. With many Buddhist
37727 practices, such as Tantra, this is essential, for the body contains the
37728 vitality that is the heart of our innate creative potential.
37729 Embodiment therefore implies a full engagement in life with all of its
37730 trials and tribulations, rather than avoidance through disembodied spiritual
37731 flight. The value of meditation is that it can enable this engagement because
37732 it cultivates the capacity to be present and remain open, not grasping at or
37733 rejecting what arises. When meditation emphasizes presence rather than
37734 transcendence, this openness is a natural outcome.(p.143)
37735 -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
37736 in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
37738 Those training in great love should forsake self-centeredness and engage in
37739 the Buddha's practice, the root of which is compassion. You may be thinking,
37740 Love is indeed very profound, but I do not have the skill to practice it; I
37741 will focus my efforts on practices aimed at getting myself out of cyclic
37742 existence instead. On one hand, this is true, because you should choose a
37743 path of development appropriate to your ability. On the other hand, there is
37744 great advantage in attempting the highest degree of love you can.
37745 Even if you cannot actually implement the practices of love and compassion,
37746 merely hearing about them establishes powerful predispositions for future
37747 success. This can be amplified by planting prayer-wishes aspiring to
37748 altruism. Do not be discouraged; it is difficult to absorb such a profound
37749 perspective. Be courageous and think of your future potential. It is
37750 particularly important to do the best you can.(p.82)
37751 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
37752 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37754 What is very important for us to recognise is our own falsity. This is not
37755 a judgement that sometimes we are authentic and sometimes we are false. It
37756 means that everything about us in our ordinary sense of self is false because
37757 it is grounded on a misapprehension of the nature of reality.... It is like
37758 somebody in University who is having their final examinations. They go into
37759 the wrong examination room and not reading the questions very clearly they
37760 write very long answers on their own subject that is unfortunately not the one
37761 they are being examined on. It does not matter how good the answer is they
37762 will fail, for they are not addressing the question.
37763 The basic question is always: "Who are you?", "Who am I?" but we do not
37764 understand it and so we answer with a ceaseless narrative of self definition.
37765 This covers over the freshness of the question, the possibility of looking and
37766 seeing, and so all our answers are stale, the reworking of self-protective
37767 versions constructed out of unexamined elements. We have many, many, many
37768 answers and all of them are false. That's why it is very important when you
37769 do meditations, to put your full energy one-pointedly into the practice, to
37770 try to repair the initial basic fault that has torn subject and object apart.
37771 It is very important to stop being ashamed of being false. For we have to
37772 see how falsity arises, how obscuration develops. We want to look directly at
37773 our falsity and learn its tricks so that we will not be caught by them. This
37774 helps to open the space in which we can recognise our own nature.
37775 "When you understand the falsity of your confusion remain unartificially,
37776 effortlessly in the natural mode (dharmakaya)."(p.90)
37777 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled 'The
37778 Mirror of Clear Meaning' with commentary by James Low", published by Snow
37782 this is an event that can be caused by strong intoxication of various sorts.
37783 the sufferer passes out while seated at a table, such that he or she then has
37784 their head thud down onto the table. after a brief rest, the unlucky person
37785 wakes up again, and starts to rise off the table. when the head rises to a
37786 certain point, where blood pressure starts to increase, the effect of the
37787 intoxication takes over again, and they pass out once more. bam. hence, the
37788 head repeatedly banging into the table: a groundhog daze.
37789 i have seen this happen. it's not fun to watch. well, maybe a little.
37792 We are the source of healing and happiness. Our generosity and concern
37793 pacify every negative situation. As we send out kindness, we grow accustomed
37794 to being strong and kind. In this way, our positive feelings are constantly
37795 renewed and can never be exhausted.
37796 Perhaps you know the story about the man who arrived in heaven and when
37797 asked by God where he wanted to go replied that he wanted to see both heaven
37798 and hell. First, he went to hell. There was a large table with all the
37799 inhabitants of hell sitting around it. The center of the table was full of
37800 delicious food. Each person had two very long chopsticks. They could reach
37801 the food but they could not get it into their mouths because their chopsticks
37802 were too long. They were miserable. No one was eating and everyone went
37803 hungry. Next he was taken to visit heaven. All the inhabitants of heaven
37804 were also sitting around a big table full of delicious food but they were
37805 happy. They too had very long chopsticks but they were eating and enjoying
37806 themselves. They used the chopsticks to feed each other across the table.
37807 The people in heaven had discovered that it was in their interest to
37808 collaborate unselfishly.(p.69)
37809 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
37811 When you are in a fluctuating state of mind, like when you are angry or have
37812 lost your temper, then it is good to bring back calmness by concentrating on
37813 breathing. Just count the breaths, completely forgetting about anger.
37814 Concentrate on breathing and count in/out "one, two, three," up to twenty.
37815 At that moment when your mind concentrates fully on breathing, the breath
37816 coming and going, the passions subside. Afterwards it is easier to think
37818 Since all activities, including meditation, depend very much on the force of
37819 intention or motivation, it is important that, before you begin to meditate,
37820 you cultivate a correct motivation... The correct motivation is the
37821 altruistic attitude.(p.69)
37822 -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Cultivating a Daily
37823 Meditation", published by Snow Lion Publications
37825 The crazy elephant of the mind behaving wildly
37826 Is tied to the pillar of an object of observation
37827 With the rope of mindfulness.
37828 By degrees it is brought under control with the hook of wisdom.
37831 "Wisdom" here is introspection. Hence, the example of taming an elephant
37832 indicates the achievement of a serviceable mind by way of the two--mindfulness
37833 and introspection. The subtle vajra that is the base on which the mind is
37834 being set is like a stable pillar to which an elephant is tied. The
37835 unserviceable mind is like an untamed elephant. Causing the mind not to be
37836 distracted from its object of observation through relying on mindfulness is
37837 like using a rope to tie an elephant. Setting the mind free from fault--when
37838 it does not hold the object of observation as originally set--through
37839 immediately recognizing such by means of introspection is like a herder's
37840 hitting an elephant with a hook and correcting it when it strays from the tie-
37843 Hence, there are two important factors with regard to holding the mind:
37844 + From the beginning, stay on the object of observation without being
37845 distracted to anything other than it.
37846 + Then if distracted, immediately recognize such, and again focus the mind
37848 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
37849 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
37850 Snow Lion Publications
37852 Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor
37853 technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or
37854 defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this
37855 you will awaken from your dreams.
37856 -- Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
37858 LEEEEEEEROYYYY JENNNNNKINZZZ!!!
37859 -- To be yelled before irrationally throwing away all plans and jumping into
37860 the worst possible situation.
37862 what is an inference?
37863 someone says, "my hand stinks because my butt stinks."
37864 an inference you could draw:
37865 that hand has probably been too close to that butt.
37867 What Do We Mean by Bodhisattva?
37869 Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with
37870 all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence
37871 and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who
37872 have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate
37873 benefit of all beings are called bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct
37874 their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern
37875 for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is
37876 what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path.
37880 When we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
37881 in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
37882 sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
37883 and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
37884 buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
37885 sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
37886 This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
37887 of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
37888 strongly seek this aim.
37889 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37891 Genuine peace of mind is rooted in affection and compassion. There is a very
37892 high level of sensitivity and feeling involved. So long as we lack inner
37893 discipline, an inner calmness of mind, then no matter what external facilities
37894 or conditions we may have, they will never give us the feeling of joy and
37895 happiness that we seek. On the other hand, if we possess this inner
37896 quality--that is, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within--then even
37897 if we lack various external facilities that are normally considered necessary
37898 for a happy and joyful life, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful
37900 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37902 Complicated Simplicity
37904 Emptiness is the simplest and most unelaborated thing we could imagine, but
37905 then there is this whole literature about all these very discursive details
37906 with all their subpoints. There are five paths and ten bhumis, and each path
37907 is divided into a number of stages, with certain numbers of obscurations
37908 having to be relinquished on each one of those subpaths. Most people just
37909 think, "Who wants or needs to know all that? Don't we have too many
37910 thoughts already? I thought this was about letting go of all reference
37912 Of course nobody really wants to know all those details and in a sense we
37913 all know them already, because they are the details of the many reference
37914 points that we already have in our mind. The fact that these sutras and their
37915 commentaries talk about our obscurations is precisely the point why they seem
37916 so endless and complicated--because our minds are complicated. Emptiness is
37917 extremely simple, but our convoluted minds that do not get this simplicity are
37918 very complicated. It is not that the Buddha and the other speakers in the
37919 sutras and the commentaries really like to, but they need to address each one
37920 of those knots in our minds, which are like knots in space.
37922 If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have
37923 to be a horrible warning.
37926 The mind of clear light
37928 Is spiritual practice really worthwhile? Is it really possible to eliminate
37929 from within ourselves the forces that give rise to suffering? As is said,
37930 "The ultimate nature of mind is clear light." Consciousness has many
37931 levels, and although the coarser levels are affected by the defiling forces,
37932 the most subtle level remains free of gross negativities. In the Vajrayana
37933 this subtle level of consciousness is called the mind of clear light.
37934 The delusions and emotional afflictions as well as the dualistic mind of
37935 right and wrong, love and hatred, etc., are associated only with the coarse
37936 levels of consciousness. At the moment, we are totally absorbed in the
37937 interplay of these coarse states, so we must begin our practice by working
37938 within them. This means consciously encouraging love over hate, patience in
37939 place of anger, emotional freedom rather than attachment, kindness over
37940 violence, and so forth. Doing this brings immediate peace and calm to the
37941 mind, thus making higher meditation possible.
37942 Then, because grasping at a self and at phenomena as being truly existent is
37943 the cause of all the vast range of distorted states of mind, one cultivates
37944 the wisdom that eliminates this ego-grasping. To overcome ego-grasping is to
37945 overcome the entire host of mental distortions.
37946 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37948 It is the general Buddhist procedure that one's own pleasure and pain are
37949 acheived by oneself and not from the outside, and that, therefore, sentient
37950 beings themselves must understand and implement practices to bring about their
37951 own happiness. Thus, the most efficacious way to help others is through
37952 teaching what should be adopted in practice and what should be discarded from
37953 among current behavior. There is no way to do this unless you come to know
37954 all of the topics involved in what should be adopted in practice and what
37955 should be discarded--you must become omniscient. As mentioned earlier, there
37956 is no way to accomplish this except by removing the obstructions to
37957 omniscience, and one who has overcome, utterly and forever, the obstructions
37958 to omniscience is a Buddha.
37959 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37961 In meditation, imagine that in front of you are three persons--an enemy, a
37962 friend, and a neutral person. At that time, in our minds we have (1) a sense
37963 of closeness for one of them, thinking, "This is my friend"; (2) a sense
37964 of dislike even when imagining the enemy; and (3) a sense of ignoring the
37965 neutral person. Now, we have to think about the reasons why we generate these
37966 feelings--the reasons being that temporarily one of them helped us whereas
37967 the other temporarily harmed us, and the third did neither. However, when we
37968 think in terms of the long course of beginningless rebirth, none of us could
37969 decide that someone who has helped or harmed us in this life has been doing so
37971 When you contemplate this way, eventually you arrive at a point where a
37972 strong generation of desire or hatred appears to you to be just senseless.
37973 Gradually, such a bias weakens, and you decide that one-sided classification
37974 of persons as friends and enemies has been a mistake.
37975 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37977 Generally speaking, even if money brings us happiness, it tends to be the
37978 kind that money can buy: material things and sensory experiences. And these,
37979 we discover, become a source of suffering themselves. As far as actual
37980 possessions are concerned, we must admit that they often cause us more, not
37981 less, difficulty in life. The car breaks down, we lose our money, our most
37982 precious belongings are stolen, our house is damaged by fire. Or we worry
37983 about these things happening.
37984 The problem is not materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying
37985 assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
37986 Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the
37987 immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity
37988 to experience happiness at a deeper level, which, when achieved, can overwhelm
37989 unhappy experiences.
37990 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37992 We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of
37993 others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like
37994 it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives in which we do not benefit
37995 from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most
37996 of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor
37997 is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by
37998 concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic
37999 actions bring about happiness, but they also lessen our experience of
38000 suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are
38001 motivated by the wish to bring others happiness necessarily meets with less
38002 misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort
38003 or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our
38004 internal peace--anxiety, doubt, disappointment--these are definitely less.
38005 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38007 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
38008 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
38009 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
38010 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
38011 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
38012 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
38013 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
38014 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
38015 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
38016 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
38017 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
38018 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38020 Emptiness vs. Non-Existence
38022 The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of
38023 things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-
38024 existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are
38025 repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
38026 negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
38027 on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
38028 other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
38030 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38032 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
38033 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
38034 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
38035 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
38036 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
38037 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
38038 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
38039 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
38040 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
38041 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
38042 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
38043 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38045 The process of overcoming our defilements goes in conjunction with gaining
38046 higher levels of realisation. In fact, when we speak of gaining higher levels
38047 of realisation in Buddhism we are speaking primarily of the processes through
38048 which our wisdom and insight deepen. It is actually the wisdom aspect that
38049 enables the practitioner to move from one level to the next on the path.
38050 The attainment of the levels of the path is explained in condensed form in
38051 the Heart Sutra, where we find the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate
38052 parasamgate bodhi svaha. Tadyatha means It is thus; gate gate means go, go;
38053 paragate means go beyond and transcend; parasamgate means go utterly beyond,
38054 go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.
38055 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38059 It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but
38060 cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire,
38061 it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common
38062 sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, "Nothing corrupts a
38063 person more than power." Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that
38064 they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on
38065 others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for
38066 themselves and everyone else.
38067 Even if we have all the success we could dream of--fame, wealth, and so
38068 on--we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment
38069 does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them.
38070 It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they
38071 have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we
38072 will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly
38073 affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and
38075 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
38076 edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, page 92.
38078 The role of other sentient beings
38080 In relation to the attainment of liberation from cylic existence, which is
38081 known also as "definite goodness," the role of other sentient beings is
38082 indispensable. In the Buddhist understanding, the key spiritual practices
38083 that lead to the attainment of liberation are the Three Higher
38084 Trainings--higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom. The
38085 last two are based upon the foundation of the first, namely the training in
38086 morality. As I said before, the presence of other sentience beings is
38087 indispensable for this training. This is how we come to the powerful
38088 realisation that the role of other sentient beings is essential in all areas
38089 of our mundane and spiritual activities.
38090 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38092 To avoid being hurt by thorns and brambles, we might consider covering all
38093 the mountains with leather. That would be impossible, but putting on shoes
38094 would serve the same purpose. Similarly, if we tried to subdue all our outer
38095 enemies, we would never succeed. Once one was eliminated, another would rise
38096 against us. While doing this, our anger would continue to breed new foes.
38097 The only way to overcome our enemies is to turn inward and kill the real one,
38098 which is our own hatred.
38099 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
38100 edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs.
38102 One should not view one's dharma practice as being something decorative,
38103 regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for
38104 one's house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one
38105 might as well put up a thangka for decoration. That kind of attitude should
38106 not be cultivated. When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so
38107 out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction. If
38108 you can arrange these physical representations--statues and so forth--out of
38109 deep respect and faith, that's all right. On the other hand, the attitude
38110 that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive. I
38111 think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all
38112 their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of
38113 decoration. This is very wrong.
38114 Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the
38115 proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within
38116 the mind. Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing
38117 a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and
38118 calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.
38119 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38121 The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
38122 While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
38123 in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
38124 buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
38125 place. You should see that all external dirt and dust around you is basically
38126 a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see
38127 that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within
38128 your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also
38129 purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this
38130 place you are inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most
38131 supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will
38132 enable you to purge your mind of the stains and delusions.
38133 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38135 From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to
38136 be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there
38137 is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree;
38138 where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age.
38139 It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and
38140 not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained,
38141 or will attain, enlightenment. This human existence, moreover, is not to be
38142 achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions. And
38143 because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human
38144 existence is indeed difficult to obtain.
38145 Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have
38146 encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving
38147 teachings. But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the
38148 teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help
38149 to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and
38150 death. If we do not follow the doctor's prescription when we are sick, then
38151 even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.
38152 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
38153 Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by Padmakara Translation Group.
38155 The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by
38156 searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind
38157 itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is
38158 not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new
38159 through our meditation. It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all
38160 sorts of efforts to make ourselves good. Goodness is something we all have.
38161 It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet,
38162 so we have become confused. Therefore all we need to do is to just rest
38163 within it without changing it. We see where it stays and rest there, so we
38164 are like a kusulu. This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do,
38165 very simply. We do not need to think that we are making something good or
38166 that we need to meditate properly. It is enough just to know what we already
38168 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness", in "The Best Buddhist
38169 Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
38170 Sun, pages 196–197.
38172 We all have to recognize the tremendous opportunity that we have. As humans
38173 we have this rare intelligence, but there is a real danger that we will waste
38174 it. Death is certain, but when we will die is totally unpredictable. We
38175 could lose our precious human existence at any moment. With such reflections,
38176 we must motivate ourselves to do something meaningful right now. The best way
38177 to make your human existence meaningful is to really engage in the practice of
38178 Dharma. During formal sitting meditation and in between sessions, in
38179 different ways, be mindful and introspectively vigilant. Keep constant watch
38181 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38183 In order to carry out a practice--such as constantly watching the mind--you
38184 should form a determination, make a pledge, right when you wake up: "Now, for
38185 the rest of this day, I will put into practice what I believe just as much as
38186 I can." It is very important that, at the start of the day, we should set out
38187 to shape what will happen later. Then, at the end of every day, check what
38188 happened. Review the day. And if you carried through for that whole day your
38189 morning's determination, then rejoice. Reinforce further your motivation to
38190 continue in the same line. However, when you do your reviewing, you may
38191 discover that you did things during the day that are contrary to your
38192 religious values and beliefs. You should then acknowledge this and cultivate
38193 a deep sense of remorse. Strengthen your resolve not to indulge in these
38194 actions in the future.
38195 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38197 There are two different ways in which we can understand the term "ordinary
38198 mind." One way is to not take control over anything and end up following our
38199 afflictions. When a thought of anger arises, we follow it; when greed arises,
38200 we lose control of ourselves to it. Similarly, we lose control of ourselves
38201 to our pride and jealousy. Although we might think of this as our ordinary
38202 state of mind, it is not what we mean here. Here it does not mean losing
38203 control of ourselves to negative emotions. Instead, it means that we do not
38204 need to do anything at all to the essence of the mind itself.
38205 We do not need to alter this essence in any way. We do not have to worry
38206 about what we are thinking, what is pleasant, or what is painful. We can
38207 leave this mind as it is. If we try to alter the mind in any way, thoughts
38208 will arise. But if we do not do anything to it and let it rest easily, then
38209 it is unaltered. The Kagyu masters of the past called this the ordinary mind,
38210 or the natural state. They called it this out of their experience. This
38211 ordinary mind itself is the dharma expanse and the essence of the buddhas; it
38212 is our buddha-nature.
38213 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness" in "The Best Buddhist
38214 Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
38217 If your engagement with others is tainted by strong attachment, craving,
38218 aversion, anger, and so forth, then that form of grasping is undesirable. But
38219 on the other hand, when you are interacting with other living beings and
38220 become aware of their needs or suffering or pain, then you need to fully
38221 engage with that and be compassionate. So there can be positive attachment in
38222 this sense of active engagement.
38223 Buddhist masters have long used the term attachment to describe the quality
38224 of compassion for others. For example, a verse from Haribhadra's Clear
38225 Meaning Commentary refers to compassion that is attached to other living
38226 beings. And as we have seen, Nagarjuna teaches that attachment for other
38227 living beings will arise spontaneously in the person who realizes emptiness.
38228 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38230 Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and
38231 ask them to grant their blessings, "So I may give birth to the heart of
38232 sadness." But what is a "heart of sadness"? Imagine one night you have
38233 a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you
38234 will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later,
38235 whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every
38236 aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change. And the
38237 little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this
38238 inevitability is what is called the "heart of sadness." Life, you realise,
38239 is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until
38240 next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.
38241 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
38242 Called Preliminary Practices"
38244 What we want to eliminate is grasping that is grounded upon falsification of
38245 the object, distortions that arise as afflictions grasp at the apparent
38246 substantial existence of an object. Some texts say that mental states such as
38247 compassion and faith are, by their very nature, virtuous and thus cannot at
38248 the same time be afflicted mental states. Yet there are other texts that
38249 refer to "afflicted compassion" or "afflicted faith." For those of us
38250 who have not realized emptiness, when we generate strong devotion toward the
38251 Buddha perhaps there is within that faith, within that devotion, an element of
38252 grasping at the Buddha as substantially real. This makes it an instance of
38253 so-called "afflicted devotion."
38254 Still, it is important to distinguish grasping rooted in falsification and
38255 distortion from the attachment, focus, or holding that we associate with
38256 compassion. In our immediate experience, these two forms of grasping may seem
38257 the same, but in terms of the overall mental environment they are quite
38258 different. Compassion is fact-based, while distorted grasping is not.
38259 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38261 By and large, human beings tend to prefer to fit in to society by following
38262 accepted rules of etiquette and being gentle, polite, and respectful. The
38263 irony is that this is also how most people imagine a spiritual person should
38264 behave. When a so-called dharma practitioner is seen to behave badly, we
38265 shake our heads over her audacity at presenting herself as a follower of the
38266 Buddha. Yet such judgments are better avoided, because to "fit in" is not
38267 what a genuine dharma practitioner strives for.
38268 Think of Tilopa, for example. He looked so outlandish that if he turned up
38269 on your doorstep today, odds are you would refuse to let him in. And you
38270 would have a point. He would most likely be almost completely naked; if you
38271 were lucky, he might be sporting some kind of G-string; his hair would never
38272 have been introduced to shampoo; and protruding from his mouth would quiver
38273 the tail of a live fish. What would your moral judgment be of such a being?
38274 "Him! A Buddhist?" This is how our theistic, moralistic, and judgmental
38275 minds work. Of course, there is nothing wrong with morality, but the point of
38276 spiritual practice, according to the vajrayana teachings, is to go beyond all
38277 our concepts, including those of morality.
38278 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
38279 Called Preliminary Practices".
38281 Because it is a reality that we are by nature social animals, bound to depend
38282 on each other, we need to cultivate affection and concern for other people if
38283 we really desire peace and happiness. Look at wild animals and birds. Even
38284 they travel together, flock together, and help each other. Bees do not have a
38285 particular legal system, they do not follow any spiritual practice, but for
38286 their livelihood and survival they depend on each other--that is their
38287 natural way of existence. Even though we intelligent human beings must also
38288 depend on each other, we sometimes misuse our intelligence and try to exploit
38289 each other. That goes against human nature. For those of us who profess to
38290 believe in a particular religious practice, it is extremely important that we
38291 try to help each other and cultivate a feeling of affection for each other.
38292 That is the source of happiness in our life.
38293 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38295 It's important to differentiate a thought from an emotion. We say things
38296 such as, "I feel like they don't accept me." Actually, that is a thought.
38297 We may feel hurt or frustrated, and it's because we're thinking that others
38298 don't accept us. How do we know they don't accept us? We don't. We
38299 haven't asked them. Instead, on the basis of how they looked at us or a
38300 comment they made, our mind constructs a story that we believe.
38301 As soon as you hear yourself saying, "I feel like...," stop and recognize
38302 that you can't "feel like" something. You are thinking. After you have
38303 identified the thought, ask yourself, "Is that true? How do I know it's true?
38304 What evidence do I have to prove the validity of that thought?" It's really
38305 startling to see how often we assume our interpretation of a situation is true
38306 when in fact it is based on flimsy evidence.
38307 -- Thubten Chodron, from "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with
38308 Wisdom and Compassion"
38310 We are all human beings, and from this point of view, we are the same. We all
38311 want happiness and we do not want suffering. If we consider this point, we
38312 will find that there are no differences between people of different faiths,
38313 races, colors, or cultures. We all have this common wish for happiness.
38314 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38316 Enlightenment is not anything new or something we create or bring into
38317 existence. It is simply discovering within us what is already there. It is
38318 the full realization of our intrinsic nature. In Tibetan, buddha is sang
38319 gyay. Sang means that all of the faults have been cleared away, while gyay
38320 means "full realization"; just as from darkness, the moon waxes, likewise
38321 from ignorance, the qualities of the mind's intrinsic nature emerge.
38322 -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
38324 The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is that we should view others as being
38325 more important than we are. Of course, you cannot completely ignore yourself.
38326 But neither can you neglect the welfare of other people and other sentient
38327 beings, particularly when there is a clash of interest between your own
38328 welfare and the welfare of other people. At such a time you should consider
38329 other people's welfare as more important than your own personal well-being.
38330 Compare yourself to the rest of sentient beings. All other sentient beings
38331 are countless, while you are just one person. Your suffering and happiness
38332 may be very important, but it is just the suffering and happiness of one
38333 individual, whereas the happiness and suffering of all other sentient beings
38334 is immeasurable and countless. So, it is the way of the wise to sacrifice one
38335 for the benefit of the majority and it is the way of the foolish to sacrifice
38336 the majority on behalf of just one single individual. Even from the point of
38337 view of your personal well-being, you must cultivate a compassionate
38338 mind--that is that source of happiness in your life.
38339 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38341 Attachment and love are similar in that both of them draw us to the other
38342 person. But in fact, these two emotions are quite different. When we're
38343 attached we're drawn to someone because he or she meets our needs. In
38344 addition, there are lots of strings attached to our affection that we may or
38345 may not realize are there. For example, I 'love' you because you make me feel
38346 good. I 'love' you as long as you do things that I approve of. I 'love' you
38347 because you're mine. You're my spouse or my child or my parent or my friend.
38348 With attachment, we go up and down like a yo-yo, depending on how the other
38349 person treats us. We obsess, "What do they think of me? Do they love me?
38350 Have I offended them? How can I become what they want me to be so that they
38351 love me even more?" It's not very peaceful, is it? We're definitely stirred
38353 On the other hand, the love we're generating on the Dharma path is
38354 unconditional. We simply want other to have happiness and the causes of
38355 happiness without any strings attached, without any expectations of what these
38356 people will do for us or how good they'll make us feel.
38357 -- Thubten Chodron, "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with Wisdom
38360 Because we don't recognize our essential nature--we don't realize that
38361 although appearances arise unceasingly, nothing is really there--we invest
38362 with solidity and reality the seeming truth of self, other, and actions
38363 between self and others. This intellectual obscuration gives rise to
38364 attachment and aversion, followed by actions and reactions that create karma,
38365 solidify into habit, and perpetuate the cycles of suffering. This entire
38366 process needs to be purified.
38367 -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, from "In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30
38368 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers", edited by Reginald A. Ray.
38370 Effort is crucial in the beginning for generating a strong will. We all
38371 have the Buddha nature and thus already have within us the substances through
38372 which, when we meet with the proper conditions, we can turn into a fully
38373 enlightened being having all beneficial attributes and devoid of all faults.
38374 The very root of failure in our lives is to think, "Oh, how useless and
38375 powerless I am!" It is important to have a strong force of mind thinking,
38376 "I can do it," this not being mixed with pride or any other afflictive
38378 Moderate effort over a long period of time is important, no matter what you
38379 are trying to do. One brings failure on oneself by working extremely hard at
38380 the beginning, attempting to do too much, and then giving it all up after a
38381 short time. A constant stream of moderate effort is needed. Similarly, when
38382 meditating, you need to be skillful by having frequent, short sessions; it is
38383 more important that the session be of good quality than that it be long.
38384 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
38386 We Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but practically
38387 speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any case, we
38388 must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is very
38389 important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings inhabiting
38390 different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human beings on
38391 our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the problem.
38392 It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily
38393 lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to desist
38394 from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be
38395 honest human beings, sincere human beings.
38396 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38398 How things appear and how they actually exist differ greatly. A person
38399 engaging in practice of the perfection of wisdom does this kind of analysis
38400 and then examines how things appear in ordinary experience, alternating
38401 analysis and comparison with the usual mode of appearance in order to notice
38402 the discrepancy between the actual mode of subsistence of phenomena and their
38404 In this way the inherent existence which is the object of negation will
38405 become clearer and clearer. As much as the object of negation becomes
38406 clearer, so much deeper will your understanding of emptiness become. Finally,
38407 you will ascertain a mere vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence.
38408 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38410 Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings.
38411 They are compared to three "pots": a full pot, a pot with poison in it,
38412 and a pot with a hole in the bottom.
38413 The pot that's filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and
38414 preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that
38415 nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.
38416 The pot containing poison is like a mind that's so cynical, critical, and
38417 judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no
38418 openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that
38419 challenges our righteous stance.
38420 The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but
38421 we're lost in thought. We're so busy thinking about our dream vacation or
38422 what's for dinner that we're completely deaf to what's being said.
38423 Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit,
38424 Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive.
38425 Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause
38426 and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.
38427 -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
38430 Shantideva cites three benefits of pain. First, it is valuable because
38431 through sorrow, pride is driven out. No matter how arrogant and condescending
38432 we've been, great suffering can humble us. The pain of a serious illness or
38433 loss of a loved one can be transformative, softening us and making us less
38435 The second benefit of pain is empathy: the compassion felt for those who
38436 wander in samsara. Our personal suffering brings compassion for others in the
38437 same situation. A young woman was telling me that when her baby died, she
38438 felt a deep connection to all the other parents who had lost children. This
38439 was, as she put it, the unexpected blessing of her sorrow.
38440 The third value of suffering is that evil is avoided and goodness seems
38441 delightful. When we practice according to Shantideva's instructions, we can
38442 get smarter about cause and result. Based on this understanding, we'll have
38443 less inclination to cause harm, and more desire to gather virtue and benefit
38445 -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
38448 Since emptiness, from between positive and negative phenomena, is a negative
38449 phenomenon and, from between affirming negatives and non-affirming negatives,
38450 is a non-affirming negative, when it appears to the mind, nothing will appear
38451 except an absence of such inherent existence--a mere elimination of the
38452 object of negation. Thus, for the mind of a person realizing emptiness there
38453 is no sense of, "I am ascertaining emptiness," and there is no thought,
38454 "This is emptiness." If you had such a sense, emptiness would become
38455 distant. Nevertheless, the emptiness of inherent existence is ascertained and
38457 After such realization, even though whatever phenomena appear appear to
38458 exist in their own right, you understand that they do not exist that way. You
38459 have a sense that they are like a magician's illusions in that there is a
38460 combination of their appearing one way but actually existing another way.
38461 Though they appear to exist inherently, you understand that they are empty of
38462 inherent existence.
38463 When phenomena are seen this way, the conceptions that superimpose a sense
38464 of goodness or badness on phenomena beyond what is actually there and serve as
38465 a basis for generating desire and hatred lessen; this is because they are
38466 based on the misconception that phenomena are established in their own right.
38467 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38469 Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without
38470 identity, and the very essence of being;
38471 do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated
38472 on characteristics and concepts.
38474 Timeless awareness entails (a) understanding that the way in which phenomena
38475 actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations
38476 imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; (b)
38477 realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and (c) unerring
38478 knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually
38479 abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments. It is on this
38480 awareness that one should rely.
38481 Ordinary consciousness entails (a) belief that what one immediately
38482 perceives constitutes something truly existent; (b) conceptualization in terms
38483 of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body
38484 aggregates; and (c) mental states that are conditioned, for example, by
38485 attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not
38486 rely on such consciousness.
38487 -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
38488 and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
38490 Such is the process of karma: it is ineluctable; its results are greatly
38491 magnified; actions not committed have no effect; and the effects of actions
38492 committed never expire on their own.
38493 Generally speaking, whether you are an ordinary mortal individual or a
38494 spiritually advanced being, all positive experiences that carry with them any
38495 pleasant sensation--down to even the slightest pleasure caused by a cool
38496 breeze for beings reborn in a hell realm--occur due to positive karma
38497 reinforced in the past; it is not in accord with the nature of things that
38498 happiness be due to negative karma. And all negative experiences that carry
38499 with them any unpleasant sensation--down to even the slightest suffering that
38500 could occur in the experience of an arhat--occur due to negative karma one
38501 has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things
38502 that suffering be due to positive karma.
38503 -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
38504 and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
38506 "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and
38507 illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind,
38508 it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva
38510 There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless,
38511 this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings
38512 themselves--pleasant and unpleasant--are utterly non-existent. They do
38513 exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have
38514 a dream-like and illusion-like quality.
38515 In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that
38516 experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind,
38517 feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There
38518 must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the
38519 experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist
38520 simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity
38521 relationship between them.
38522 For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could
38523 hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two
38524 mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to
38525 apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus,
38526 feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with
38527 them and that exists simultaneously with them.
38528 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38530 Any happiness there is in the world ultimately turns to pain. Why? Consider
38531 the two sides of a coin: just because what we desire is to be seen on the
38532 front does not mean that dislike won't soon appear on the back. Likewise,
38533 hope and fear are a single coin, one entity with two faces--on the other side
38534 of a moment in which we hope for more happiness will be our fear of more
38535 suffering. Until attachment is eliminated, we can be certain of having both
38536 hope and fear. As long as there is hope and fear, the delusions of samsara
38537 will be perpetuated and there will be constant suffering. Thus attachment is
38538 the nature of both hope and fear: looking at the ultimate emptiness of the
38539 self-envisioned magical illusion of hope and fear, we should hang loosely in
38541 --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
38542 Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman
38544 The feelings of joy and sorrow do not exist from their own side. Although
38545 they exist as conceptual imputations, you cling to them as existing from their
38546 own side. Feelings do not exist by their own intrinsic nature; rather, they
38547 are identified on the basis of contributing circumstances.
38548 Therefore, this analysis is cultivated as an antidote for that [false
38549 conception of intrinsic existence]. The meditative absorption that arises
38550 from the field of discriminative investigation is the food of the
38551 contemplative.--Shantideva
38552 Feelings do not truly exist; they are not found when sought through
38553 analysis; they do not exist independently, but exist by the power of
38554 convention. Thus, the means for overcoming the misconception of the true
38555 existence of feelings is meditation on their lack of such existence. This
38556 entails analyzing the mode of existence of feelings.
38557 Such investigation is an aid to meditative absorption and leads to the
38558 integration of meditative quiescence and insight. That increases the physical
38559 vitality of the contemplative and enhances the power of his [or her] spiritual
38560 practice. Thus it is called the nourishment of the contemplative.
38561 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom".
38563 It is not enough merely to look into the space of happiness or sadness; it is
38564 important to have pure presence constant in that flow. If the power of
38565 meditation is not constant, it is impossible to remain long in the place of
38566 nondual perception. Thoughts that arise intermittently will break the
38567 continuity, and radiating out from this, like ripples on a pond, the poisonous
38568 taste of emotion will arise to obstruct the meditation. As gross thoughts
38569 increase, ripples become rough waves that intensify the emotion. Until subtle
38570 emotions are left behind, we cannot eradicate suffering, so it is crucially
38571 important to sustain the state of meditation. When we gain strong familiarity
38572 by staying in that space for a long time, then no matter what thoughts arise,
38573 whether gross or subtle, they will not be able to dislodge us: upon
38574 recognizing the first thought, whatever thought it may be, in that very
38575 moment, we realize it to be the play of the spontaneous creativity of
38576 dharmakaya. Like a wave falling back into the ocean, the thought vanishes
38577 into the dharmakaya. In that space of naked empty pure presence that is the
38578 view, always cherishing thoughts of the five poisonous emotions and all the
38579 movements of body, speech, and mind, and the acts of eating, sleeping, moving,
38580 and sitting, we are known as the yogins and yoginis who stand guard over the
38581 shifting dharmakaya display. This is the supreme method of sustaining the
38582 essence of meditation. According to Dzogchen teaching, this is unadulterated
38583 by any kind of focus; it is called "the great meditation that is
38585 --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
38586 Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman.
38588 Who is more shameless in this world,
38589 Than one who abandons to samsara's ocean of suffering
38590 All the mothers who have tenderly cared for him since beginningless time
38591 And instead strives toward the peace of a solitary nirvana?
38592 --Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal
38594 In each of our lives since beginningless time, our mother carried us within
38595 her body for nine months. She took care of us when we were helpless babies;
38596 she gave us food, education, and protection. In return, we feel love and
38597 gratitude for her kindness.
38598 Why not extend our respect and appreciation for our mother to everyone else?
38599 If we take a broader perspective, we can consider that, within the countless
38600 existences we have lived, every being has been our mother at one time or
38601 another. Don't they also deserve our kindness now? We can extend the same
38602 debt of gratitude that we owe our present mother to all sentient beings. By
38603 doing so, we naturally begin to develop a deep concern for the happiness of
38604 others, and this feeling makes sense to us.
38605 We take the refuge vow not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of
38606 all sentient beings. This is bodhichitta, or the altruistic mind, which aims
38607 for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
38608 --Shechen Rabjam, "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the Notion
38609 of Reality: Steps in Meditation on the Enlightened Mind"
38611 Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
38612 and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
38613 [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
38614 In truth, these are not two different things.
38617 All aspects of the knowable--all absolute and relative phenomena--are
38618 directly known. Through this knowledge one is immediately and perfectly
38619 enlightened. This is the aspect of realization. All the adventitious
38620 defilements--the two veils along with their remaining imprints--are
38621 abandoned without any exception. This is the aspect of abandonment. These
38622 two qualities have been led to ultimate perfection. They are therefore named
38623 "perfect buddha" ["perfectly awakened and expanded"] from the
38624 viewpoint of the former aspect, and "nirvana" ["gone beyond any torment
38625 and pain"] from the viewpoint of the latter aspect. These two aspects are
38626 contained in one and the same meaning, the meaning of the tathagatagarbha,
38627 whereas a difference only lies in the convention of the different terms. In
38628 the sense of the absolute field of experience of the noble ones' primordial
38629 wisdom the qualities of realization and abandonment are therefore completely
38630 inseparable and do not exist as two different things.
38631 -- Arya Maitreya, "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with
38632 Commentary", with commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Thaye
38634 "Vehicle" (yana) has two meanings: the means by which one progresses and
38635 the destination to which one is progressing. Mahayana in the sense of the
38636 vehicle by which one progresses means to be motivated by the mind of
38637 enlightenment--wishing to attain highest enlightenment for the sake of all
38638 sentient beings, one's objects of intent--and means to engage in the six
38640 Seeing reason and need, Buddha set forth many systems and vehicles, but
38641 these did not arise due to his being intimate with some and alien to others.
38642 The trainees who were listening to his teaching had various dispositions,
38643 interests, and abilities, and thus he taught methods that were suitable for
38644 each of them. For those who temporarily did not have the courage to strive
38645 for Buddhahood or who did not at all have the capacity of obtaining Buddhahood
38646 at that time, Buddha did not say, "You can attain Buddhahood." Rather, he
38647 set forth a path appropriate to the trainees' abilities. Buddha spoke in
38648 terms of their situation, and everything that he spoke was a means of
38649 eventually attaining highest enlightenment even though he did not always say
38650 that these were means for attaining Buddhahood.
38651 Since the purpose of a Buddha's coming is others' realization of the
38652 wisdom of Buddhahood, the methods for actualizing this wisdom are one vehicle,
38653 not two. A Buddha does not lead beings by a vehicle that does not proceed to
38654 Buddhahood; he establishes beings in his own level. A variety of vehicles are
38655 set forth in accordance with temporary needs.
38656 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38658 You do not have to seek out loneliness--it is always there. Egolessness is a
38659 concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A
38660 feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way
38661 constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
38662 When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that
38663 state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover
38664 a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being
38665 you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain
38666 man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn't mean anything.
38667 You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
38668 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume
38669 One: The Individual Path of Liberation"
38671 Interdependence is our reality, whether we accept it or not. In order to
38672 live productively within such a reality, it is better to acknowledge and work
38673 with interdependence, wholeheartedly and without resistance. This is where
38674 love and compassion come in. It is love that leads us to embrace our
38675 connectedness to others, and to participate willingly in the relations created
38676 by our interdependence. Love can melt away our defenses and our painful sense
38677 of separation. The warmth of friendship and love makes it easy for us to
38678 accept that our happiness is intimately linked to that of others. The more
38679 widely we are able to love others, the happier and more content we can feel
38680 within the relations of interdependence that are a natural part of our life.
38681 Love is possible in all our relationships because all people want happiness.
38682 No one wants to suffer. This is true of the people we love. It is also true
38683 of those we dislike. We are all absolutely identical in this respect. I
38684 think this universal wish for happiness is something we can easily grasp
38685 intellectually. When we learn to also feel and respect this in our heart,
38686 love naturally flourishes within us.
38687 -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart is Noble: Changing the World
38688 from the Inside Out"
38690 Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
38691 afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
38692 and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
38693 completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
38695 To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
38696 overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
38697 have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary
38698 for achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these
38699 two prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
38700 asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
38701 standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
38702 the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
38703 manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
38704 and unflawed. Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you
38705 have fallen into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing
38706 outside it who does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to
38708 Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
38709 Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
38710 speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
38712 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38714 All that is has me--universal creativity,
38715 pure and total presence--as its root.
38716 How things appear is my being.
38717 How things arise is my manifestation.
38718 Sounds and words heard are my messages
38719 expressed in sounds and words.
38720 All the capacities, forms, and pristine
38721 awareness of the buddhas;
38722 The bodies of sentient beings, their
38723 habituations, and so forth;
38724 All environments and their inhabitants,
38725 life forms, and experiences;
38726 Are the primordial state of pure and total
38729 Without understanding me, the creativity of
38731 But investigating the phenomena that I
38733 You perceive everything dualistically due
38734 to your attachment and longing.
38735 Impermanent, apparitional things will fade
38737 They are aimless, like a blind man.
38739 All that is experienced and
38740 Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
38741 They cannot be conceptualized according to
38742 the cause and effect systems of thought.
38743 Investigate your mind's real nature
38744 So that your pure and total presence will
38745 actually shine forth.
38747 -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World"
38749 Devotion, or mögü in Tibetan, can be divided into two aspects: möpa and
38750 küpa. Möpa means "longing" or "wanting," and küpa means "humility,"
38751 "respect," or "being without arrogance." With küpa, you are not pretending
38752 to be somebody who has reached a higher level of wisdom. So in devotion,
38753 longing and humbleness are put together. That state of mind brings openness
38754 to the teacher and to the dharma.
38755 With küpa, the longing of möpa does not become purely an emotional
38756 indulgence or demand on the part of either the student or the teacher. The
38757 devotion of küpa is the respect or sacredness that comes from that experience
38758 of aah [the space before first thought]! Küpa arises because every highlight
38759 in your life has always been touched by the sacredness of vajrayana, even
38760 before you knew it.
38761 -- Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma,
38762 Volume Three: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness"
38764 All suffering in this life and others is created by the unsubdued mind.
38765 Similarly, the basis of all the practices of the six paramitas, such as
38766 generosity, moral discipline, and so on, is the mind.
38768 Nothing is more important than guarding the mind. Let us constantly keep
38769 watch over the wild elephant of the mind, curbing it with mindfulness and
38770 vigilance. This is how to avoid being influenced by different external
38771 conditions. But even in retreat in a very secluded place, if the mind is not
38772 kept under control, it will wander all over the place. Even completely alone,
38773 we can have an enormous amount of negative emotions.
38775 How are we to guard the mind? We should use attentiveness to watch our
38776 thoughts and use mindfulness to judge whether we are acting correctly. With
38777 these two we have the means to annihilate all adverse conditions. But without
38778 them, we will not see whether our thoughts are positive or negative or whether
38779 we are doing right or wrong, nor will we then be able to use antidotes as
38781 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38783 The great yogi Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol replies to a Losar Day request from
38784 his disciple Depa Wangpo on what to adopt and what to reject regarding
38785 attitude and conduct...
38787 Don't harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
38788 Don't be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
38789 Don't let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
38790 Don't let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
38791 Always have pure thoughts towards others.
38793 In brief, keeping Death in mind, practice the sacred Dharma.
38794 Give up doing wrong, and do what is wholesome.
38795 Whatever happiness and sufferings you undergo,
38796 Regard them as the result of previous actions.
38797 Always act in accord with the Dharma.
38798 Even though I may be far away,
38799 These instructions will remain like my very presence.
38802 -- Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol, in "The Life of Shabkar"
38804 On the very night of Dodrupchen's death, his spiritual testament was
38805 received by his principal disciple, Do Khyentse. Dodrupchen appeared in the
38806 sky in a radiant light body and an attire of lights. He was floating on a
38807 carpet of light, which was held up by four dakinis. In a very enchanting
38808 voice he sang the verses of his testament, which include the following lines:
38810 I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of the Ultimate Sphere,
38811 Which is the state that transcends thoughts and expressions.
38812 I am going into the state of Mirrorlike Wisdom,
38813 Which is the ceaseless clear glow, fresh and open.
38814 I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of Evenness,
38815 In which all the thoughts of grasping and grasper have vanished into the
38817 I am going into the Wisdom of Discriminative Awareness,
38818 Which is the clarity, the dawn of six kinds of foreknowledge.
38819 I am going into the state of the Wisdom of Accomplishment,
38820 Which emanates various manifestations in accordance with [the needs of]
38823 Son, please stay healthy.
38824 Now you have won over the obstructions of your life.
38825 Until all the phenomenal existents are liberated as the signs and
38826 teachings [of Dharma],
38827 [You should be] aware of samsara and nirvana as dreams and illusions.
38828 Dedicate yourself to the meditation where there is no reference point.
38829 This is the empowerment of total entrustment and aspiration.
38830 This is the supreme empowerment of empowerments.
38832 -- from "Masters of Meditation and Miracles", by Tulku Thondup.
38834 The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general,
38835 instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network
38836 of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single,
38837 individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with
38838 what we consider to be good, we would be automatically happy, and conversely,
38839 in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would
38840 be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would
38841 be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we
38842 consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of
38843 causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or
38844 resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to
38845 arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed
38847 By training our minds and getting used to this view, we change our way of
38848 seeing things, and as a result we gradually change our behavior and do less
38849 harm to others. As it says in the sutras:
38852 Practice virtue well;
38854 This is the Buddha's teaching.
38856 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "For the Benefit of All Beings"
38858 In the avadhuti, the main path of enlightenment,
38859 Prana and mind, bliss and warmth, are united,
38860 Becoming unconditioned great bliss.
38861 The wisdom of unobscured insight dawns.
38863 "This is unsurpassable," the guru has said.
38864 The darkness of ignorance is purified in space.
38865 One is free from the two obscurations of grasping and fixation.
38866 Therefore bliss and luminosity dawn in simplicity.
38868 This appearance of collective coincidence
38869 Is a reflection without self-nature.
38870 All appearances are realized like that,
38871 And just like appearances in a dream,
38872 All dharmas arise as illusions...
38874 When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
38875 When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
38876 When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
38877 When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
38879 -- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
38880 and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
38882 The Four Seals in Buddhism are:
38884 All products are impermanent.
38885 (or all compounded phenomena are impermanent?)
38886 ('du byed thams cad mi rtag pa)
38888 All contaminated objects are miserable.
38889 (zag bcas thams cad sdug bsngal ba)
38891 All phenomena are selfless.
38892 (chos thams cad bdag med pa)
38895 (mya ngan las 'das ba zhi ba)
38897 --from "Meditation on Emptiness" (London: Wisdom, 1983), by Jeffrey Hopkins
38899 When you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma.
38900 You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be
38901 dictated by your previous actions.
38902 For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
38903 free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
38904 Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
38905 to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
38906 influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
38907 the certainty of death into each and every day.
38908 Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
38909 be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
38910 Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
38911 renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
38912 -- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
38913 Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
38915 I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
38916 the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
38917 a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
38918 Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
38919 long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
38920 solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
38921 continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
38922 clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
38923 simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
38925 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38927 The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
38930 1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
38931 composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
38932 phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
38934 2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
38937 3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
38938 extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
38939 wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
38940 being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
38942 4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
38943 obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
38944 through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
38945 conception of self.
38947 These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
38948 features of Buddhist doctrine.
38949 -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
38950 Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
38951 and Craig Preston, page 88.
38953 When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
38954 You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
38955 practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
38956 that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
38957 absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
38958 inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
38959 anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
38960 monumental--no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
38961 out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
38962 you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
38963 preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
38964 garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
38965 Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
38967 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
38968 Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
38970 If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, we must consider
38971 future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It
38972 is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world
38973 we pass on is as healthy as, if not healthier than, we found it. This is not
38974 quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a
38975 limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal
38976 response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can,
38977 however little that may be. Just because switching off the light on leaving
38978 the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean we shouldn't do it.
38979 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Pocket Dalai Lama"
38981 Basically we are trying to put a stop to frivolity of any kind. Frivolity is
38982 an interesting word. It can mean being crazy and indulging unnecessarily in a
38983 very crude fashion, but it could also mean indulging in something in the name
38984 of humor and overdoing it slightly. If you are embarrassed to deal with a
38985 particular subject, you find another subject to discuss. If you are tired of
38986 drinking vodka, you switch to sake. If you are bored with talking to one
38987 person, you switch to somebody else. Frivolity is anything that creates
38988 further confusion, or the longing for further confusion. Confusion may seem
38989 luxurious: when you no longer have it, you begin to miss that confusion, and
38990 you would like to re-create it. It is like going back to an adult bookshop
38991 and getting more magazines. But with discipline, you control any form of
38992 potential escape from reality.
38993 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
38994 Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
38996 The essence of all the songs can be epitomized by the four dharmas of
38997 Gampopa. These are: (1) one's mind becomes dharmic; (2) that dharma
38998 practice becomes path; (3) in following that path, confusion is removed; (4)
38999 having removed confusion, everything dawns as wisdom.
39000 The first dharma is the ground, where our mind becomes dharmic so that we
39001 and the dharma are no longer separate entities. We develop true renunciation
39002 and have a sense of revulsion towards samsara. The second dharma is the path.
39003 When our mind goes along with the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, and any
39004 obstacles, whether extreme or ordinary, become a part of our journey. The
39005 third dharma is the fruition. As the journey is taking place, the process of
39006 the journey liberates us from confusion and anxiety. We are delighted by our
39007 journey and we feel it is good. The fourth dharma is the total vision. When
39008 we are able to overcome confusion and anxiety, even our anxiety is not
39009 regarded as anti-dharma or anti-path. Cosmic wakefulness takes place.
39010 -- Chögyam Trungpa's in the foreword to "The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of
39011 the Ocean of True Meaning"
39013 Scrutinize Apperances
39015 No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
39016 collections of consciousness--sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
39017 bodily sensations, or mental objects or events--we thoroughly scrutinize its
39018 mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
39019 established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
39020 existent self-nature--and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
39021 establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
39022 from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
39023 of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
39024 existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
39025 itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
39026 does not exist as it appears to exist--by being mindful that its existence
39027 and identity are not established through its own power--we automatically
39028 reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
39029 existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama's A Root
39030 Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
39031 experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
39033 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
39036 The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
39037 meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
39038 dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
39039 defies gender definitions. "To really meet the dakini, you have to go
39040 beyond duality," Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
39041 understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
39042 intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means "sky-goer" or
39043 "space-dancer," which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
39044 left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
39046 -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
39047 Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
39049 Drawing from Longchenpa, Jamgon Kongtrul explains the method of awakening in
39050 the Dzog-chen system, calling it the "Liberation as Ever-Perfect," as the
39051 primordial buddha Samantabhadra... Liberation as Ever-Perfect does not refer
39052 to the liberation of a buddha that has occurred in the past, such as that of
39053 Buddha Sakyamuni, but to the way in which countless beings are liberated right
39054 now and will continue to be liberated in the future simply by realizing their
39055 primordial purity. The basis, the path, and the ultimate result in this
39056 system are all of a singular, undifferentiated nature: total, pure awareness.
39057 Thus, the primordial freedom that one seeks to attain by practicing the
39058 spiritual path is something that one already possesses. Intrinsic freedom is
39059 itself the path that leads to the actualization of the goal.
39060 -- from the Translator's Introduction, "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One,
39061 Myriad Worlds", by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
39063 If we realize, "I am a human being. A human being can do anything,"
39064 this determination, courage, and self-confidence are important sources of
39065 victory and success. Without will power and determination, even something
39066 that you might have achieved easily cannot be achieved. If you have will
39067 power and reasonable courage--not blind courage but courage without
39068 pride--even things that seemed impossible at a certain stage turn into being
39069 possible because of continuing effort inspired by that courage. Thus,
39070 determination is important.
39071 How can this be developed? Not through machines, not by money, but by our
39072 own inner strength based on clear realization of the value of human beings, of
39073 human dignity. For, once we realize that a human being is much more than just
39074 material, much more than just money, we can feel the importance of human life,
39075 from which we can feel the importance of compassion and kindness.
39076 Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
39077 feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering,
39078 and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the
39079 same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner,
39080 believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian,
39081 Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value
39082 we are all the same.
39083 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
39087 Racoon dead six weeks.
39092 Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the
39093 time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding
39094 as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the
39095 enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]:
39098 Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu,
39099 Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena,
39100 The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not,
39101 Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song.
39103 Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn,
39104 Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring?
39105 Without considering the abundance of the plunder,
39106 Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes?
39107 Without considering the benefit of others,
39108 Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment?
39110 Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha.
39111 Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma.
39112 Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha.
39114 -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar's Birth and Childhood"
39116 When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are
39117 meditating to dissolve the self. That's why we meditate. Hold this
39118 perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at
39119 least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow
39120 yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is
39121 dissolved, it's like drinking nectar. It's inexpressible. We often use
39122 the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be
39123 misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with
39124 ordinary bliss. It's not like the bliss of having great food or other
39125 sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions
39126 but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who
39127 we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the
39128 more we are going to be addicted, which is very good.
39129 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature"
39131 Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate
39132 If he is released after having his hand cut off?
39133 Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate
39134 If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?
39136 If I am unable to endure
39137 Even the mere sufferings of the present,
39138 Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,
39139 Which will be the source of hellish misery?
39141 In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains
39142 that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by
39143 others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable
39144 consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such
39145 situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the
39146 injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an
39147 additional cause for one's own suffering in the future. However, if one
39148 responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then
39149 although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary
39150 suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the
39151 future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up
39152 with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of
39153 much greater suffering in the future.
39154 An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his
39155 life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn't that person feel
39156 grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having
39157 his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a
39158 greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only
39159 will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future,
39160 but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused
39161 temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative
39162 karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes.
39163 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
39164 Buddhist Perspective"
39166 The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the
39167 Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance.
39168 During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities,
39169 buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret
39170 transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says
39171 of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he "was continually absorbed in
39172 the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision."
39173 -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on
39176 Wishing others to be happy doesn't mean we give them everything they want,
39177 because sometimes what they want can be harmful. Wishing them to be happy
39178 entails wanting them to be free from pain and loneliness. Wouldn't it be
39179 wonderful if they were free from these and all other miseries? In order to
39180 love others, we have to be able to overcome our anger and hatred toward them.
39181 We have to be able to forgive them for the wrongs they've done. To do that,
39182 we have to get "me" out of the way and see that when people create harm,
39183 it is a reflection of their own pain, confusion, and misery. We just happened
39184 to walk across their path. We may even have done something to antagonize
39185 them, either deliberately or accidentally, but the reason that they got so
39186 upset is because of what is going on inside of them. We might also look at
39187 how we made ourselves into a target or accidentally became a target onto which
39188 they projected their confusion. Maybe we weren't very considerate of them.
39189 Maybe we have certain bad habits of which we're not aware and to which
39191 -- Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: The Practice of Tara the
39194 We humans are actually not that far from enlightenment. Our five senses are
39195 like the Emanation Body of a Buddha; our dream body, which is similar to the
39196 after-death form, is like a Buddha's Beatific Form; and the basis of both of
39197 these is the subtle mind of clear light which shares the nature of a
39198 Buddha's Wisdom Body. All we have to do is learn to transform these
39199 ordinary elements into their pure natures. Then buddhahood naturally comes
39201 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Path to Enlightenment"
39203 There are three kinds of people [who practice Buddhism]. Like all other
39204 beings, the lowest person wants happiness and not suffering or rebirth in the
39205 lower realms of existence, so he practices Buddhism to create the causes of
39206 rebirth in the human realm or in the heavenly realms of the gods. He does not
39207 have the power or the courage to leave worldly existence completely. He only
39208 wants the best parts of worldly existence; he wants to avoid the worst parts,
39209 and that is why he practices the Buddhist religion--to gain a higher rebirth.
39210 The middling sort of person understands that the whole of worldly existence,
39211 no matter where one is born, is suffering by its nature, just as fire is hot
39212 by its nature. He wants to get out of it altogether and attain nirvana, the
39213 state that is entirely away from suffering.
39214 The highest person realizes that just as he himself does not want to suffer
39215 and does want happiness, so also do all living beings have the same fears and
39216 wishes. He knows that since we have been born again and again from
39217 beginningless time in worldly existence, there is not a single sentient being
39218 who has not been our mother and father at one time or another. Since we are
39219 that close to all sentient beings, the best person is one who practices
39220 Buddhism in order to remove all these countless beings from suffering.
39221 -- H.H. Sakya Trinzin, from "Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from
39222 the Masters", by Migmar Tseten
39224 To take refuge in the Buddha means to take refuge in the dharmas that
39225 constitute a buddha (a nonlearner). These consist of a buddha's knowledge
39226 of the termination and nonarising [of the obscurations]. Together with the
39227 associated factors [of this knowledge], they consist of the five
39228 uncontaminated skandhas.
39229 To take refuge in the sangha means [to take refuge] in the dharmas that
39230 constitute the sangha, which consists of [all] learners and nonlearners except
39231 for buddhas. It is by virtue of having attained their respective [dharmas]
39232 that the eight persons* are not separated from the path by [anyone], including
39233 gods. Therefore, they are called "sangha." In other words, [the sangha]
39234 is represented by the five uncontaminated skandhas in the mind streams of said
39236 To take refuge in the dharma means [to take refuge] in the analytical
39237 cessation that is nirvana, that is, the two nirvanas [with and without
39238 remainder] of the noble ones.
39240 *The eight persons are also known as "the four pairs of persons"--stream-
39241 enterers, once-returners, nonreturners, and arhats, each divided into
39242 approachers to, and abiders in, these states.
39244 --from "Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
39245 Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition",
39246 translated by Karl Brunnholzl, from Shambhala Publications
39248 Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
39249 Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
39250 -- Benjamin Franklin
39252 We need a clear mind-training map to keep us from missing the correct path.
39253 If we want to go to New York we need to know the roads and directions. Just
39254 jumping in the car and starting to drive may get us there, but most likely we
39255 will end up in another place or take much longer than is necessary.
39256 I have seen this happen with students who tell me of doing years of
39257 meditation without seeing any changes. They may blame themselves, meditation,
39258 or the Dharma, yet most often the problem is not knowing or applying the
39259 correct techniques or methods. Meditation is both easy and not easy. With
39260 the correct techniques and methods, applied with diligence, meditation can
39261 become a swift path to clearing confusion and unhelpful habits. Without them,
39262 we may wander in fogginess or agitation, never having engaged in true
39263 meditation even after years of "sitting."
39264 At Namdroling Monastery we practiced both resting and analytical meditation.
39265 The renowned teacher Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche believed that both types of
39266 meditation were important, but he thought it was best to begin with analytical
39267 meditation, because gaining familiarity with the true nature of reality would
39268 naturally lead to a clearer understanding of resting meditation and how to
39269 engage our mind constructively.
39270 -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind Is Your Teacher: Self-Awakening through
39271 Contemplative Meditation", Shambhala Publications
39273 Never think, "Even though I have confidence in the Three Jewels, it is not
39274 really certain that this work will be accomplished." Instead, one should
39275 know that the Enlightened One is surely able to protect those who surrender
39276 and act in accord with his words, because the Enlightened One is endowed with
39277 the transcendental wisdom which knows all the paths of practice that are in
39278 harmony with the intelligence and nature of all living beings, because he has
39279 the compassionate desire to establish his disciples on the right path after
39280 turning them from wrong ways, and because he has accomplished the two
39281 accumulations of merit and transcendental wisdom and has accomplished the
39282 resolve to help beings. So even though one has not yet attained liberation
39283 from worldly existence, it is one's fault for not having trusted and not
39284 having acted in accord with the words of the Three Jewels, not because the
39285 Three Jewels have no compassion.
39286 In brief, those who do not entrust themselves to the Precious Jewels, who
39287 are arrogant and who assume they are intelligent have no certainty in
39288 accomplishing their schemes. Even if they are accomplished, it is not certain
39289 whether those schemes will turn out well in the long run. So it is important
39290 to entrust oneself always to the Precious Jewels.
39291 -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of the
39292 Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism"
39294 Setting out on a spiritual path is a little like planning a trip--to Machu
39295 Picchu, for example. Some travellers will approach the project by investing a
39296 lot of time in reading travel books or Googling Internet sites about the best
39297 route to take and where to stay--a method that works, but only to a certain
39298 extent. Other travellers prefer a much simpler and safer method: to ask
39299 someone they know and trust who has already been to Machu Picchu to go with
39300 them and show them the way. Similarly, those wishing to follow the Buddhist
39301 path to enlightenment should rely on what are called in the teachings the
39302 "four authentics": the authentic words of the Buddha (his teachings); the
39303 authentic clarification of the teachings that can be found in the shastras
39304 (commentaries) written by great masters of the past; the further clarification
39305 that is the result of authentic personal experience; and for this experience
39306 to find expression, an authentic guru.
39307 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called
39308 Preliminary Practices", Shambhala Publications
39310 With regard to selflessness, it is necessary to know what "self" is--to
39311 identify the self that does not exist. Then one can understand its opposite,
39312 selflessness. Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the
39313 past becoming non-existent; rather, this sort of "self" is something that
39314 never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that
39315 always was nonexistent, for due to not having made such identification, we are
39316 drawn into the afflictive emotions of desire and hatred as well as all the
39317 problems these bring.
39318 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Shambhala
39321 The essence of mind is somewhat difficult to explain, so we look at it from
39322 the negative point of view, that is, what mind is not. First of all, we see
39323 that it is not something which arises or ceases or abides. It is free of
39324 these three things. From beginningless time, there is no arising, no
39325 cessation and no abiding in terms of staying in one place, not moving, or not
39326 changing. It is completely free of all three of these.
39327 It is also free of being a thing or a substance composed of particles. The
39328 essential entity, or substance, of mind is not something that can be defiled
39329 or stained by grasping at subject and object. It is completely free of the
39330 stains from those activities.
39331 Further, when we look at the essential substance of mind, we find that no
39332 matter how much we search for it, no matter how much we analyze it, there is
39333 no thing there to be found. There is no entity that we can come up with by
39334 searching, evaluating, and analyzing. No matter how much we seek for its
39335 essential substance, we cannot find it. The searcher, the one who does the
39336 search for essential substance of mind, cannot find it. Therefore it is said
39337 that the essential substance of mind itself is emptiness.
39338 -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", published
39339 by Shambhala Publications
39341 "Like a cloud." This is a simile for how the wisdom mind benefits sentient
39342 beings without conceptual thought. For example, in the summer, clouds gather
39343 in the sky without effort, causing crops and so forth to grow perfectly
39344 through the rain falling on the ground without conceptual thought.
39345 Likewise, the activities of the wisdom mind ripen the trainees' crop of
39346 virtue through the rainfall of Dharma without conceptual thought.
39347 -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-fulfilling Gem
39348 of the Noble Teachings"
39350 Psychologists tell us that a strong sense of self is essential to be
39351 psychologically healthy. But it seems Buddhism says there is no self. How
39352 can we reconcile these two views?
39353 When psychologists speak of a sense of "self" they are referring to the
39354 feeling that oneself is an efficacious person, someone who is self-confident
39355 and can act in the world. Buddhists agree that such a sense of self is both
39356 realistic and necessary. However, the sense of self that Buddhism says is
39357 unrealistic is that of a very solid, unchanging, independent "I." Such a
39358 self never has and never will exist. To understand this is to realize
39360 Strange though it may sound, someone may have a psychologically weak sense
39361 of self that in Buddhist parlance would be considered strong self-grasping.
39362 For example, a person with poor self-esteem may focus a lot on himself and
39363 have a strong feeling of the existence of an independent self that is
39364 inferior, unlovable, and a failure. From a Buddhist viewpoint, such an
39365 independent self does not exist, although a conventional self does.
39366 --Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners"
39368 We all depend on one another. For this reason, whenever we act according to
39369 self-interest, sooner or later our selfish aims are bound to clash with the
39370 aims of the people we rely upon to accomplish our own goals. When that
39371 happens, conflicts will inevitably arise. As we learn to be more balanced in
39372 valuing others' concerns with our own, we will naturally find ourselves
39373 involved in fewer and fewer conflicts. In the meantime, it is helpful to
39374 acknowledge that conflicts are the logical outcome of this combination of
39375 self-interest and interdependence. Once we recognize this, we can see that
39376 conflicts are nothing to feel shocked or offended by. Rather, we can address
39377 them calmly and with wisdom.
39378 -- Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your
39379 Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice", Shambhala Publications
39381 Cyclic existence continues to evolve through the power of the unbroken
39382 relationship of the twelve links of dependent origination. What are these
39383 twelve? They are (1) ignorance, which afflicts wandering beings by keeping
39384 them from seeing true reality. In obscuring the perception of true reality,
39385 ignorance also functions as the source for the subsequent links, such as
39386 karmic formation, by grasping as if there were an "I" and "mine." (2)
39387 Formation afflicts wandering beings by implanting the seeds of subsequent
39388 existence in the consciousness. In this way, when the root text states:
39389 "Wandering beings are afflicted due to…," it should be understood to
39390 apply to all the remaining links as well, from consciousness on. Accordingly,
39391 (3) consciousness becomes infused with habitual tendencies and leads sentient
39392 beings to the place of their birth. (4) Name and form take hold of the body
39393 of one's coming existence. (5) The six sense sources bring the state of
39394 name and form to completion. (6) Contact determines the experience of an
39395 object based on the coming together of three factors: object, faculty, and
39396 cognition. (7) Sensation experiences the various types of enjoyable and
39397 painful karmic ripening. (8) Craving creates the cohesion necessary for a
39398 future existence. (9) Grasping totally binds one to such an existence. (10)
39399 Becoming brings about the actual acquisition of this birth. (11) Birth serves
39400 as the support for the suffering of old age and so on. (12) Aging and death
39401 is the essence of suffering.
39402 -- Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's
39403 Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries"
39405 Compassion and generosity must be accompanied by detachment. Expecting
39406 something in return for them is like doing business. If the owner of a
39407 restaurant is all smiles with his customers, it is not because he loves them
39408 but because he wants to increase his turnover. When we love and help others,
39409 it should not be because we find a particular individual likable but because
39410 we see that all beings, whether we think of them as friends or enemies, want
39411 to be happy and have the right to happiness.
39412 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "On the Path to
39413 Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters",
39414 Shambhala Publications
39416 Examining the understanding of heat in Vajrayana gives insight into tantra's
39417 somewhat different embrace of classical Buddhist imagery. From this
39418 perspective, the experience of mental burning is indeed the central suffering
39419 of our lives. It is the experiential dimension of the intensity of our
39420 obscurations, whether emotional, conceptual, or habitual. But rather than
39421 attempting to put out the flames with meditation methods, it is important to
39422 allow the burning to occur during practice. Certainly in the foundational
39423 stages of the path we must learn not to become engulfed in the flames, to tame
39424 the wild mind and emotions, and to train ourselves to open further to
39425 experience. Finally, however, through Vajrayana practice under the guidance
39426 of a guru, the burning we experience becomes a great teacher and a great
39428 -- Judith Simmer-Brown, "Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in
39429 Tibetan Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
39431 Life is mainly froth and bubble,
39432 Two things stand like stone--
39433 Kindness in another's trouble,
39434 Courage in your own.
39435 -- Adam Lindsay Gordon
39437 With regard to one's behavior, one must relinquish all the limitations
39438 implied in subject-object duality (gzung 'dzin gyi la dor ba). One should
39439 abandon all ordinary ways of assessing outer and inner phenomena, and the
39440 engagement or withdrawal of the mind with regard to "good" and "bad."
39441 One must not, through mindless clinging to sense objects, stray into the five
39442 ordinary mental poisons. For when approached with skillful means, all are but
39443 the display of the great and perfect equality.
39444 -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two: Vajrayana
39445 and the Great Perfection", by Shambhala Publications
39447 Recollection is the path of meditating on
39448 The nature that was seen with awareness.
39449 Constituted by the aspects of enlightenment,
39450 This serves to eliminate the stains.
39452 Recollection involves repeatedly recalling and realizing, in the context of
39453 the path of cultivation, what was realized when the intrinsic nature was
39454 directly seen with individual self-awareness at the prior stage. In this way,
39455 the term recollection refers to all that constitutes the factors of
39456 enlightenment. The path of cultivation is [referred to as such] because it
39457 involves eradicating those stains that are eliminated through cultivation.
39458 -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's
39459 Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
39460 Shambhala Publications
39462 The Capable One spoke of the following attributes as the seven noble riches,
39463 for they are the causes of untainted happiness and are not in any way
39464 ordinary. Faith--that is, the three kinds of faith in the Three Jewels and
39465 confidence in the law of actions and their effects. Discipline, the avoidance
39466 of harmful actions. Learning that comes from listening to the holy Dharma
39467 that leads to liberation, with the intention of gaining complete knowledge.
39468 Being generous--with a desire to make offerings and to help beings, to give
39469 away all one's possessions without expecting anything in return or any
39470 karmic reward. A sense of shame with respect to oneself that prevents one
39471 from indulging in negative actions, and that is unstained by such things as
39472 jealousy or seeking veneration. A sense of decency with regard to others that
39473 stops one from engaging in unvirtuous practices. And wisdom, that is,
39474 knowledge of the particular and general characteristics of phenomena.
39475 You should realize that other common things that the world calls
39476 riches--gold, for instance--are of no value in obtaining untainted
39477 qualities; they are worthless, hollow, and without essence.
39478 -- from "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend With Commentary by Kyabje Kangyur
39479 Rinpoche", Shambhala Publications
39481 All apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion, and there is, moreover, no
39482 freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is, by
39483 its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena are,
39484 in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
39485 appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
39486 body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
39487 transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
39488 not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
39489 results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
39490 minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
39491 -- Heidi I. Köppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom Chökyi
39492 Zangpo on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", Shambhala and Snow Lion
39495 "Emptiness" is a rough translation of the Sanskrit term shunyata and the
39496 Tibetan term tongpa-nyi. The basic meaning of the Sanskrit word shunya is
39497 "zero," while the Tibetan word tongpa means "empty"--not in the sense
39498 of a vacuum or a void, but rather in the sense that the basis of experience is
39499 beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and or to capture in a nice,
39500 tidy concept. Maybe a better understanding of the deep sense of the word may
39501 be "inconceivable" or "unnameable."
39502 So when Buddhists talk about emptiness as the basis of our being, we don't
39503 mean that who or what we are is nothing, a zero, a point of view that can give
39504 way to a kind of cynicism. The actual teachings on emptiness imply an
39505 infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear,
39506 and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or
39507 potential. At the basic level of our being, we are "empty" of definable
39509 -- Tsoknyi Rinpoche, from "The Best Buddhist Writing 2013", published by
39510 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications
39512 The Lama is the ecstatic, wild, and gentle figure who short-circuits your
39513 systems of self-referencing. The Lama is the only person in your life who
39514 cannot be manipulated. The Lama is the invasion of unpredictability you allow
39515 into your life, to enable you to cut through the convolutions of interminable
39516 psychological and emotional processes. The Lama is the terrifyingly
39517 compassionate gamester who reshuffles the deck of your carefully arranged
39518 rationale. To enter into vajra commitment is to leap from the perfect
39519 precipice. To find yourself in the radiant space of this choiceless choice is
39520 the very heart of Tantra. To leap open-eyed into the shining emptiness of the
39521 Lama's wisdom display and to experience the ecstatic impact of each dynamic
39522 gesture of the Lama's method display is the essential luminosity and power
39524 -- Ngak'chang Rinpoche, quoted in "Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student
39525 Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
39527 When clouds cover the sky, we cannot see the pure nature of space.
39528 Likewise, when conceptual thoughts occupy the mind, we cannot see the pure
39529 nature of the mind. To see whether this is true, we can meditate so that the
39530 mind becomes relaxed and peaceful, and then there is room to develop
39531 compassion, love, and bodhicitta. But when our mind is occupied by conceptual
39532 thoughts and negative thoughts, there is no space to develop good qualities.
39533 Our mind becomes full of suffering and we cannot disentangle ourselves from
39535 When our mind emphasizes positive, calming, and relaxing thoughts, it leaves
39536 no space for negative thoughts to arise. Then we can maintain a peaceful,
39537 harmonious mind regardless of external conditions. This becomes a matter of
39538 how much we habituate ourselves to the Dharma teachings.
39539 -- from "Opening the Treasure of the Profound: Teachings on the Songs of
39540 Jigten Sumgön and Milarepa", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche,
39541 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications
39543 What is true patience and how can we develop it? Patience is imperturbability
39544 in the face of harm and hardship. Responding to these difficulties with anger
39545 is extremely destructive because it creates unpleasant consequences and
39546 destroys positive energy. There is no austere practice to equal the practice
39547 of patience, which calms the turbulence of the disturbing emotions. It is
39548 cultivated in meditation and implemented in everyday life. There are three
39549 main kinds of patience: the patience of taking no account of those who inflict
39550 harm, the patience of willingly accepting adversity and the patience of
39551 gaining certainty with regard to the teachings. Their opposites are
39552 animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
39553 -- from "The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
39554 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications
39556 Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
39557 "great will." This great will does not come from the ego; it is
39558 paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego. As
39559 the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
39560 needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
39561 wisdom. The shift from the ego's center of will to the intention of our
39562 buddha nature to awaken us for the welfare of others aligns us with a source
39563 of will far beyond our limited sense of self. I have often described this
39564 will as a river of intention, which once stepped into becomes an undercurrent
39565 in all we do in our life.
39566 -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
39567 Practice", published by Shambhala and Snow Lion Publications
39569 In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few
39570 weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It
39571 matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get
39572 some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a
39573 difference in people's lives.
39574 We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns
39575 out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong
39576 through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring
39577 for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers
39578 are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with
39579 the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other
39580 countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our
39581 workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our
39582 natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products
39583 overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.
39584 So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating
39585 it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That's not what the
39586 founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-
39587 government. You don't like a particular policy or a particular president,
39588 then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
39589 change it. But don't break it. Don't break what our predecessors spent
39590 over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country
39592 -- Barack Obama, after the US government shutdown of 2013 had ended.
39594 When the teachings say we need to reduce our fascination with the things of
39595 this life, it does not mean that we should abandon them completely. It means
39596 avoiding the natural tendency to go from elation to depression in reaction to
39597 life's ups and downs, jumping for joy when you have some success, or wanting
39598 to jump out the window if you do not get what you want. Being less concerned
39599 about the affairs of this life means assuming its ups and downs with a broad
39601 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart
39602 Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters", from Shambhala Publications and
39603 Snow Lion Publications
39605 Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in
39606 Critical Thinking, 1987
39608 Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
39609 skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
39610 evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
39611 experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
39612 action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values
39613 that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
39614 consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and
39616 It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
39617 implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
39618 assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions;
39619 implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and
39620 frame of reference. Critical thinking--in being responsive to variable
39621 subject matter, issues, and purposes--is incorporated in a family of
39622 interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical
39623 thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking,
39624 moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
39625 Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
39626 information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
39627 based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It
39628 is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
39629 information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information
39630 is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
39631 involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as
39632 an exercise") without acceptance of their results.
39633 Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
39634 grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
39635 manipulation of ideas in service of one's own, or one's groups', vested
39636 interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however
39637 pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
39638 intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
39639 though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish
39641 Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
39642 is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is
39643 therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things,
39644 the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with
39645 respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker
39646 through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such
39647 insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-
39648 delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and
39649 dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
39650 -- from a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th
39651 Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education
39652 Reform, Summer 1987.
39654 Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to
39655 reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think
39656 critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
39657 They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when
39658 left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and
39659 sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical
39660 thinking offers--concepts and principles that enable them to analyze,
39661 assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the
39662 intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility,
39663 intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
39664 confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as
39665 thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at
39666 times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices,
39667 biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-
39668 interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever
39669 ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the
39670 same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They
39671 avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to
39672 appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They
39673 recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to
39674 life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic
39675 principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that
39676 many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous
39678 -- Linda Elder, September, 2007
39680 In philosophical terms, Tibetan scriptures refer to neurotic mind as the
39681 impure or afflicted mind. But within the context of wind energy, neurotic
39682 mind is not just caused by self-attachment. The mind is also propelled by the
39683 movement of wind energy. The Tibetan language describes this relationship
39684 between the wind and the mind as the wind-mind (Tib. rlung sems). This
39685 compound word describes the wind energy and the conceptual mind as always
39686 intertwined and moving together--a singular motion. Again, a metaphor is
39687 helpful to understand how the mind and the wind work together. The Tibetan
39688 Buddhist teachings compare the mind and the breath to a rider and its mount.
39689 In this metaphor, the wind energy is the mount and the mind is the rider.
39690 This metaphor illustrates how it is the wind energy that carries the mind and
39691 that influences and shapes the mind's energy. The wind energy is the root
39692 of all of our experience, since it provides energy for the mind's movement.
39693 So, wind energy training is a powerful tool for purifying, calming, taming,
39694 and relaxing the wind energy to impact the expression of neurotic mind.
39695 -- Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo, from "The Tibetan Yoga of
39696 Breath: Breathing Practices for Healing the Body and Cultivating Wisdom",
39697 published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications
39699 Imagination relies on empty perception. Painting relies on empty planes.
39700 Sculpture relies on empty space. Music relies on empty time. Literature
39701 relies on empty concepts. If we are to realize the art of freedom, if we are
39702 to discover our creative potential, we need to rely on the experience of our
39703 intrinsic vibrant emptiness--the beginningless ground of what we are.
39704 -- Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, from "Roaring Silence: Discovering
39705 the Mind of Dzogchen", published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion
39708 Detachment doesn't mean "throw it away" or "don't have feelings
39709 about it." It definitely does not mean denying or obstructing the mind's
39710 natural tendency to project. Imagine you are about to go into a cotton
39711 factory. Before entering you pour glue all over your body, and then you
39712 demand, "I don't want any cotton balls to stick to my body, but I won't
39713 remove the glue from my body either." Then you enter the cotton factory.
39714 Of course the glue, by its nature, makes cotton balls stick to you. In
39715 meditative language, that kind of stickiness is called deliberation or
39716 fabrication, and here we call it the state of nondetachment. The state of
39717 nondetachment is when you get entangled and you make the story line similar to
39718 that of a daytime soap opera in which four characters go on for twenty years.
39719 It keeps on multiplying and you exaggerate the situation. You create a state
39720 in your mind that is full of grasping, clinging, and attachment.
39721 -- Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche from "The Healing Power of Meditation: Leading
39722 Experts on Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine Explore the Health Benefits
39723 of Contemplative Practice", edited by Andy Fraser, published by Shambhala
39724 Publications and Snow Lion Publications
39726 According to Sthiramati, though samsara has the nature of nirvana, in
39727 ordinary beings true reality is obscured by their tendencies of clinging to a
39728 self and really existing phenomena. Thus, they do not see emptiness, which
39729 actually exists, but they naturally perceive the actually nonexistent
39730 phenomena of apprehender and apprehended, just as when mistakenly not seeing
39731 an existent rope, but seeing it as a nonexistent snake.
39732 Bodhisattvas lack the clinging to a self and phenomena and thus they
39733 naturally see true reality--emptiness--while not seeing any duality, just as
39734 correctly seeing an existent rope, while not seeing it as a nonexistent snake.
39735 When existent emptiness--true reality--is seen and the nonexistent
39736 characteristics of apprehender and apprehended are not seen anymore, the
39737 alaya-consciousness--the dependent nature--has undergone the fundamental
39738 change. This fundamental change is liberation and nirvana.
39739 Just as people liberated from bondage can do what they please, once this
39740 fundamental change occurs, bodhisattvas are liberated because they have gained
39741 mastery over their minds, which abide like space without any appearance of
39742 characteristics. Thus, no matter what they encounter, they are able to act as
39743 they please without being bound by any attachment or aversion.
39744 -- Karl Brunnhölzl, from "Mining for Wisdom within Delusion: Maitreya's
39745 Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena and Its Indian
39746 and Tibetan Commentaries", published by Shambhala Publications and Snow
39749 Our awareness of feelings in the body and mind ranges from simple frustration
39750 and malaise to anguish, despair, and white-hot physical pain, and from simple
39751 pleasures to extraordinary ecstasy. As we become clearly cognizant of the
39752 bandwidth of our own feelings, we direct our awareness externally. We become
39753 vividly aware that myriad sentient beings around us are not simply objects of
39754 our pleasure, displeasure, or indifference, but have feelings just like ours.
39755 By turning our awareness outward and closely applying mindfulness to other
39756 sentient beings, we can empathize with their feelings. When we empathize with
39757 another's suffering and we attend closely, compassion arises. The suffering
39758 of unpleasant feelings is the very source of the experience of compassion.
39759 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of
39760 Mindfulness", works published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion
39763 It is our aim to have genuine loving-kindness toward all sentient beings
39764 because we see them suffering. In the Mahayana tradition, it says that
39765 through our innumerable lifetimes, at some time or other, every single
39766 sentient being has been in the relation to us of our mother, our friends, or
39767 someone who has helped us. We look at all sentient beings in this way. We
39768 feel a deep yearning to help them because they have helped us. When we
39769 contemplate in this way, we find that some kind of compassion begins to take
39771 -- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in "The Tibetan Buddhism Reader", published by
39772 Shambhala Publications
39774 If there is one constant tendency of our fickle and ever-changing minds, it is
39775 our strong predilection for ordinary distractions. Until we learn to master
39776 our thoughts and attain true stability of mind, our commitment is bound to be
39777 hesitant, and we run the risk of being distracted by activities with little
39778 true meaning, wasting our life and the precious opportunities for the Dharma
39779 it has brought us. To postpone the practice of Dharma until tomorrow is
39780 tantamount to postponing it till we die.
39781 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Padampa Sangye, in "The Hundred Verses of
39782 Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most", published by
39783 Shambhala Publications
39785 The dharma is based on honesty, on not having self-deception of any kind.
39786 When the dharma says blue, it is blue; when it says red, it is red. Dharma is
39787 like saying fire is hot, or the sky is blue: it is speaking the truth. The
39788 difference is that dharma is the truth of the reality of the journey toward
39789 freedom. Saying that red is red does not particularly liberate you from
39790 seeing green or yellow. But when dharma speaks about reality, we see that it
39791 is worth stepping out of our little world of habitual patterns, our little
39792 nest. In that way, the dharma brings greater vision.
39793 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Path of Individual Liberation, Volume One of
39794 The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma", published by Shambhala
39797 So, what makes you a Buddhist? You may not have been born in a Buddhist
39798 country or to a Buddhist family, you may not wear robes or shave your head,
39799 you may eat meat and idolize Eminem and Paris Hilton. That doesn't mean you
39800 cannot be a Buddhist. In order to be a Buddhist, you must accept that all
39801 compounded phenomena are impermanent, all emotions are pain, all things have
39802 no inherent existence, and enlightenment is beyond concepts.
39803 It's not necessary to be constantly and endlessly mindful of these four
39804 truths. But they must reside in your mind. You don't walk around
39805 persistently remembering your own name, but when someone asks your name, you
39806 remember it instantly. There is no doubt. Anyone who accepts these four
39807 seals, even independently of Buddha's teachings, even never having heard the
39808 name Shakyamuni Buddha, can be considered to be on the same path as he.
39809 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "What Makes You Not a Buddhist",
39810 published by Shambhala Publications
39812 The self-centered thought is not who we are. The self-centered thought is
39813 different from the mind that wants to be happy because we're sentient
39814 beings. Everybody wants to be happy. There's no problem with wanting to be
39815 happy. The problem is the way the self-centered thought goes about thinking
39816 of our happiness and the way it goes about getting happiness. It is a
39817 distorted mental state that can be eliminated by seeing its disadvantages,
39818 applying the antidotes, and cultivating the mind that cherishes others.
39819 - Thubten Chodron, from "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with
39820 Wisdom and Compassion", published by Shambhala Publications
39822 According to the sutras, numerous eons ago, when the Buddha was an ordinary
39823 being, he took rebirth in a hell realm. He suffered gravely there as a result
39824 of his past negative karma.
39825 He and a companion were forced to pull a wheel of fire on which a wrathful
39826 hell-guard was sitting, holding a burning club with which to beat them. His
39827 companion was so weak that he couldn't pull the wheel anymore. The hell-
39828 guard stabbed his companion with a burning trident. His companion kept crying
39829 loudly and bleeding profusely. At that moment, with strong love and
39830 compassion, the Buddha developed enlightened aspiration, a vow to take
39831 responsibility for helping his companion and all the suffering beings from the
39832 depth of his heart, and he became a bodhisattva for the first time.
39833 The bodhisattva begged the hell-guard, "Please have a little mercy on my
39834 suffering companion." At that, in a rage the hellguard hit him with a
39835 burning trident. Because of the power of his strong compassion, the
39836 bodhisattva died and was liberated from the hell-realm. His evil deeds of
39837 many eons were purified instantly by the power of such enlightened aspiration.
39838 Thereafter, he started his journey toward the fully enlightened state of
39840 -- Tulku Thondup, from "Incarnation: The History and Mysticism of the Tulku
39841 Tradition of Tibet", published by Shambhala Publications
39843 Below rocky cliffs,
39844 a vivid sense of impermanence and disenchantment dawns,
39845 clear and inspired, helping us to achieve
39846 the union of calm abiding and penetrating insight.
39847 -- Longchenpa, from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of
39848 the Vast Expanse", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, published by Shambhala
39851 From one point of view, personal liberation without freeing others is selfish
39852 and unfair, because all sentient beings also have the natural right and desire
39853 to be free of suffering. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to
39854 engage in the practice of the stages of the path of the highest scope,
39855 starting with the generation of bodhichitta, the altruistic aspiration to
39856 achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Once one has
39857 cultivated bodhichitta, all the meritorious actions that are supported by and
39858 complemented with this altruism--even the slightest form of positive
39859 action--become causes for the achievement of omniscience.
39860 -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Fourteenth Dalai Lama in A Beginner's
39861 Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary
39862 Buddhist Teachers", published by Shambhala Publications
39864 Note that all dualistic concepts and emotions--even positive ones such as
39865 caring, compassion, and wishing others well--are accompanied by grasping at
39866 "self." So although positive emotions are good, they still fall short of
39867 perfection, which is the primordial wisdom beyond dualistic thinking and
39868 emotional sensations. Grasping at positive qualities is nonetheless a
39869 stepping-stone to perfection, helping us eventually to loosen the grip of
39870 grasping at "self" and to experience sensations of peace and joy. So,
39871 transforming from negative to positive, and then from positive to perfection,
39872 is the ideal way to move toward buddhahood, or full perfection.
39873 -- Tulku Thondup, from "Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist
39874 Guidebook", published by Shambhala Publications
39876 In the final stanza of his salutation, Tsong-kha-pa (1: 34) calls upon
39877 readers who may benefit from this approach, asking them to listen well. Such
39878 readers will be those with minds unclouded by biased thinking, the mental
39879 capacity to distinguish right from wrong, and an interest in finding real
39880 meaning in their human existence of leisure and opportunity. He asks those of
39881 us with such good fortune, "Please listen to what I have to say with a
39882 single-pointed mind."
39883 Again, this is strikingly similar to Aryadeva's Four Hundred, which says
39884 that a practitioner of the Dharma who is listening to the teachings needs
39885 three qualities: objectivity, critical intelligence, and a real interest in
39886 what is being taught.
39887 -- H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "From Here to Enlightenment: An
39888 Introduction to Tsong-kha-pa's Classic Text The Great Treatise on the
39889 Stages of the Path to Enlightenment", published by Shambhala Publications
39891 When we look back, at the time of death, the experience of this life will seem
39892 like a dream. And--just as with our nighttime dreams--it will seem useless
39893 to have put so much effort into it. The fear we experience in a dream is gone
39894 when we wake up; feeling afraid was just an unnecessary exertion of effort
39895 causing us to lose sleep! When we look back on our lives at death, the amount
39896 of time we spent in hesitation, aggression, ignorance, selfishness, jealousy,
39897 hatred, self-preservation, and arrogance will seem like an equally useless
39898 exertion of energy. So be able to regard all of these illusory thoughts and
39899 concepts as dreams. Within this illusory existence, what, if anything, is the
39900 logic behind any stubbornness, distraction, hesitation, or habitual emotions
39901 of aggression, desire, selfishness, and jealousy? What is the use of holding
39902 on to these useless emotions within impermanence? Impermanence is the nature
39904 -- Khandro Rinpoche, from "Buddha's Daughters: Teachings from Women Who
39905 Are Shaping Buddhism in the West", published by Shambhala Publications
39907 Please listen without your minds wandering.
39908 Though I am not skilled in composing songs,
39909 This is the way to understand the true oral instructions.
39910 Keep this in mind and ponder it.
39912 The three worlds are primordially pure.
39913 Ultimately, there is nothing more to understand.
39914 Not negation, unceasing continuity,
39915 Unchanging--such is the view.
39917 The innate essence is naturally luminous.
39918 Unconditioned, meditation is unceasing.
39919 Not negation, beyond losing and gaining,
39920 Without desire or attachment--such is the meditation.
39922 Arising from the natural occurrence of various coincidences,
39923 The play of illusion is unobstructed.
39925 Things are unpredictable, abrupt--such is the action.
39927 Mind shines as bodhicitta.
39928 There is no attainment of the three kayas of buddha.
39929 Not negation, beyond hope and fear,
39930 Without ground or root--such is the fruition.
39931 - from "The Life of Marpa the Translator", translated by Chögyam Trungpa
39932 and the Nalanda Translation Committee, published by Shambhala Publications
39934 FDR's Economic Bill of Rights
39936 It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy
39937 for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American
39938 standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no
39939 matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of
39940 our people--whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth--is ill-fed,
39941 ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
39942 This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under
39943 the protection of certain inalienable political rights--among them the right
39944 of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from
39945 unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
39946 As our nation has grown in size and stature, however--as our industrial
39947 economy expanded--these political rights proved inadequate to assure us
39948 equality in the pursuit of happiness.
39949 We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual
39950 freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
39951 "Necessitous men are not free men."[3] People who are hungry and out of a
39952 job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
39953 In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We
39954 have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of
39955 security and prosperity can be established for all--regardless of station,
39960 The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or
39961 farms or mines of the nation;
39963 The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and
39966 The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which
39967 will give him and his family a decent living;
39969 The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere
39970 of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or
39973 The right of every family to a decent home;
39975 The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and
39978 The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age,
39979 sickness, accident, and unemployment;
39981 The right to a good education.
39983 All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be
39984 prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals
39985 of human happiness and well-being.
39986 America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how
39987 fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our
39989 For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in
39991 -- Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the
39992 Congress of the United States on the State of the Union
39994 Whatever arises in our mind--whether it's a thought, an emotion, a
39995 sensation, or a perception--is the arising of coemergent wisdom. It is the
39996 radiation of the mind's emptiness and clarity. Every arising is a temporary
39997 arising--one thought comes and goes, then another thought comes and goes.
39998 All our thoughts and emotions just appear and disappear.
39999 This is very important, because we usually grasp at whatever occurs. For
40000 instance, when sadness arises, we hold on to this feeling and think, "I am
40001 so sad, I am so depressed." But from the Mahamudra point of view, what has
40002 happened? A feeling has arisen in the mind, like a cloud. Like a cloud, it
40003 appears and then it disappears, and that's all there is to it. This time it
40004 is sadness arising, the next time it may be happiness, the next time it may be
40005 anger, and later it may be kindness. All sorts of things arise, like
40006 wildflowers in a spring meadow. All sorts of flowers grow; all sorts of
40007 thoughts and emotions arise. They are all okay; they're nothing special.
40008 When we understand what our thoughts and feelings are, and we experience them
40009 in this way, we are able to let them come and let them go.
40010 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Confusion Arises as Wisdom: Gampopa's Heart Advice on
40011 the Path of Mahamudra", published by Shambhala Publications
40013 The second quality of devotion is absence of arrogance. The arrogant
40014 approach is to be so passionately involved with our teacher that we become
40015 devotional chauvinists and cease to see the rest of the world properly. In
40016 fact, we become passionately involved with our own arrogance. We indulge our
40017 "devotion" by collecting information, techniques, stories, little words of
40018 wisdom--all to confirm our chauvinistic view. It actually reaches a point
40019 that the teacher upon whom our arrogance is based himself becomes a threat.
40020 The absurdity is that we even end up wanting to use our collection of
40021 ammunition against our teacher when he begins giving our "devotion" a hard
40023 If our devotion is without arrogance there is not this resentment toward the
40024 world or the guru. Absence of such arrogance is absolutely necessary. When
40025 courting a teacher, students frequently make a sort of detailed application,
40026 listing all their insights and spiritual credentials. That is too arrogant;
40027 it is phony, out of the question altogether. It is fine to offer our
40028 particular skills or neuroses to the guru as a gift or an opening gesture.
40029 But if we begin to dress up our neuroses as virtues, like a person writing a
40030 resumé, that is unacceptable. Devotion without arrogance demands that we
40031 stop clinging to our particular case history, that we relate to the teacher
40032 and to the world in a naked and direct way, without hiding behind credentials.
40033 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Heart of the Buddha: Entering the Tibetan
40034 Buddhist Path", published by Shambhala Publications
40036 To study and to contemplate what one has learned is very important, but these
40037 two can only progress if one engages in meditation practice. Thus, the
40038 importance of each of these three--moral conduct, study, and
40039 meditation--cannot be underestimated. If one practices these free of
40040 attachment to this life, the benefits are enormous. But to pursue these while
40041 seeking worldly attainments means one will not receive the benefits that would
40042 be gained by a genuine spiritual practitioner. For this reason, it will be
40043 best if you abandon any inauthentic approaches to ethical discipline, study,
40045 -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, in "Parting from the Four Attachments: A
40046 Commentary on Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind
40047 Training and the View", published by Shambhala Publications
40049 If what appears to be apprehended does not exist by its very own essence apart
40050 from that which apprehends it, then what appears to be the apprehender does
40051 not exist either. The reason, here, is that the apprehender exists in
40052 relation to the apprehended, not in isolation. Therefore, awareness is devoid
40053 of both apprehender and apprehended, in all their various forms. Free from
40054 subject and object, by its very own nature awareness is a mere indescribable
40056 -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's
40057 Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
40058 published by Shambhala Publications
40060 "Immediately join whatever you meet with meditation"
40062 This slogan refers to the practice of transforming adverse circumstances
40063 and situations into the path of awakening. It is a reminder not to respond to
40064 things in a habitual way, but rather to respond with understanding, openness,
40065 and courage by maintaining a sense of awareness. We shouldn't think of
40066 meditation as something we only do if we're sitting on a cushion, but should
40067 treat everyday situations as meditations by focusing our mind on whatever
40068 arises. There's nothing we can't utilize for our own and others'
40069 benefit if we use both fortunate and unfortunate circumstances to train the
40071 -- Traleg Kyabgon, "The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through
40072 Training the Mind", published by Shambhala Publications
40074 O monks, you should focus on four things. What are these four? To focus on
40075 the teachings and not focus on the individual; to focus on the meaning and not
40076 focus on the words; to focus on timeless awareness and not focus on ordinary
40077 consciousness; and to focus on the definitive meaning and not focus on the
40078 meaning that guides. These four things are things to be realized; they are
40079 not four kinds of spiritual individuals.
40080 -- Jamgön Kongtrul, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven and Book
40081 Eight, Parts One and Two: Foundations of Buddhist Study and Practice",
40082 published by Shambhala Publications
40084 One way to prevent mental suffering is to observe ourselves and figure out
40085 what triggers our problem. If we can identify what makes our blood pressure
40086 rise and causes us to feel upset, then we have taken a big step toward seeing
40087 the larger picture. With this wider perspective, there is less chance that we
40088 will jump back into an old habitual pattern that only makes us feel bad.
40089 It is not that we have to stop going to all family holidays, but that we
40090 figure out ways to enjoy the parts that are enjoyable, like the delicious food
40091 and the chance to connect with people, and to feel more neutral and detached
40092 about the annoying or hurtful moments. We often place too many expectations
40093 and requirements on ourselves and those around us. We could give the
40094 situation a little space and see what develops. The kindest thing we can do
40095 in these situations is to remain calm and refrain from causing more
40097 -- Khenpo Gawang, from "Your Mind Is Your Teacher: Self-Awakening through
40098 Contemplative Meditation", published by Shambhala Publications
40100 Those who wish to protect their practice should zealously guard the mind.
40101 The practice cannot be protected without guarding the unsteady mind.
40102 Tigers, lions, elephants, bears, snakes, all enemies, all guardians of
40103 hells, evil spirits, and demons become controlled by controlling the mind
40104 alone. By subduing the mind alone, they all become subdued.
40105 For the Propounder of the Truth said that all fears and immeasurable
40106 sufferings arise from the mind only.
40107 -- Shantideva, "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life", published by
40108 Shambhala Publications
40110 Products are specially designed to catch the eye and captivate the mind.
40111 Because we focus on what else there is to acquire, rather than what we already
40112 have, we fall into the endless upgrade game. "The functions you need are
40113 coming in the next version! The new design is so much more attractive! And
40114 it comes in your favorite color!" These products may be mass-produced, but
40115 they are custom-made to suit our greed and grasping. They are exactly
40116 tailored to deceive us with their appearances.
40117 As I see it, however, the bigger problem is the gullibility of our mind.
40118 This is what really leaves us vulnerable to the deceptive allure of things.
40119 In other words, we ourselves are the bigger problem. Sometimes we are like
40120 small children; when it comes to assessing our own needs, we often show no
40121 sign of maturity. Just think about it: When a little child cries, the easy
40122 way to stop him is to give him a toy. We dangle it in front of him and wave
40123 it around to catch his attention until he reaches out to grab it. When we
40124 finally hand over the toy, he quiets down. Our goal was just to stop his
40125 crying. We did not try to address the child's underlying needs. We gave
40126 him something else to desire, and tricked him into falling silent for the time
40128 -- H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart Is Noble:
40129 Changing the World from the Inside Out", published by Shambhala Publications
40131 Vajrayana is very different from the New Age approach. The difference is that
40132 the Vajrayana teachings are controlled by the lineage. I know we don't like
40133 the word control, but the Vajrayana teachings are actually held by the
40134 authority of the lineage. I know we also don't like the word authority, but
40135 we have it in Vajrayana. When we have this pure lineage, this genuine
40136 lineage, there is no space for our egocentric interpretation of dharma. We
40137 cannot interpret dharma like the New Age gurus. We cannot invent a new
40138 lineage because a lineage must be received. It must be received by
40139 transmission. It is not something we can just create here. That would be New
40140 Age, probably from California.
40141 -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, from "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
40142 Samantabhadra", published by Shambhala Publications
40144 Even when it is practiced, accomplishing shamata is rare. One of the very
40145 common problems is that people try too hard. Both Tibetans and Westerners
40146 could learn a lot about relaxing more deeply and letting the stability arise
40147 from that relaxation. Although it is mentioned in the texts, the Tibetans
40148 sometimes do not emphasize this point, but they do emphasize tight attention,
40149 not letting your object drop for even a second. If you are coming from a very
40150 serene space, and your mind is already very spacious, then that is probably
40151 good advice. But otherwise, such attention can be a big problem. You can
40152 exhaust yourself and cause nervous fatigue, and if you push it, you can really
40153 do yourself some damage.
40154 -- B. Alan Wallace, from "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart"
40156 If you want good health, you must insure that your diet is well-balanced and
40157 complete. You wouldn't just gobble up anything edible that comes your way.
40158 Spiritual food should be approached with equal care. The practices you choose
40159 should be genuine and complete. Sakyapandita said that when we're buying a
40160 jewel or a horse--and the same would apply these days to buying a car or a
40161 house--we shop around and ask others for advice, but a wise or unwise
40162 purchase can only affect our fortunes in this life. The spiritual practices
40163 we undertake can assure or jeopardize our well-being throughout many future
40164 lifetimes, and so it is essential to make a wise choice. Milarepa said that
40165 unless the teachings we practice are free from errors and have come down to us
40166 through a living and uninterrupted tradition, time spent meditating in a
40167 mountain retreat will just be self-inflicted misery.
40168 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path",
40169 published by Shambhala Publications
40171 Hark! In order to be of maximum benefit to the countless living beings,
40172 whose number is as vast as the extent of the skies, one must first gain the
40173 state of peerless, complete, perfect buddhahood. It is with this thought in
40174 mind that one receives initiation, the root of the Vajrayana path, and then
40175 engages in the various Tantric yogas.
40176 Contemplate this theme, and by means of it generate the sublime bodhi-mind
40177 as the motivating factor. Also, cultivate the correct attitudes that are to
40178 be maintained when listening to the Dharma, as is explained in the many sutras
40179 and tantras, and thus listen correctly.
40180 The Buddha, who himself achieved complete enlightenment and who possessed
40181 profound skill and great compassion, taught the nectarlike Dharma in
40182 accordance with the mental tendencies, capacities, and karmic predispositions
40183 of those to be trained.
40184 -- Glenn H. Mullin, "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on Tantra"
40185 published by Shambhala Publications
40187 You might say, "Don't pleasurable experiences give rise to happiness?"
40188 Although for ordinary people pleasures may appear to be related to happiness
40189 at the time they are enjoyed, in the end they are their undoing. They are,
40190 the Sovereign of the Conquerors said, like the fruit of the kimba tree, which
40191 grows in the western continent of Aparagodaniya: its skin is attractive but it
40192 is unpleasant inside; or it tastes delicious when one first eats it, but later
40193 it makes one ill. So, advises Nagarjuna, give up these pleasures, for it is
40194 the chains--the afflictive emotions--of attachment to pleasure that tightly
40195 bind the worldly in the prison of samsara.
40196 -- Nagarjuna, from "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend with Commentary by
40197 Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche", published by Shambhala Publications
40199 The wish to understand the true nature of mind by relying on technology is
40200 due to the fault of not having awakened one's Buddha nature, and because of
40201 that, the absolute and relative nature of one's uncompounded mind just as it
40202 is cannot be recognized even slightly, which is the reason for relying only on
40203 the compounded gross material substance of technology. While examining the
40204 qualities of one's own and others' practice by bringing together a machine
40205 and the one who uses the machine, if any special conception arises about its
40206 being good, bad, high, or low, it will only be a fragmented, deluded
40207 interdependent conception that momentarily appears, and not nonconceptual
40208 enlightened body and wisdom, which are inconceivable. It will just be like
40209 children blowing bubbles in the air and trying to catch these rainbow-colored
40210 bubbles with their hands. As Santideva says about the dream of a barren
40212 For example, a barren woman dreams her son is dead. When she awakens, she
40213 thinks that she has no son. That conception of not having a son comes from
40214 the conception of having a son. So, both of these conceptions are obstacles
40216 -- Thinley Norbu, from "The Sole Panacea: A Brief Commentary on the Seven-
40217 Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche That Cures the Suffering of the Sickness of
40218 Karma and Defilement", published by Shambhala Publications
40220 The nature of mind is primordially the identity of the three bodies of
40221 enlightenment. Its essence is empty, the dharma body. Its nature is lucid,
40222 the enjoyment body. Freed upon arising, with no clinging, it is the emanation
40223 body. Manifesting as its expression are the male aspect of relative
40224 appearance, method, and the female aspect of ultimate emptiness, knowledge.
40225 The circle of the Magical Web is the unity of these, a wisdom manifestation of
40226 indivisible appearance and emptiness.
40227 -- Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima and Shechen Gyaltsap IV, in "Vajra Wisdom: Deity
40228 Practice in Tibetan Buddhism", published by Shambhala Publications
40230 Whatever sensory experiences we go through, if we go through them with
40231 mindfulness and awareness, there is no limit to how far we can go. The limit
40232 is mindfulness and awareness. Even if we don't enjoy the experience, that
40233 itself becomes a trip. The nonenjoyment becomes a cause of suffering.
40234 That's why, if we don't practice mindfulness and awareness, asceticism
40235 just becomes pain rather than a cause for liberation. That's why Buddha
40236 said to forget about asceticism. That's what Buddha did. He left
40237 asceticism, became very mindful in every step, and achieved enlightenment.
40238 -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, from "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
40239 Samantabhadra", published by Shambhala Publications
40241 When we turn away from samsara, we stop blaming external situations for the
40242 state of our mind, and we begin to use the Buddha's teachings in order to
40243 take responsibility for our own well-being. We reorient the mind away from
40244 causes and conditions that create suffering. This does not mean that we turn
40245 away from the suffering that humans create, such as warfare, poverty,
40246 prejudice, slaughter, or environmental destruction. We do not turn away or
40247 become passive, impartial spectators. However, we need to assess our
40248 strategies for engagement. Many well-meaning people assume that inflaming
40249 passions, especially anger, is a justifiable, necessary, even beneficial
40250 response to injustice. They often assume that anger is an automatic and
40251 inherent response to injustice, in the same way that exasperation is an
40252 inherent response to waiting at the airport. But it is not. Anger does not
40253 allow us to see clearly, so the good intentions of people engaged in trying to
40254 help others can actually be hindered by their own negativity. Anger does not
40255 allow us to act with true compassion, because the mind of anger keeps us
40256 trapped inside ourselves. Turning away from samsara means figuring out how to
40257 function with an open, clear mind, not a mind shut down and incapacitated by
40258 destructive emotions.
40259 -- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "Turning Confusion into Clarity: A Guide to the
40260 Foundation Practices of Tibetan Buddhism", published by Shambhala
40263 The key to understanding the Mahayana and Vajrayana views lies in
40264 Nagarjuna's reasonings. This is because the reason the aggregates and
40265 suffering can be described as being pure by nature is that they are empty by
40266 nature--they are unborn. They never actually come into existence. Something
40267 that never really comes into existence cannot possibly be impure, for what is
40268 there to be impure in the first place? It is like getting covered with filth
40269 in a dream--no matter how dirty you might seem to be, since not a single
40270 particle of the filth is real, in fact there is no impurity at all. Since
40271 there is no impurity, there cannot actually be any purity either, just as when
40272 you take a bath in the dream after having gotten so filthy, your cleanliness
40273 after the bath is just as lacking in reality as the dirtiness that preceded
40274 it. Therefore, the true nature of the dream transcends both purity and
40275 impurity, and this is given the name "original purity." We have to
40276 understand that what original purity refers to is the freedom from all
40277 fabrications, the emptiness in which we can gain certainty by using
40278 Nagarjuna's reasonings.
40279 -- Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, from "The Sun of Wisdom: Teachings on the Noble
40280 Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way", published by Shambhala
40283 Beginning and end depend on nothing but imagination.
40284 Through windlike formation,
40285 Karma and afflictions are created.
40286 Through these, the skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas--
40287 All dualistically appearing phenomena--are displayed.
40289 The one who adopts and rejects these is mistakenness.
40290 Through rejecting [mind's] own appearances, where should they cease?
40291 Through adopting [mind's] own appearances, what should come about?
40292 Is clinging to duality not delusive?
40294 Understanding this is indeed said to be the remedy,
40295 But the thought of nonduality is not real [either],
40296 For the lack of thought [just] turns into a thought.
40297 You thought about emptiness, dissecting form and so on into parts,
40298 Are you not mistaken yourself?
40299 Nevertheless, this was taught in order to stop the clinging to reality.
40301 All is neither real nor delusive--
40302 Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon in water by the learned.
40303 Just this ordinary mind
40304 Is called "dharmadhatu" and "Heart of the victors."
40305 It is neither to be improved by the noble ones
40306 Nor made worse by sentient beings.
40307 -- from "Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and
40308 Buddha Nature", translated by Karl Brunnhölzl, published by Shambhala
40311 It is possible to mistake attachment for loving-kindness and compassion.
40312 Love and compassion are distinguished from attachment in that they apply
40313 equally to your friends and your enemies. Genuine love and compassion make no
40314 distinction based on your relationship to the object of compassion. They are
40315 the wish that all sentient beings without exception have happiness and the
40316 causes of happiness, and the wish that all sentient beings without exception
40317 be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. The keynote of those two
40318 attitudes is that there is no hope involved of any kind of return or any sort
40319 of personal satisfaction as a result of the happiness of others.
40320 In the case of attachment to someone, you wish that person well but it is
40321 based on an identification with him or her as "my friend, my son, my
40322 daughter." This identification and this feeling of ownership or
40323 territoriality is related to wanting some kind of return. You enjoy the
40324 happiness of that person because you have identified with him or her, and
40325 therefore in essence it is just wishing for your own benefit. Such attachment
40326 can very easily turn to aversion, anger, and hatred. That is the difference
40327 between compassion and attachment.
40328 -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, from "The Instructions of Gampopa: A Precious
40329 Garland of the Supreme Path", published by Shambhala Publications
40331 Sometimes it seems as if the mind is outside someplace. We see all these
40332 things outside. We see mountains or we hear echoes off of cliffs. We have
40333 all these different thoughts of different places, and the mind seems to go to
40334 those places when we think about them. But it only seems that way; the mind
40335 is not really outside of us either. It dwells neither in external objects nor
40336 someplace in the body--we cannot find any place in the body where it is. You
40337 might then think that since it is not in the body and it is not outside the
40338 body, it must be in the empty space in between. But if you look, you cannot
40339 find it. We need to look and become certain that the mind has no dwelling
40340 place--we must be certain that there is no real place that we can we can
40341 point to and say, "Aha! That's where it is!"
40342 -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo
40343 Gangshar", published by Shambhala Publications
40345 Not only are our adverse experiences beneficial for our own path, but they are
40346 the best way for us to connect with others. Suffering is a universal
40347 experience. This is why the Buddha chose suffering as the first topic of his
40348 teachings. So when we connect with our own suffering, we can also recall that
40349 many beings all over the world are having similar experiences. This helps us
40350 develop understanding, love, and compassion for others.
40351 -- Rose Taylor Goldfield, in "Training the Wisdom Body: Buddhist Yogic
40352 Exercise", published by Shambhala Publications
40354 Once we recognize that other sentient beings--people, animals, and even
40355 insects--are just like us, that their basic motivation is to experience peace
40356 and to avoid suffering, then when someone acts in some way or says something
40357 that is against our wishes, we're able to have some basis for understanding:
40358 "Oh, well, this person (or whatever) is coming from this position because,
40359 just like me, they want to be happy and they want to avoid suffering.
40360 That's their basic purpose. They're not out to get me; they're only
40361 doing what they think they need to do."
40362 Compassion is the spontaneous wisdom of the heart. It's always with us.
40363 It always has been and always will be. When it arises in us, we've simply
40364 learned to see how strong and safe we really are.
40365 -- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche from "All the Rage: Buddhist Wisdom on Anger and
40366 Acceptance", published by Shambhala Publications
40368 Who knows the true nature of things? The actual knower--the empty, cognizant
40369 aspect of mind--is the primordial Buddha, Samantabhadra, the personification
40370 of one's own rigpa. Rigpa, the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra, is very,
40371 very important. It is the clear light, luminous buddha-nature, that which
40372 knows. Innate awareness-wisdom, rigpa, is functioning through us even now, if
40374 -- Nyoshul Khenpo and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen
40375 Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Shambhala Publications
40377 I recognize that this wish to create a better society, end all the suffering
40378 of all beings everywhere, and protect the entire planet may not seem
40379 particularly feasible. But whether or not we accomplish such goals in our
40380 lifetime, it is nevertheless deeply meaningful to cultivate such a vast sense
40381 of responsibility, and the wholehearted wish to be able to benefit others.
40382 This outlook is so wholesome and noble that it is worth developing, regardless
40383 of the probability of actually accomplishing such a vast vision.
40384 -- H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart Is Noble:
40385 Changing the World from the Inside Out", published by Shambhala
40388 Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
40391 We might feel terrible, utterly hopeless, but if we look at ourselves fully
40392 and thoroughly, we will find fundamental goodness. There is something that
40393 makes us look up at the blue sky or the clouds or the sun, something that
40394 allows us to polish our shoes and press our clothes. When we wake up in the
40395 morning, there is something that allows us to brush our teeth, comb our hair,
40396 or use a bar of soap. Such actions may seem rather ordinary, but they come
40397 from a very powerful instinct. That sense of workability comes from ultimate
40399 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma. Volume
40400 Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion", published by
40401 Shambhala Publications
40403 Respect and develop pure perception and devotion toward
40404 Those who are practicing Dharma as the noble sangha.
40405 If you see faults in others, think that they're the reflections
40406 of your own delusions.
40407 If you see good qualities in others, meditate on rejoicing
40409 Disclose and expel your own faults.
40410 Generate virtuous qualities and act with astonishing perserverance.
40411 Be with holy people and abandon evil friends.
40412 Stay in solitary places and promise to pursue meditation.
40413 Make sure that whatever you do is consonant with Dharma practice.
40414 -- Longchen Rabjam, "Counsel for Liberation", published by Shambhala
40417 The key point of the mahayana approach is the commitment to dedicate yourself
40418 to helping other sentient beings. Building yourself up or perpetuating your
40419 own existence is regarded as neurosis. Instead of building yourself up, you
40420 should continue with your pursuit of helping others. Instead of being
40421 selfish, you should empty yourself. The basic definition of ego is holding on
40422 to one's existence--and paramita practices are techniques that allow you
40423 not to grasp onto or propagate the notion of me-ness, or "I am." Experiencing
40424 egolessness is a process of letting go. But you do not regard the ego as an
40425 enemy or obstacle, you regard it as a brussels sprout that you cook and eat.
40426 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma. Volume
40427 Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion", published by
40428 Shambhala Publications
40430 Sentient beings are brought to maturation through three forms of generosity:
40431 giving all, giving equally, and giving tirelessly. Bodhisattvas do not have
40432 even one iota of their own body or enjoyments that they are not willing to
40433 give to others if they see that it would help the other person to do so. They
40434 give all that they possess.
40435 Moreover, their generosity does not simply benefit others by supplying them
40436 with the particular thing that is given. It benefits others in this life by
40437 completely fulfilling their wishes, and, as it also matures them and
40438 establishes them in virtue, which is the cause of the fulfillment of one's
40439 wishes, it benefits them in future lives as well. Thus, bodhisattvas
40440 establish these beings in lasting happiness by planting the seed of
40441 liberation. In this way, generosity matures sentient beings by helping them
40442 in two ways, insofar as there are both temporary and lasting benefits.
40443 Moreover, this generosity is practiced with equal regard for all. Since
40444 there are no biases in terms of the recipients' moral standing, social
40445 position, or relation to oneself, they characteristically practice giving
40447 Finally, not content with giving a confined number of material things for a
40448 certain number of years or eons, a bodhisattva never knows enough of the
40449 qualities of generosity, even were he or she to continue giving until the end
40450 of cyclic existence.
40451 -- from "Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras: Maitreya's
40452 Mahayanasutralamkara", with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham,
40453 published by Shambhala Publications.
40455 Something I find worthy of meditation is how in the dialectic between Samsara
40456 and Nirvana, the dreamworld of Samsara is logically prior to and quite
40457 necessary for the awakening to Nirvana. When discussing Tantric Buddhism,
40458 Gunapala Dharmasiri says in the spirit of Nagarjuna, "We make a Samsara out of
40459 Nirvana through our conceptual projections. Tantrics maintain that the world
40460 is there for two purposes. One is to help us to attain enlightenment. As the
40461 world is, in fact, Nirvana, the means of the world can be utilized to realize
40462 Nirvana, when used in the correct way."
40463 -- Charles Johnson, "Taming the Ox: Buddhist Stories and Reflections on
40464 Politics, Race, Culture, and Spiritual Practice", published by Shambhala
40467 Basically speaking, when you say "I am," you begin to ask yourself the
40468 question, "Who said that?" You might say, "I said that." But then you
40469 ask, "Who are you?" And when you look, you find it is very difficult to
40470 find out who that actually is. You might timidly come back to saying your
40471 name, thinking that this is who is speaking, but beyond the name that was
40472 given to you, nothing really exists. You may think that you exist because
40473 your name is so-and-so, or because your driver's license says so-and-so.
40474 But if you look beyond such things, and beyond beyond, you find that there is
40475 no substance. That is ultimate prajna: it is the discovery of egolessness,
40476 which frees you from fixation.
40477 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
40478 Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion", published by
40479 Shambhala Publications
40481 The appearances of this life--all the various appearances of forms, sounds,
40482 smells, tastes, and bodily sensations we perceive--seem to truly exist. But
40483 life's appearances do not say to us, "I am real." They only seem to be real
40484 from our confused thoughts' perspective when we think, "Those things really
40485 exist out there." That is like what we do in a dream when we do not know we
40487 Similarly, we mistakenly believe that aging, sickness, and death are truly
40488 existent... but this is just confused consciousness at work. The buddhas'
40489 perfect wisdom does not view this life, or the aging, sickness, and death that
40490 occur within it, as truly existent. The noble buddhas and bodhisattvas with
40491 wisdom that sees genuine reality do not see these events as real. Training in
40492 the view of the Mind-Only school that all phenomena are mind, and in the
40493 Middle Way view that all phenomena are emptiness, helps us transform our
40494 confused consciousness into perfect wisdom.
40495 -- Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso, in "Stars of Wisdom", published by Shambhala
40498 Egolessness is not the same as self-extinction. We do not cease to exist,
40499 but we come to know more about ourselves. Realizing that there is no
40500 unchanging self can in fact be an enriching experience. The path consists of
40501 working with ourselves so that gradually, by overcoming the various
40502 inhibitions, confusions, and delusions of the mind, we start to develop more
40503 insight into our own nature.
40504 When we look at ourselves in the present moment, we see all kinds of
40505 confusions and defilements in our mind. Yet the possibility of overcoming all
40506 that and becoming enlightened is a reality. Our own lives become enriched
40507 from having undertaken this journey. So it's important not to mistranslate
40508 this concept of selflessness or nonexistence of ego. To say that we do not
40509 exist at all is the nihilistic view, which the Buddha rejected completely.
40510 -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "The Essence of Buddhism: An Introduction to Its
40511 Philosophy and Practice", published by Shambhala Publications
40512 ##Karma is basically habit. It's the momentum of repeated actions that
40513 become habitual. It's in our best interest to develop as many positive
40514 habits as we can. In the Mahanama Sutta, the Buddha said, "Just as oil
40515 rises to the top of a pot submerged in water, your virtue, your goodness, your
40516 faith, or generosity will rise to the top, and that is what will carry you to
40517 your next destination."
40519 Karma is basically habit. It's the momentum of repeated actions that
40520 become habitual. It's in our best interest to develop as many positive
40521 habits as we can. In the Mahanama Sutta, the Buddha said, "Just as oil
40522 rises to the top of a pot submerged in water, your virtue, your goodness, your
40523 faith, or generosity will rise to the top, and that is what will carry you to
40524 your next destination."
40525 Try to get to the point where your emotional default is into bodhichitta.
40526 In other words, what is your automatic reflex to life situations, especially
40527 difficult ones? Do you think about yourself, and how you might profit or
40528 escape from a situation? Or do you think about others, and how you can help?
40529 Progress on the path, and a sign that you're well prepared for death, is
40530 when the former changes into the latter, when you default not into selfishness
40531 but into selflessness. If you're uncertain about what to do in a situation,
40532 just open your heart and love. This is training in bodhichitta.
40533 -- Andrew Holecek, from "Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual
40534 Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition", published by Shambhala
40537 When you explain or hear the teachings, if your mind and the teachings remain
40538 separate, then whatever is explained will be inconsequential. Hence, listen
40539 in such a way that you determine how these teachings apply to your mind. For
40540 example, when you want to find out whether or not there is some smudge, dirt,
40541 or whatever, on your face, you look in a mirror and then remove whatever is
40542 there. Similarly, when you listen to the teachings, your faults such as
40543 misconduct and attachment appear in the mirror of the teachings. At that
40544 time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work to
40545 clear away those faults and establish good qualities.
40546 -- Tsong-kha-pa, from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
40547 Enlightenment, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications
40549 We work hard to bring happiness and peace into our lives, but there is no way
40550 to achieve real peace through material goods alone. Perhaps we can accomplish
40551 a little artificial joy and happiness, but these don't last long. Truly
40552 substantial and lasting happiness and peace can be established only by
40553 exercising our inner mind with the precious Dharma teachings. This is the
40554 purpose of our meditation practice, and this is what Jigten Sumgön taught.
40555 Mental afflictions and neuroses can be pacified only through the Dharma.
40556 Dharma is the ultimate remedy for confusion.
40557 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "Opening the Treasure of the Profound",
40558 published by Shambhala Publications
40560 The purpose of practice is to habituate ourselves to openness. This means
40561 we need to understand reactive mind. How do we experience the difference
40562 between reacting and staying open?
40563 At what point do we decide to go with the habitual tendencies of
40564 exaggeration and denial or try something new? Where is the fork in the road?
40565 We need to explore these two experiences: reacting... staying open...
40566 reacting... staying open... reacting... staying open again. We begin to see
40567 the difference. It's a process of refinement. Our investigation cultivates
40568 a discerning intelligence that guides us in a positive direction.
40569 We need to ask ourselves: "If our confusion finds its genesis in our
40570 habit of turning away from the open state, what would happen if we habituated
40571 ourselves to staying open?"
40572 -- Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, "The Power of an Open Question: The Buddha's
40573 Path to Freedom", published by Shambhala Publications
40575 Recognizing the instability of causes and conditions leads us to understand
40576 our own power to transform obstacles and make the impossible possible. This
40577 is true in every area of life. If you don't have a Ferrari, you very well
40578 may create the conditions to have one. As long as there is a Ferrari, there
40579 is the opportunity for you to own one. Likewise if you want to live longer,
40580 you can choose to stop smoking and exercise more. There is reasonable hope.
40581 Hopelessness--just like its opposite, blind hope--is the result of a belief
40583 You can transform not only your physical world but your emotional world,
40584 for example, turning agitation into peace of mind by letting go of ambition or
40585 turning low self-respect into confidence by acting out of kindness and
40586 philanthropy. If we all condition ourselves to put our feet in other
40587 people's shoes, we will cultivate peace in our homes, with our neighbors,
40588 and with other countries.
40589 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "What Makes You Not a Buddhist", published by
40590 Shambhala Publications
40592 On the path of seeing there is (1) mindfulness whereby one does not forget the
40593 object, the truth; (2) the wisdom of perfect discernment with regard to the
40594 object; (3) diligence, delight in virtue, being assiduous in undertaking what
40595 is right and avoiding what is wrong in accordance with the path; (4) joy or
40596 mental happiness regarding the latter; (5) flexibility, in which mind and body
40597 function appropriately; (6) concentration; and (7) evenness, in which the mind
40598 enters the natural state, free from the conditions of lack of clarity and
40599 wildness. These seven are elements of the path of seeing, the essence of
40600 enlightenment. They will make one accumulate or accomplish the positive
40601 actions that help one attain nirvana.
40602 -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend"
40604 What is the relationship between bodhichitta and love? When you are in
40605 love, your heart and mind are naturally open and awake to life. When you
40606 cultivate bodhichitta by opening and awakening your heart and mind, love can
40608 Bodhichitta is like opening the curtains, and love is like the sun shining
40609 through, bringing light and warmth into the room. Or we could say that
40610 bodhichitta is like opening the window, and love is the cool breeze that
40611 refreshes the stuffiness and stagnation of living inside a personal fortress.
40612 Bodhichitta is like discovering an inexhaustible treasure, and love is its
40613 enjoyment. Bodhichitta is our direct connection with basic goodness.
40614 -- Moh Hardin, from "A Little Book of Love", published by Shambhala Pub.
40616 Use mindfulness to become aware of these negative thoughts as they arise.
40617 For example, when the first thought of anger arises, notice it and don't let
40618 it multiply. Instead, remember what happened in the past when you were
40619 overwhelmed by anger. Based on your direct experience, see the suffering and
40620 problems anger caused you and recognize its defects. You can crush anger
40621 using antidotes once you clearly see it as something destructive.
40622 You can find a particular antidote to destroy each afflictive emotion. To
40623 conquer desire, you can meditate on the unappealing aspects of the object; for
40624 hatred, meditate on loving-kindness; for jealousy, joy; and so on. This is
40625 how you discard negative mental factors.
40626 -- Shechen Rabjam, from "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the
40627 Notion of Reality", published by Shambhala Publications
40629 During my first trip to France, we didn't speak the same language, so we
40630 often communicated with gestures. Sometimes I think it is better not to know
40631 a language. Rather than talking, it is better to reserve energy through
40632 silence. But most Westerners try to look intelligent through talking and
40633 think silence is uncomfortable, so it is better to be talkative if you want to
40634 spend time in the West. Of course, since human beings have dualistic tongue,
40635 everything that is said is an impetuous expression of incurable, contagious
40636 blurting. We who have ordinary limited qualities incessantly chatter, while
40637 those with limitless wisdom qualities remain silent. It is like the
40638 difference between the movement of shallow water and the stillness of the
40639 deepest sea. Western people have many fine qualities, like the rapid waters
40640 of mountain rivers, but they cannot put out the blazing fire of their mouth.
40641 -- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan",
40642 published by Shambhala Publications
40644 Every moment of our lives, things are both perishing and arising. Some of
40645 our cells are dying while others are revitalized or reborn. We get old, and
40646 at the same time we get young. We get polluted physically, emotionally, and
40647 mentally, and simultaneously we get purified. Things decrease and increase.
40648 We forget, learn, and remember many things.
40649 The Heart Sutra claims that in the midst of phenomena where all things are
40650 changing, the reality of boundless interactions continues, and that this fact
40651 itself will not change. After all, the ultimate reality both encompasses and
40652 is free of change in all manifestations.
40653 -- Kazuaki Tanahashi, "The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic
40654 of Mahayana Buddhism", published by Shambhala Publications
40656 In the state of mindfulness, your mind should look at both its going and
40657 staying. Other than that there is nothing else to cultivate. It suffices if
40658 awareness recognizes the nature of everything that arises. Apart from this
40659 you do not need to search somewhere else for more quality or clarity...
40660 Don't put aside what you have and look elsewhere for what you don't have.
40661 Just watch the identity of awareness, no matter what it thinks or where it
40662 goes. Don't give importance to whether the awareness is clear or not.
40663 Avoid stopping thought movement and pursuing stillness. Whatever stillness
40664 there is and no matter what arises, just sustain their natural flow at their
40665 own pace, without tainting it with alterations. Without allowing yourself to
40666 forget undistracted mindfulness even for a moment, persevere in maintaining
40668 -- Khamtrul Rinpoche III, from "The Royal Seal of Mahamudra, Volume One: A
40669 Guidebook for the Realization of Coemergence", published by Shambhala
40672 As your true view, look into the changeless, empty cognizance.
40673 As your true meditation, let your mind nature be as it is.
40674 As your true conduct, let the delusion of dualistic fixation collapse.
40675 As your true fruition, don't seek the result that is spontaneously present.
40676 -- from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of the Vast
40677 Expanse", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, published by Shambhala Publications
40679 If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered
40680 as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded,
40681 that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers
40682 against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious
40684 -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
40686 Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one,
40687 he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.
40688 -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
40690 In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof
40691 is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by
40692 precept and example inculcated on mankind.
40693 -- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
40695 Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the
40696 strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the
40697 law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.
40698 -- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
40700 Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.
40701 -- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
40703 The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
40704 -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
40706 I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
40707 build a wall of separation between Church & State.
40708 -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
40710 To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering
40711 medicine to the dead.
40712 -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
40714 Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than
40715 our opinions in physics or geometry.
40716 -- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
40718 Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which
40719 facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.
40720 -- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
40722 There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of
40723 science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of
40725 -- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
40727 During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity
40728 been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride
40729 and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both,
40730 superstition, bigotry and persecution.
40731 -- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
40733 Being civil often has an element of acting. However, in the hinayana, you are
40734 behaving rather than acting. Acting is trying to manifest yourself for the
40735 sake of display, whereas behaving is how you feel. Acting is the way you
40736 dance, and behaving is the way you sneeze or hiccup. You know if you are
40737 being genuine. You are the first person who knows. When you are acting, you
40738 are concerned with other people's possible reactions; but when you are
40739 behaving, you are just behaving. It's like sitting on the toilet seat and
40740 doing your duty: nobody is watching. It's your private concern, so there is
40741 a quality of genuineness. In the hinayana, you behave decently because the
40742 dharma is actually a part of you. That is the meaning of taming yourself...
40743 Becoming a dharmic person means that in your everyday life from morning to
40744 morning, around the clock, you are not trying to kid anybody.
40745 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Path of Individual Liberation: Volume One of
40746 The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma", published by Shambhala
40749 Today's world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. In the past,
40750 isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally
40751 separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, whatever
40752 happens in one region eventually affects many other areas. Within the context
40753 of our inter-dependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the
40754 interest of others.
40755 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", published by
40756 Shambhala Publications
40758 Compassion is an internal attitude that may manifest in our behavior.
40759 However, compassion is not the behavior itself, for one behavior can be done
40760 with different motivations. For example, we may take care of a sick relative
40761 because we have genuine affection for him. Conversely, we may care for him
40762 because we want to inherit his estate. The action is the same, but the
40763 motivations differ. The first motivation is prompted by genuine compassion,
40764 the second by self-concern.
40765 Acting with compassion entails being creative and knowing that one
40766 behavior is not suitable for all occasions. In some circumstances, we may be
40767 compassionate by sharing our possessions; while in others, we may show it by
40768 saying, "no." In this way, compassion must be combined with good judgment to
40770 -- Russell Kolts and Thubten Chodron, "An Open-Hearted Life", published by
40771 Shambhala Publications
40773 Since the very beginning, the mind streams of all sentient beings possess the
40774 way of being of the inseparability of being lucid and being empty in an
40775 intrinsic manner. No matter how it may be obscured by adventitious stains, in
40776 terms of its nature, it is never tainted by stains, while the stains exist in
40777 the manner of being separable from it. This mind that is the inseparability
40778 of being lucid and being empty has the nature of being permanent and being
40779 free from change, decrease, and increase. It is ever undeceiving, changeless,
40780 and genuinely stable. Throughout all three phases of ground, path, and
40781 fruition, it is this nature of the mind that is certain to be solely the
40782 object of the genuine meditative equipoise within the qualities that are the
40783 nature of phenomena. This is what needs to be manifested through the practice
40784 of superior insight.
40785 -- from "When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition
40786 as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra", translated by Karl Brunnholzl,
40787 published by Shambhala Publications
40789 Whatever obstacles we experience, if we can take them the right way, they
40790 won't obstruct our spiritual path. Rather, they will become a tool to
40791 stimulate our advancement toward our destination: unconditional love and
40793 So try to feel joy when facing difficulties, for they provide the chance
40794 to purify unvirtuous past deeds, the cause of ills, and infuse us with the
40795 inspiration to generate yet greater virtuous deeds, the cause of healing and
40797 -- Tulku Thondup, from "The Heart of Unconditional Love: A Powerful New
40798 Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation", published by Shambhala
40801 Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics,
40802 its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who
40803 glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about
40805 -- Mike Godwin, on "Godwin's Law", originated in 1990, which (paraphrasing)
40806 states that any online discussion will eventually devolve into a
40807 comparison with Hitler or Nazism. At that point, the person who brought
40808 either topic up has lost the argument and their basic credibility.
40810 Your mind, the primordial buddha,
40811 Searches elsewhere due to the power of desire.
40812 Doesn't it notice that it is wandering in samsara?
40814 Now that you have obtained the precious human body,
40815 You continuously get carried away by mundane actions.
40816 Don't you notice that your life is running out?
40819 The key to understanding the truth of suffering is what the Buddha called
40820 the "three marks" of everything that exists. All conditioned phenomena,
40821 he said, are pervaded by these three marks: impermanence (anitya),
40822 dissatisfaction or suffering (duhkha), and insubstantiality (anatman,
40824 According to the Buddha, if we do not understand how conditioned phenomena
40825 are marked by these three aspects, then we will not be able to understand the
40826 first Noble Truth. We may do all we can in order to avoid facing the fact
40827 that everything is contingent and transient--we may try to hide ourselves
40828 from it, and we may even spin out all kinds of metaphysical theories of an
40829 unchanging, permanent, substantial reality to avoid this all-pervasive nature
40830 of ephemerality. Also, if we do not understand that conditioned phenomena are
40831 unsatisfactory, we will not think about restraining ourselves from
40832 overindulgence in sensory gratifications, which makes us lose our center and
40833 become immersed in worldly concerns, so that our life is governed by greed,
40834 craving, and attachment. All of these things disturb the mind.
40835 If we do not understand that everything is insubstantial--anatman--then
40836 we may believe that there is some kind of enduring essence or substance in
40837 things, or in the personality, and because of this belief we generate delusion
40838 and confusion in the mind.
40839 -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "The Essence of Buddhism", published by Shambhala
40842 When we grasp a self, how can we possibly practice self-reflection?
40843 Everything becomes personal: our pain, our anger, our shortcomings. When we
40844 take thoughts and emotions personally, they torture us. Looking at our
40845 thoughts and emotions in this way is like rubbing our nose in something
40846 unpleasant--what purpose does it serve other than to create more pain? This
40847 is not the kind of looking we are speaking of here.
40848 With the view of selflessness, we can enjoy whatever arises in our
40849 awareness. We can accept that everything that arises is a result of our past
40850 actions, or karma, but it is not who we are.
40851 -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "It's Up to You", published by Shambhala
40854 As with attaining any goal, you can't go about putting an end to suffering
40855 and arriving at enlightenment just any old way. If we throw a stone up into
40856 the air, we should not be surprised if it falls on our head. In the same way,
40857 when we commit any act, whatever it may be, we can only expect that sooner or
40858 later it will produce an effect. Thus it is logical that if we want to free
40859 ourselves from suffering, we have to perform certain actions and refrain from
40860 certain others. The law of the causality of actions is the very foundation of
40861 the teaching of the Buddha, who proclaimed:
40863 Avoid the least harmful act,
40864 Perfectly accomplish the good,
40865 And master your mind.
40866 That is the teaching of the Buddha.
40868 -- Tenzin Wangmo, from "The Prince and the Zombie: Tibetan Tales of Karma",
40869 with foreword by Matthieu Ricard, published by Shambhala Publications
40871 I am very pleased to be a human being, yet I know that I can make what I have
40872 been given even better. I know I am not perfect, yet I also know I have the
40873 ability to transform my imperfections. Remembering this when I begin to
40874 practice or study makes any effort needed during the session much more freely
40875 available. Resting meditation is not just sitting on a cushion and zoning
40876 out. Contemplative Meditation is not just thinking about whatever arises in
40877 the mind. Practicing either form of meditation takes joyful exertion and
40879 -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind is Your Teacher", published by Shambhala
40882 Not acting on our habitual patterns is only the first step toward not harming
40883 others or ourselves. The transformative process begins at a deeper level when
40884 we contact the rawness we're left with whenever we refrain. As a way of
40885 working with our aggressive tendencies, Dzigar Kongtrül teaches the
40886 nonviolent practice of simmering. He says that rather than "boil in our
40887 aggression like a piece of meat cooking in a soup," we simmer in it. We
40888 allow ourselves to wait, to sit patiently with the urge to act or speak in our
40889 usual ways and feel the full force of that urge without turning away or giving
40890 in. This is the journey of developing a kindhearted and courageous tolerance
40892 -- Pema Chödrön, "Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change",
40893 published by Shambhala Publications
40895 During lifetimes spent wandering in the round of rebirth without beginning or
40896 end, your present enemies were once extremely beneficial friends and your
40897 present friends were once harmful enemies. Moreover, if you do not consider
40898 present enemies as such, but treat them helpfully as friends, it is possible
40899 that they will prove even more helpful than friends. Therefore, rest in
40900 equanimity toward others: give up attachment to friends and reject hatred
40902 -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to
40903 Tantra, Books 1 to 10", published by Shambhala Publications
40905 Compassion is not logical. It's basically spacious and generous. A
40906 compassionate person might not be sure whether he is being compassionate to
40907 you or whether you are being compassionate to him, because compassion creates
40908 a total environment of generosity. Generosity is implied; it just happens,
40909 rather than you making it happen. It's just there, without direction,
40910 without me, without "for them." It's full of joy, a spontaneously
40911 existing grin of joy, constant joy.
40912 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with
40913 Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness", published by
40914 Shambhala Publications
40916 We have a Buddhist prayer in which we ourselves aspire to become like [the
40919 May I be like the earth,
40920 Providing the air, the ground, water,
40921 And everything she provides
40922 That is our sacred source of life.
40924 Inspired by the example of the earth, this prayer encourages us to aspire to
40925 be an unconditional source of all well-being and life for others. This is a
40926 supreme aspiration. We do not just have a great deal to learn about the
40927 environment--we also have a lot to learn from it.
40928 -- H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart Is Noble",
40929 published by Shambhala Publications
40931 Many people wish to be healthy, to be free from disease, and to remain forever
40932 young, but these are not very meaningful goals. If you can tame your mind,
40933 the value of this will far surpass anything in the world. Patrul Rinpoche
40934 said, "Tame the mind, tame the mind, use bodhichitta to tame the mind. Even
40935 if we do not cultivate any good deeds in body and speech, taming our mind in
40936 fact benefits ourselves and all beings."
40937 -- Jigme Phuntsok, from "Always Present", published by Shambhala Publications
40939 Transcendent knowledge is beyond thought, word, or description. It neither
40940 arises nor ceases, like the identity of space. It is the domain of
40941 individual, self-knowing wakefulness. I salute this mother of the buddhas of
40943 -- Shantarakshita, in praise of Prajnaparamita, from "Jewels of
40944 Enlightenment", by Erik Pema Kunsang, published by Shambhala Publications
40946 To rejoice in others' happiness without any preferences of our own shows
40947 that we understand that the longing for happiness is the same for all beings.
40948 We can rejoice in their temporal happiness, which has come from their
40949 accumulation of merit. When we recognize the quality of happiness in
40950 others--when we see someone genuinely smile or laugh or see a glimmer of
40951 brightness in their eyes--we can rejoice. When they obtain something they
40952 want or need, whatever it may be, we have an opportunity to practice
40953 rejoicing. Beings long for all kinds of things, some of which we might not
40954 want ourselves--but that doesn't matter. The important thing is that, if
40955 only for a single moment, it has brought them some happiness.
40956 -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "Light Comes Through", published by Shambhala
40959 Even if we think we have found the origin of phenomena, we are only being
40960 deluded by the karmic seeds of new discoveries which are constantly ripening,
40961 becoming exhausted, and being replaced through the ripening of other karmic
40962 seeds. Yet we continue to be fascinated by trying to define substance,
40963 constantly trying to catch it, thinking that we have caught it but then losing
40964 it. We are endlessly lured by the material creations of our conceptions.
40965 Sublime beings, knowing the characteristics of each phenomenon and the nature
40966 of all phenomena, are never lured by anything. They abide in the infinite
40967 display of enlightenment's empty appearance without trying to catch anything
40968 or being able to be caught.
40969 -- Thinley Norbu, from "White Sail", published by Shambhala Publications
40971 When there is never any fear or despair no matter what adversity or suffering
40972 is encountered, when difficulty is taken as an aid to mind training and you
40973 always have the help of a joyful mind, then you have acquired proficiency in
40974 mind training. When adverse conditions come, meditate joyfully and, in
40975 addition, learn to take joyfully all the adversity others experience.
40976 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, from "The Great Path of Awakening", published
40977 by Shambhala Publications
40979 The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of
40980 all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather
40981 than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge
40983 -- William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
40985 Not only are there two different categories of phenomena, the person and the
40986 external phenomena, there are also two different types of misconceptions with
40987 respect to the nature of phenomena: misconceptions with respect to the nature
40988 of the person and with respect to the external phenomena. This means to
40989 overcome these two types of misconception is to realize selflessness, which is
40990 the ultimate nature of these two types of phenomena. Therefore there are two
40991 selflessnesses, selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena.
40992 Generally speaking, comparing the two, the realization of the selflessness of
40993 the person is said to be easier than realization of the selflessness of
40994 phenomena because of long familiarity with the actual self, the person.
40995 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the
40996 Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind", edited by Jeremy Hayward and
40997 Francisco J. Varela, published by Shambhala Publications
40999 The Tibetan term for renunciation is ngepar jungwa; nges par 'byung ba,
41000 which literally means "certainty of release." Ngepar is short for ngepar
41001 shepa, meaning to have certain, decisive knowledge from within; in this case,
41002 it refers to having certainty that the nature of worldly existence is
41003 suffering. In addition to this certainty, there is the heartfelt wish to be
41004 released, jungwa, from this suffering. One must gain confidence in the fact
41005 that the nature of cyclic existence in samsara is suffering, together with
41006 having the powerful wish and intention to be free of this suffering. This is
41007 what is known as the thought of renunciation.
41008 -- Nyoshul Khenpo, "The Fearless Lion's Roar: Profound Instructions on
41009 Dzogchen, the Great Perfection", published by Shambhala Publications
41011 "Karma" basically means action. When we talk about karma, we talk about
41012 action, which in Buddhism entails thinking in terms of cause and effect.
41013 Actions are performed because there are certain preexisting causes and
41014 conditions giving rise to the impulse to engage in particular actions, and
41015 from this the karmic effect issues. In the performance of actions, there is
41016 usually a propelling factor. We feel compelled by something to do certain
41017 things, and when we engage in those actions, based on those impulses, the
41018 actions then produce relevant effects. As we have seen though, this does not
41019 mean that every action performed has a particular cause and a particular
41020 effect. Nevertheless, the Buddhist theory of karma is irrevocably tied to
41021 this mechanism, for want of a better word, and hence to the responsibility of
41022 the individual, as opposed to a divine governance of sorts.
41023 -- Traleg Kyabgon, "Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters",
41024 published by Shambhala Publications
41026 Nondistraction means not being lost in subtle undercurrents of delusion or
41027 indifferent stupor; it is immaculate, unending mindfulness. Not understanding
41028 this, if one is fearful and cautious about being distracted and is bound by a
41029 repressed, constricted mind, this is an error.
41030 Natural, ordinary mind means this present mind unstained by either faults
41031 or good qualities. This self-nature is usustained by the continuity of
41032 awareness. Not nderstanding this, if one grasps at the substantiality of the
41033 rigid concepts of worldly, ordinary mind, this is an error.
41034 To be meditationless means to enter profound, unconditioned natural space,
41035 detached from meditating and non-meditating, without any contrivance or aim,
41036 stabilizing the expansive fortress of mindfulness. Not understanding this, if
41037 one remains in ordinary, careless neutrality, or is lost in meaningless
41038 indifference, this is an error.
41039 -- "Sunlight Speech That Dispels the Darkness of Doubt", translated by
41040 Thinley Norbu, published by Shambhala Publications
41042 When Milarepa meditated in the mountains, he was alone for a long time. In
41043 spite of this, he always felt that he was inseparable from Marpa because his
41044 devotion was so powerful. Milarepa sang his vajra songs in solitude but,
41045 through devotion, was always connected to his lama. Devotion to the lama is a
41046 powerful protection from negative thoughts and nonvirtuous actions. It is
41047 also a special protection that allows us to properly practice meditation. Our
41048 awareness of enlightened beings and our knowledge of how to take care of our
41049 mind protect the mind so that it doesn't flow in a wrong direction. Through
41050 these joyous practices we develop a feeling of appreciation of how fortunate
41051 we are, and we cease feeling lonely or depressed.
41052 -- "Opening the Treasure of the Profound", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen
41053 Rinpoche, published by Shambhala Publications
41055 We need to make our preparations now, and we need to be diligent about it.
41056 We may think, "I really want to practice the Dharma, but right now I'm
41057 really busy, and I have a lot of things to do. I'll get to the Dharma when
41058 my work is done." This way of thinking is an obstacle that will prevent us
41059 from practicing the Dharma. If we are busy doing something right now, then
41060 when we are done, something else will come up that will keep us busy, and when
41061 that's done, there will be something else, and something else after that.
41062 It's just one thing after another that we have to do. We end up with no
41063 opportunity to practice the Dharma at all.
41064 Padampa Sangye says, "Now while it's in mind, make haste to practice."
41065 When we think, "I've got to practice the Dharma," we need to go and
41066 practice diligently right away. Otherwise, all kinds of things will come up
41067 that we think we need to do first, and we'll never get around to practicing.
41068 -- Khenchen Thrangu and Padampa Sangye, from "Advice from a Yogi", published
41069 by Shambhala Publications
41071 The ultimate mode of being, the ground wherein both we and Guru Rinpoche are
41072 primordially inseparable--namely, the selfarisen primordial wisdom, which is
41073 subject to no movement of discursive thought--is referred to as Guru.
41074 Because deluded perceptions are themselves primordially pure, the path is free
41075 from all striving and the fruit is present spontaneously like a lotus in full
41076 flower. Therefore [the path itself] is referred to as Padma, or lotus. For
41077 the fruit is not something that occurs at a later stage as a result of the
41078 practice. In the ultimate expanse, which is selfarisen and spontaneously
41079 present, the primordial wisdom of selfawareness is clearly [and already]
41080 manifest. This is referred to as Siddhi, or accomplishment. And, although in
41081 terms of conceptual distinctions the self-arisen primordial wisdom may be
41082 classified as ground, path, and fruit, these three are not different in
41083 nature. This is directly perceived by self-cognizing awareness and is
41084 indicated by the syllable Hung.
41085 -- Jamgon Mipham, "White Lotus: An Explanation of the Seven-Line Prayer to
41086 Guru Padmasambhava", published by Shambhala Publications
41088 While dreaming, all kinds of things may come to mind, but these are nothing
41089 more than appearances. Likewise, a magician may create a variety of illusory
41090 appearances, but they do not exist objectively. Likewise, oneself, others,
41091 the cycle of existence, and liberation--in short, all entities--exist merely
41092 by the power of mind and convention.
41093 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Transcendent Wisdom", published by
41094 Shambhala Publications
41096 From our deluded samsaric standpoint, it may seem that certain traits are
41097 necessary for our well-being, self-esteem, and self-worth. Talking about
41098 others' defects may make us appear more desirable, or gossiping about
41099 others' misfortunes may make our own misery seem less, but we have to
41100 examine these tendencies much more closely to see that this is a completely
41101 mistaken aspect of our lives.
41102 Despite having a good motivation and the best intentions, our mind
41103 training will have little success if we can't commit ourselves strongly
41104 enough to undermining these traits. These tendencies don't bring us any
41105 self-confidence or happiness. In fact, they undermine our personal autonomy
41106 and well-being and obstruct our spiritual progress. It's important to put
41107 an end to these negative and paranoid tendencies and replace them with love,
41108 compassion, and the development of a kind heart.
41109 -- Traleg Kyabgon, in "The Practice of Lojong", published by Shambhala
41112 Awareness of the thought process at the moment of an impulse arising is what
41113 makes freedom from thought possible, because when the mind is only at the
41114 stage of an impulse arising, the energies haven't fully engaged. There is
41115 an almost impartial quality about the energy of the impulse. When it is
41116 driven into specific thought, the situation changes and it becomes "my
41117 thought with my feeling, therefore me." This is what is meant by being
41118 caught in the thought. The inner energy has transmuted from being something
41119 relatively neutral and therefore not very important or compelling into
41120 something entirely personal and therefore extremely important and compelling.
41121 -- Rob Nairn, in "Living, Dreaming, Dying", published by Shambhala Publications
41123 The Buddha, radically, interpreted the individual as a compound of many
41124 different elements, physical and mental--a psychophysical complex. Therefore
41125 our feelings, thoughts, emotions, memories, dispositions; our perceptual
41126 capability, our cognitive capacities, and our physical conditions--all are
41127 constantly interacting and impacting each other.
41128 And agents themselves are also continually interacting with other agents.
41129 Logically, then, we need not feel compelled to identify ourselves with a
41130 single thing, a core element to our psyche, as it is really a matter of being
41131 in a constant state of flux. In this sense, karma could be said to operate as
41132 streams of networking karmic processes, where all kinds of living, breathing
41133 individuals are involved. The really important principle to grasp about this
41134 approach is to look closely at things, for things in their nature are complex.
41135 Acknowledging this will bring us great reward in fact. Doing the opposite,
41136 looking at things in a very simple way, keeps us trapped in ignorance.
41137 -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters",
41138 published by Shambhala Publications
41140 There is magic in vajrayana practice and in vajrayana altogether. People
41141 often think that magic is the ability to do things like change fire into
41142 water, or float up toward the ceiling and then come down again, or make tomato
41143 ketchup into cream cheese. But we have a better understanding of magic than
41144 that; what is actually happening is better than those things. We are not
41145 talking about magic in the style of a conjuring magician on the stage, but we
41146 are talking about fundamental magic. This magic is always based on the
41147 profound effect that we have discovered from the hinayana discipline of one-
41148 pointedness and the mahayana discipline of openess and compassionate
41149 nonterritoriality. Out of that comes vajrayana magic, which is that we are
41150 able to cut our thoughts abruptly and directly. On the spot!
41151 -- Chögyam Trungpa, in "The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness",
41152 published by Shambhala Publications
41154 When, in the Mahayana, one goes for refuge, one cultivates an unbearably
41155 powerful compassion for beings, who have been one's mothers in the past and
41156 whose number is as boundless as the sky is vast. But it is not enough to feel
41157 compassion for them; one must be determined and decide to liberate them from
41158 their suffering. As long as one is not free oneself, however, one is
41159 powerless to bring others to freedom. Consequently, in order to free oneself
41160 and others from the perils of both samsaric existence and the peace of
41161 nirvana, one takes refuge in the Three Jewels, according to the Mahayana,
41162 until one gains enlightenment.
41163 -- Kunzang Pelden, in "Nectar of Manjushri's Speech", published by
41164 Shambhala Publications
41166 Just as a precious jewel, the sky, and water are by nature pure, likewise the
41167 tathagatagarbha or dharmadhatu is by nature always free from the defilement of
41168 the mental poisons and thus utterly pure. Whereas this is the meaning of the
41169 essence, the cause that completely purifies the adventitious defilements
41170 consists of devotion towards the Mahayana Dharma, of highest discriminative or
41171 analytical wisdom realizing the non-existence of a self, of limitless samadhi
41172 endowed with bliss, and of great compassion focusing on sentient beings as its
41173 point of reference. The realization arising from these [purifying causes] is
41174 to be known as enlightenment.
41175 -- Maitreya, in "Buddha Nature", published by Shambhala Publications
41177 Meditation means learning to control our minds, thereby protecting our minds
41178 from domination by delusion and other afflictions. We may think, "Oh, I
41179 wish my mind were not dominated by ignorance and other afflictions." But
41180 these afflictions are very powerful and very destructive; they operate despite
41181 our wishes. We have to work to develop effective countermeasures. We cannot
41182 buy such remedies from a store; even very sophisticated machines cannot
41183 produce them for us. They are obtained only through mental effort, training
41184 the mind in meditation.
41185 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "From Here to Enlightenment", published
41186 by Shambhala Publications
41188 If we were asked to be free right now, to jump into the sea of love in this
41189 very moment, we might turn our attention inward and try it, and it may not
41190 work. Why? Because of a hindrance, a block. That block is the very sense of
41191 "I am" that is the false image of who we are. It is the shell that is
41192 veiling, covering our true nature. So the goal of all spiritual endeavors is
41193 to actually realize the enlightened part of who we are, not sometime in the
41194 future, but right now.
41195 -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", published by Shambhala
41198 You don't need to be an "excellent meditator" to start with. All you
41199 need to do is have your heart and mind make the following agreement:
41200 "Let's rest. There's no reason right now to wander around following
41201 thoughts or worrying. Let's be relaxed and open." There's not even any
41202 need to shut down your thoughts. Just be there with them, but not overly
41203 concerned or engaged. Let there be total openness, and just relax within
41205 -- Dza Kilung Rinpoche, "The Relaxed Mind", published by Shambhala
41208 Awareness does not engage with objects of the ordinary mind. It is "self-
41209 cognizing primordial wisdom." This can be illustrated by the "light" of
41210 the new moon: a profoundly indwelling luminosity, which does not radiate
41211 outward. Therefore, despite the fact that the five primordial wisdoms are
41212 spontaneously present in awareness, the latter is without thoughts related to
41213 sense objects. By contrast, even when it is still, the ordinary mind
41214 nevertheless "moves" and follows after different objects. It is like the
41215 light of the moon on the fifteenth of the month, which radiates outward and
41216 engulfs everything.
41217 -- Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kangyur Rinpoche, and Jigme Lingpa, in "Treasury of
41218 Precious Qualities: Book Two", published by Shambhala Publications
41220 According to Buddhism, all existents abide in loving-kindness free from
41221 concepts in their absolute nature. But the understanding and realization of
41222 that true nature have been covered over by the webs of our own mental,
41223 emotional, and intellectual obscurations.
41224 Now, in order to uncover the true nature and its qualities, we must dispel
41225 the cover--our unhealthy concepts, emotions, and actions. Through the power
41226 of devotion and contemplation, we must uncover and see the true innate
41227 enlightened qualities--loving-kindness that is free from concepts--shining
41229 -- Tulku Thondup, from "The Heart of Unconditional Love", published by
41230 Shambhala Publications
41232 The method for taking all situations as the path is to rest within the essence
41233 of the mind. Within our minds, there are three aspects: the way things
41234 appear, how they are confused, and the way they actually are. We do not take
41235 our difficulties as the path in relation to how things appear or are confused,
41236 but in relation to how they actually are. We rest naturally within their
41237 nature--the clear and empty nature of the mind that is sometimes called the
41238 union of clarity and emptiness or the union of wisdom and the expanse. We
41239 rest within this, recognizing it. When we take sickness as the path, we look
41240 at the essence of the sickness without altering it in any way and just rest
41241 naturally within that. When we take the afflictions as the path, we just look
41242 at the essence of the greed, aversion, or delusion that has occurred. We do
41243 not follow the affliction or block it. We do not try to stop our thoughts.
41244 Instead, we look at those thoughts and at the afflictions that occur, and we
41245 rest naturally within their inherently empty essence.
41246 -- Khenchen Thrangu, from "Vivid Awareness", published by Shambhala
41249 I suggest that dana--in all its wonderful, profound simplicity--is a
41250 necessary and significant part of what Dr. Buddha would prescribe for our
41251 times. It can be understood without hours of study. It liberates us from
41252 acquisitive and protectionist habits. It mitigates individualism and
41253 nourishes community. Its meaning spans the most basic levels of practice
41254 through to the ultimate. It challenges "me" and "mine," fostering letting go.
41255 A reinvigorated and updated understanding and practice of dana can serve as a
41256 powerful antidote to consumerism's ills. I see this as essential for
41257 Buddhism to stay on course as we navigate this bizarre postmodern world
41258 seeking genuine peace and liberation.
41259 -- Santikaro, from "Hooked!: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the
41260 Urge to Consume", edited by Stephanie Kaza, published by Shambhala
41261 Publications and Snow Lion Publications
41263 The teachings are for living in this world--for having fewer problems and
41264 fewer tensions. Many people speak now about world peace. What does that
41265 mean? How can we have world peace if we don't have peace in ourselves? We
41266 are each members of society--society meaning all of us together, not as
41267 individuals. Since many individuals make up society, it means that the
41268 individuals must have a kind of evolution. Although we have power and
41269 military might, and sometimes there are provisional changes, in the real sense
41271 Society is made up of individuals each having their point of view, their
41272 feelings, and their sensations. If we want to develop society so that there
41273 is more peace and happiness, each one of us must work with our condition. For
41274 example, our society is like numbers. When we count, we must always begin
41275 with the number "1." If I think about society, I must start with myself as
41277 -- Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, from "Dzogchen Teachings", published by Shambhala
41280 One of my favorite quotes from the Buddha is: "Let us rise up and be
41281 thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,
41282 and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got
41283 sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."
41284 Gratitude is one of the fruits of living from genuine happiness; at the
41285 same time, it arises from an inherent seed in our being, a seed that requires
41286 cultivation. There's a quote from Meister Eckhart, the Christian mystic, that
41287 illustrates how important this quality is: "If the only prayer you said in
41288 your whole life was 'thank you,' that would suffice." If we truly understood
41289 the depth of this teaching it would be all we'd need to know. Unfortunately,
41290 we can't just tell ourselves to be grateful and expect it to happen, yet it's
41291 a quality that certainly can be nurtured.
41292 -- Ezra Bayda, from "Beyond Happiness: The Zen Way to True Contentment",
41293 published by Shambhala Publications
41295 In the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) teachings, the issue is always whether or
41296 not we recognize our true nature and understand that the reflections of that
41297 nature manifest as experience. The dream is a reflection of our own mind.
41298 This is easy to believe after we wake up, just as the Buddhas know--after
41299 they are enlightened--that the entities and objects of samsara are illusory.
41300 And just as it takes practice to recognize the illusory nature of dream while
41301 asleep, we must practice to realize the illusory nature of waking life.
41303 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
41304 published by Shambhala Publications
41307 The jewel in the lotus is a wonderful metaphor for the essential nature of
41308 mind. It integrates two very different approaches, recognizing that there is
41309 a worthy role for striving, for engaging in methods, for growth and
41310 development; and at the same time recognizing that all these methods are
41311 fundamentally designed simply to bring to light what is already there, in all
41312 of its perfection, in all of its completeness. This is the pure fountain of
41313 loving-kindness and wisdom we are trying to cultivate.
41314 The mantra OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ is associated with Avalokiteśvara,
41315 the embodiment of enlightened compassion, and the mantra is the verbal
41316 articulation of that same quality of compassion. Among the many
41317 interpretations of the mantra, here is one I find especially meaningful. Oṃ
41318 signifies the manifest body, speech, and mind. Maṇi in Sanskrit means
41319 "jewel." Padme, pronounced pémé in Tibetan, means "in the lotus."
41320 Hūṃ, pronounced by the Tibetans as hoong, is a syllable suggestive of the
41321 deepest, essential, transcendent nature of consciousness. So the mantra
41322 starts out from the manifest state of the body, speech, and mind, then through
41323 the metaphor of the jewel in the lotus, goes to the depths of consciousness.
41324 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart",
41325 published by Shambhala Publications
41327 In general, people tend to minimize the importance of the ordinary sangha:
41328 Buddha is a big deal, Dharma is a big deal, and Sangha is something to put up
41329 with. Yet it's within the ordinary sangha, monastic or lay, that the
41330 roughest edges of our arrogance and pride can be smoothed down a little.
41331 Americans--with their car obsessions--have a good expression for this:
41332 "Where the rubber meets the road." Let's say there's a shiny new car
41333 on the floor. It appears to be perfect. But we still need to take it for a
41334 test–drive. The car that never leaves the shop is like a practitioner
41335 reciting nice words about compassion and selflessness, but removed from the
41336 opportunity to test–drive their intentions and aspirations. How do the
41337 bodhisattva ideals hold up when we actually interact with others?
41338 Problems within the sangha inevitably arise because we're talking about
41339 unenlightened people trying to get along with each other. Jealousy,
41340 competition, and anger inevitably erupt. Although individual practitioners
41341 have unenlightened minds and commit unenlightened activities and get ensnared
41342 in ignorant understanding, the ordinary sangha still offers the best
41343 opportunity to apply dharma.
41344 -- Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, "Turning Confusion into Clarity", published by
41345 Shambhala Publications
41347 Silly beings, uninterested in this meaning,
41348 Are always carried away by the river of samsara and finished.
41350 There are some who do not have much faith in the dharmachakra of No Mental
41351 Activity, the essence-meaning of mahamudra. Here, Mahasiddha Tilopa does not
41352 mean all sentient beings in general but rather some who cling to tenet
41353 systems--those with attachment to their own system. There are quite a few
41354 such intellectual logicians. Such intransigent stubborn "silly ones" who
41355 lack the eye of wisdom
41356 -- Sangyes Nyenpa, "Tilopa's Mahamudra Upadesha", published by Shambhala
41359 Ordinary beings--even those who are kind and compassionate--are
41360 primarily motivated by self-interest and work mainly for their own benefit.
41361 All of their activities and thoughts are tinged by self-serving motivations
41362 and attitudes. Even when they perform acts of kindness, they generally do so
41363 expecting praise or personal satisfaction and not because of pure altruism.
41364 Bodhisattvas, however, are motivated by universal compassion, and they
41365 seek the ultimate goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others.
41366 They embark on this path with the generation of the mind of awakening. Unlike
41367 ordinary beings, who think of their own advantage, bodhisattvas consider how
41368 best to benefit others.
41369 -- John Powers, A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, published by
41370 Shambhala Publications
41372 "I'm fine. My life's together. I know what I'm doing. I've
41373 got to look like a good Dharma practitioner. People shouldn't see me cry.
41374 They shouldn't know how distracted I am during meditation. I can't let on
41375 how incredibly confused I am." We think we're the only one who is confused
41376 and not wanting to lose face, we hide our turmoil and pretend to be calmly in
41377 charge of the show. But we're in cyclic existence, so how much control do
41378 we really have? How peaceful can we be when we have a samsaric body and mind?
41379 When our "garbage mind"--as Lama Yeshe used to call it--spills out,
41380 we may be alarmed and think that we're not doing the practice correctly. In
41381 fact, we are. Only by exposing the garbage mind can we identify it and free
41383 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart", published by
41384 Shambhala Publications
41386 Completely understanding his dire circumstances, the man had a strong
41387 feeling that the only way to be saved from deportation was to extend loving-
41388 kindness to Calcutta's police inspector general. He placed a photograph of
41389 the police inspector general on his desk. He then completely focused his
41390 attention on it, extending his feeling of loving-kindness toward the man. In
41391 fact, he sat up the entire night looking at the photograph and practicing his
41392 loving-kindness meditation.
41393 When the police inspector general arrived in the morning, he approached
41394 the man and looked directly into his eyes. He then said, "I will not send
41395 you to Sri Lanka, Sir, but I will instead look after you here as if you were
41397 -- Bhante Walpola Piyananda, "The Bodhi Tree Grows in L.A.", published by
41398 Shambhala Publications
41400 The scriptures say that thinking is not thinking, so do not even think about
41401 not having thoughts. There is no thinking about nonconceptualization, or
41402 about anything else. The scriptures also say that one should not think
41403 "stop thinking!" Do not think in order to clarify the meaning of
41404 nonconceptuality. This becomes more and more subtle, more and more peaceful,
41405 more and more clear, more and more equal. Once the basis has been
41406 transformed, rest in equanimity in the space of reality.
41407 -- Sam van Schaik, "Tibetan Zen: Discovering a Lost Tradition", published by
41408 Shambhala Publications
41410 According the First Noble Truth, the first step in discovering truth and
41411 relieving our own and anyone else's suffering is to acknowledge the pain and
41412 suffering that are present in our lives. Sometimes people assume that
41413 Buddhism is a pessimistic sort of tradition because of this teaching. In
41414 fact, however, recognizing that pain is simply part of being alive can be a
41415 relief. It is not a sign that we have done something wrong, stupid, or
41416 shameful. Yet I often catch myself and hear others making just that
41417 assumption--that pain and suffering are signs of some personal defect.
41418 If I tell one friend that I have a cold, for instance, she is likely to
41419 say, "Well, how did that happen? Were you out without your hat in the cold?"
41420 Even more distressing is the view we all have heard at one time or another,
41421 which blames sufferers of serious diseases for having them: "Oh, yes, cancer
41422 is a sign of unexpressed grief." Of course, as modern medical research is
41423 increasingly showing us, the mind and the body are deeply interconnected, and
41424 our attitudes, emotions, and behaviors do affect our health. Yet, even if we
41425 were able to do "everything right," if we live long enough, we will not escape
41426 old age, sickness, and death.
41427 -- Karen Kissel Wegela, "The Courage to be Present", published by Shambhala
41430 In brief, whatever is dawning, be right there with an uncontrived mind. Do
41431 not involve yourself with stopping, or starting, or with any modification
41432 whatsoever. Whatever arises, stay uncontrivedly right with that arising.
41433 Don't reel your mind in, don't cast around for an object of meditation out
41434 there. Be right there with the meditator, your very own mind. Unfound when
41435 sought, your own mind is primordially empty mindnature. Seeking also is
41436 unnecessary; the seeker--yourself--is that [which one is seeking].
41437 Unwaveringly remain right with that very seeker.
41438 -- Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, "Strand of Jewels", published by Shambhala
41441 Thus, all compounded and uncompounded phenomena--the ten directions, the
41442 three times, the three worlds, and so forth--are none other than one's own
41443 mind, as is stated in the Great Sovereign of Practices, the Victory over the
41444 Three Worlds: "If one realizes, in accordance with one's own unmistaken
41445 mind or the power of the mind, that discerning consciousness is the very
41446 nature of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the like, one is enlightened. If one
41447 fails to understand this, everything appears as the vessel and contents that
41448 constitute samsara. The three worlds are simply this; the great elements
41450 -- Padmasambhava, "A Garland of Views: A Guide to View, Meditation, and
41451 Result in the Nine Vehicles", from Padmasambhava's classic text with a
41452 commentary by Jamgön Mipham, published by Shambhala Publications
41454 The Hinayana counsels a life of discipline--not the onerous, punishing kind,
41455 but the kind that can actually create a life of joy. Little slips are to be
41456 avoided because they really seem to pile up. Rather than being seen as moral
41457 wrongdoings, however, they are seen as obstacles and obscurations to true
41458 wakefulness and as such are to be eschewed. To do so, tremendous precision is
41459 required. I mean, take just one of the most basic precepts, common to every
41460 religion under the sun: "don't lie." If you can read to the end of this
41461 paragraph without telling a lie, please alert the media.
41462 -- Susan Piver, "Start Here Now", published by Shambhala Publications
41464 The reason and the meaning of love in our life is very profound. It is unlike
41465 any other reason. In my own personal view, I do not think that love has to be
41466 for no reason at all. Rather, I think that the reason to love is so vast that
41467 it cannot be limited to any particular reasons.
41468 -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "The Heart Is Noble", published by
41469 Shambhala Publications
41471 Human beings suffer birth, sickness, aging and death. We enumerate these
41472 different forms of suffering but prefer not to think about what they entail.
41473 We only need to watch a birth to know how traumatic and painful the passage
41474 through the birth canal must be for the baby. Aging is distasteful to
41475 everyone but small children, who long to be grown up. Everyone else likes to
41476 be told they don't look a day older.
41477 Even reading about diseases or hearing of others' sicknesses fills us
41478 with a dread that we might contract them. When we actually fall ill
41479 ourselves, we feel afraid and helpless. As for death, everyone avoids talking
41480 about it. Humans also experience the constant frustration of not getting what
41481 they want and getting what they don't want. When we first meet people, they
41482 may seem successful and happy, but as soon as we get to know them better, we
41483 discover they all have a tale of woe to tell.
41484 -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe
41485 Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
41486 Shambhala Publications
41488 The idea is that passion should be transmuted into compassion for yourself and
41489 others. This is possible because passion without reference point, goal
41490 orientation, or aggression is compassion. When passion is transmuted into
41491 compassion, you do not abandon your existence, but you are able to be gentle
41492 and nice. Since you are not substituting such behavior for your actual self,
41493 you do not feel particularly lost or deprived of your capabilities. Beyond
41494 that, you can expand to others as well. So you are full, but at the same
41495 time, you are empty.
41496 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom & Compassion",
41497 published by Shambhala Publications.
41499 Traditionally, many subtle distinctions are made about the various
41500 characteristics and levels of the development of bodhichitta. Chagme Rinpoche
41501 mentions these and says, "If you are studying to become a scholar, you need
41502 to know all of these distinctions. But if you are a practitioner, these
41503 distinctions are extremely unimportant." For example, I arrived here at
41504 these teachings by traveling in airplanes and automobiles. Now, I might
41505 wonder, "Who built the airplane I traveled in? How does it work?" But, in
41506 fact, I don't know the answers to any of these things because it is not
41507 important for me to know these things. What is important is that I got on an
41508 airplane and flew thousands of miles and was able to get here. In the same
41509 way, I regularly travel by automobile, and I might wonder, "How do you make
41510 an automobile? Who made this automobile? How does it work exactly?" From
41511 one point of view, of course, it is good to know these things, but from the
41512 point of view of actually getting somewhere, it is not important. What is
41513 important is that I got in a car and I came here. So, from one point of view,
41514 it might be important to know all about the various aspects and
41515 characteristics of bodhichitta, but according to Karma Chagme, it is perfectly
41517 -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme's
41518 Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen", published by Shambhala Publications
41520 - You are a deeply selfish person. -
41522 + You are a deeply compassionate person. +
41524 * You are a deeply deep person. *
41526 - You are a deeply selfish person. -
41527 + You are a deeply compassionate person. +
41528 * You are a deeply deep person. *
41530 Buddhism asserts that the mind can be changed. I doubt whether anyone
41531 would dispute that point although we often feel as if we are stuck with an
41532 obstinate mind that refuses to do what we want it to. In addictions this
41533 feeling of being stuck can be very powerful. But Buddha said that all this
41534 can change, no matter how bad it is.
41535 Buddha was a top psychologist. He taught methods for dealing with
41536 immediate and urgent situations as well as methods that look into long-term
41537 change. For the long term, meditation is an important method. When he was
41538 teaching about how to meditate, he suggested a number of tools from which we
41539 can benefit. We are going to use three of these tools to help us:
41540 mindfulness, introspection, and equanimity. Mindfulness keeps our mind on
41541 whatever we have decided to do. Introspection checks whether we are being
41542 mindful or not. Equanimity stops the dramatizing and catastrophizing that we
41543 get into when we do not get what we want (the craving and grasping that arise
41544 from attachment) or we get what we do not want (aversion which gives rise to
41545 hatred, jealousy, and depression).
41546 -- Chönyi Taylor, from "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release
41547 from Addictive Patterns", published by Shambhala Publications
41549 It is said in the Supreme Continuum of the Great Vehicle:
41550 Earth is based upon water,
41551 Water on wind, and wind on space,
41552 But space is not based on anything.
41553 Similarly, the aggregates and sensory sense fields
41554 Are based on deeds and afflictive mental states.
41555 Deeds and afflictive mental states are always based on mistaken attention.
41556 Mistaken attention is based on the purity of mind.
41557 But the nature of mind is not itself based on any of these things.
41558 -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to
41559 Tantra, Books 15 to 17, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications
41561 First, I'll begin with self, which sometimes goes by the name ego, or
41562 more familiarly, I and me. What is this self, really? We can investigate by
41563 trying to analyze this self, to locate it or pin it down, to see if it even
41564 exists in the first place. This can be a highly illuminating contemplation,
41565 but for the purposes of this book, I would like to focus more on our everyday
41566 experience. Let's identify how having a self feels. In our mind stream,
41567 there is always some kind of feeling of having a self, which is at the center
41568 of all our thoughts and emotions. One Tibetan phrase targets this phenomenon
41569 precisely: dak che dzin. Dak means "self"; che means "important" or
41570 "dear"; dzin means "holding" or "regarding." This term has various
41571 translations, which all capture different nuances: self-centeredness, self-
41572 clinging, ego-clinging, self-absorption. I like to use all of these terms in
41573 different contexts, but my favorite translation is "self-importance."
41574 This word may make us think dak che dzin has mostly to do with being proud
41575 and arrogant, but such pride is nowhere near the whole story. Self-importance
41576 includes both self-cherishing and self-protection. It is the source of the
41577 five main types of painful emotions, known as the "five poisons":
41578 attachment, aggression, jealousy, arrogance, and stupidity. It can manifest
41579 as feeling like we're better than others, but just as easily it can manifest
41580 as low self-esteem, or even self-hatred. The bottom line is that we regard
41581 this self--whatever or wherever it is--as the most important thing in the
41583 -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the
41584 Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications.
41586 Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why
41587 people who want dinner do not ring the bell.
41590 In reality, nothing can save us from a state of chaos or confusion unless
41591 we have acknowledged it and actually experienced it. Otherwise, even though
41592 we may be in the midst of chaos, we don't even notice it, although we are
41593 subject to it. On the path of meditation, the first real glimpse of our
41594 confusion and the general chaos is when we begin to feel uncomfortable. We
41595 feel that something is a nuisance. Something is bugging us constantly.
41596 What is that? Eventually we discover that we are the nuisance. We begin
41597 to see ourselves being a nuisance to ourselves when we uncover all kinds of
41598 thought problems, emotional hang-ups, and physical problems in meditation.
41599 Before we work with anyone else, we have to deal with being a nuisance to
41600 ourselves. We have to pull ourselves together. We might get angry with
41601 ourselves, saying, "I could do better than this. What's wrong with me? I
41602 seem to be getting worse. I'm going backward." We might get angry with
41603 the whole world, including ourselves. Everything, the entire universe,
41604 becomes the expression of total insult. We have to relate to that experience
41605 rather than rejecting it. If you hope to be helpful to others, first you have
41606 to work with yourself.
41607 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "Mindfulness in Action", published by Shambhala
41610 If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered
41611 as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded,
41612 that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers
41613 against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious
41615 -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
41617 Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one,
41618 he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
41619 -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
41621 In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof
41622 is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by
41623 precept and example inculcated on mankind.
41624 -- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
41626 Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the
41627 strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the
41628 law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.
41629 -- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
41631 Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.
41632 -- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
41634 The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
41635 -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
41637 I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
41638 build a wall of separation between Church & State.
41639 -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
41641 To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering
41642 medicine to the dead.
41643 -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
41645 Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than
41646 our opinions in physics or geometry.
41647 -- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
41649 Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which
41650 facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.
41651 -- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
41653 There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of
41654 science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of
41656 -- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
41658 During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity
41659 been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride
41660 and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both,
41661 superstition, bigotry and persecution.
41662 -- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
41664 If the present and the future
41665 Depend upon the past,
41666 Then both the present and the future
41667 Are existent in the past.
41669 If the present and the future
41670 Are not present then,
41671 How could the present and the future
41672 Be dependent on it?
41674 If they are not dependent on the past,
41675 Then both are unestablished.
41676 Thus the present and the future time
41679 To the two remaining times, it should be understood,
41680 This same procedure is applied.
41681 And likewise it applies to high and low and medium,
41682 And to the singular and so forth.
41684 Time that does not stay we cannot grasp;
41685 And time that could be grasped
41686 Does not remain. So how can time,
41687 Ungraspable, be said to be?
41689 If time depends on things,
41690 Then how can there be time if things do not exist?
41691 And since there are no things at all,
41692 How can time exist?
41693 -- Nagarjuna, from "The Root Stanzas of the Middle Way: The
41694 Mulamadhyamakakarika", published by Shambhala Publications
41696 White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane
41698 One pill makes you larger
41699 And one pill makes you small
41700 And the ones that mother gives you
41701 Don't do anything at all
41703 When she's ten feet tall
41705 And if you go chasing rabbits
41706 And you know you're going to fall
41707 Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
41708 Has given you the call
41710 When she was just small
41712 When the men on the chessboard
41713 Get up and tell you where to go
41714 And you've just had some kind of mushroom
41715 And your mind is moving low
41717 I think she'll know
41719 When logic and proportion
41720 Have fallen sloppy dead
41721 And the White Knight is talking backwards
41722 And the Red Queen's off with her head
41723 Remember what the dormouse said
41727 How can we integrate these teachings into our lives? I think that only
41728 happens when we are faced with challenges and respond to them in a new way,
41729 not according to habitual self-importance. In other words, we respond by
41730 applying the exchange of self and other. When tonglen becomes our familiar
41731 way of being, the entire path unfolds easily in front of us. This difficult
41732 modern age turns out to be the perfect setting for our spiritual practice,
41733 proving far more hospitable to our growth than past eras of idealized calm and
41734 simplicity. When we figure out for ourselves how to apply the wisdom of books
41735 to whatever difficult circumstances arise in life, then that wisdom becomes
41736 part of our mind. We become transformed. My hope for every reader--as well
41737 as for myself--is that we will apply these lojong teachings again and again
41738 until they become part of who we are.
41739 -- Dzigar Kongtrul and Joseph Waxman, in "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide
41740 to the Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications
41744 Honolulu: a relaxed city, like an uncrowded bar where everyone is clean and
41747 Los Angeles: a scattered city, like a teenager's sexual curiosity.
41749 San Francisco: a clean city, like an elegant, genteel Christian graveyard.
41751 Santa Fe: a picturesque city, like a painter's bright, simple palette,
41754 Boston: a sophisticated city, like London without queens and dukes and falling
41757 New York: a no-more-nothingness city,
41758 where gentle, quiet audiences sit in theaters listening to classical concerts;
41759 where rough, noisy audiences sit in stadiums in pandemonium watching boxing;
41760 where there are clean people with dirty minds;
41761 where there are dirty people with clean minds;
41762 where hundreds of nihilist people reject spiritual teachings;
41763 where hundreds of spiritual teachers reject samsara's teachings;
41764 where poor people sleep underground on low subway platforms;
41765 where rich people sleep aboveground in high skyscraper penthouses;
41766 where many non-practitioners stay for their nightclub retreat to find pleasure;
41767 practitioners leave for their countryside retreat to find pleasure.
41768 - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, from "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan",
41769 published by Shambhala Publications
41771 As a blind man feels when he finds a pearl in a dustbin, so am I amazed by the
41772 miracle of awakening rising in my consciousness. It is the nectar of
41773 immortality that delivers us from death, the treasure that lifts us above
41774 poverty into the wealth of giving to life, the tree that gives shade to us
41775 when we roam about scorched by life, the bridge that takes us across the
41776 stormy river of life, the cool moon of compassion that calms our mind when it
41777 is agitated, the sun that dispels darkness, the butter made from the milk of
41778 kindness by churning it with the dharma. It is a feast of joy to which all
41780 -- from "Teachings of the Buddha", written by Shantideva, edited by Jack
41781 Kornfield, published by Shambhala Publications
41783 Even though we may actually recognize the nature of awareness, we should not
41784 hold on to that mindfulness tightly, thinking, "I have indeed recognized it."
41785 If we do hold on to it tightly, it will be like when a thread is twisted too
41786 taut: one cannot sew with it, because it knots up. In the same way, if one
41787 is too tense, one's mindfulness will be obscured. If mindfulness is not
41788 grasped too tightly but left in the natural flow, sometimes it will be clear
41789 and sometimes not. But we should not get caught up in whether it is clear or
41790 not. If genuine mindfulness is left without being altered, gradually we will
41791 come to know, through our own experience, "This is awareness, and this is
41792 ignorance; this is mind, and this is wisdom."
41793 -- Dilgo Khyentse, from "Primordial Purity", published by Shambhala
41796 He says Tibetans are unique because we value the practice of Buddhism. He
41797 gives the example of Tibetan mothers who in the course of a day point
41798 repeatedly toward suffering. They tell their children: don't kill the ant,
41799 it will suffer; don't pour hot water on the soil, the earthworm will feel
41800 the sting and the heat will cause it great pain; don't pull the dog's tail
41801 so hard. We are told to think for the animals and insects who cannot voice
41802 their pain but for whom suffering is as acute as it is for humans. From a
41803 young age, he says, we are reminded that nobody is free from suffering. I
41804 agree that my Tibetan friends are instinctively more likely to brush away
41805 flies or mosquitoes instead of crushing or swatting them. But why is
41806 compassion so important? What about our land, our independence? Will
41807 compassion free our land?
41808 -- Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, in "Coming Home to Tibet: A Memoir of Love, Loss,
41809 and Belonging", published by Shambhala Publications
41811 At the end of every meditation session, recognize what kind of healing
41812 experience you are feeling. You could be feeling peace, warmth, bliss,
41813 spaciousness, boundlessness, richness, sacredness, or strength. If you have
41814 multiple experiences, it can help to recognize the most prominent one.
41815 The goal is to calmly enjoy the particular experience, resting in
41816 awareness of what you are feeling, without grasping at it or analyzing it or
41817 needing to think about it in words. Just remain one with the experience, in
41818 open awareness, in silence, like water that has merged in water.
41819 Purpose: This meditation is for sowing the seed of experience of the
41820 meditation, not on the rough surface of concepts or afflicting emotions but at
41821 the deeper and calmer level of the open mind. Merging your awareness with the
41822 experience ensures the fruition of the meditation with greatest certainty.
41823 Open awareness helps unite your mind with the result of healing.
41824 This meditation could also lead to, or be, the awareness state of the
41825 enlightened nature itself.
41826 -- by Tulku Thondup, in "Boundless Healing", published by Shambhala Publications
41829 These precious freedoms and endowments are rare as a daytime star;
41830 Even when found, like a candle flame in the wind,
41831 They could vanish in an instant!
41832 Pondering this, most people seem like mad sea captains.
41834 The root of practice is renunciation.
41835 So if you don't use the key points of mind training
41836 To till the soil of your mind, hardened toward liberation,
41837 When death comes and you beat your chest with regret,
41838 it will be too late!
41840 -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Steps to the Great Perfection: The Mind-Training
41841 Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters", published by Shambhala Publications
41843 We don't have to try to surrender. That sounds too effortful. Then we will
41844 have a surrender competition. There is going to be a spiritual marathon, a
41845 spiritual Olympics, how about that? Indeed, there is a spiritual Olympics.
41846 It is not officially announced. Many people are working really hard trying to
41847 be the best meditator, the best ascetic, the most enlightened. So don't try
41848 to surrender with your personal will or deliberate effort. It sounds like too
41849 much work, trying to surrender to everything. Instead, go inside. That is
41850 all you need to do sometimes. Go inside and let yourself be in touch with
41851 your heart. You know how to be in touch with your heart. Your heart is
41852 waiting to be recognized. This is why the Tibetan masters often said there
41853 are many forms or levels of meditation. The highest level is what they call
41854 effortless meditation. When they teach how to meditate, especially the
41855 masters from the Nyingma tradition, they always say, "Don't do anything."
41856 Rest in the present moment. Relax in the natural state of your mind, because
41857 if you can relax, rest in the natural state of your own mind, then you will be
41858 in touch with your own heart, with your original heart, with your innocent
41859 heart, and then surrender is very easy because all of your heart wants it.
41860 -- Anam Thubten, from "Embracing Each Moment: A Guide to the Awakened Life",
41861 published by Shambhala Publications
41863 One day the Dalai Lama went to Ganden accompanied by his security agent
41864 Kumbula. They went in ordinary clothes on ordinary horses and left Lhasa
41865 traveling east. When they got to the ferries they met with an elderly man
41866 heading back home from Lhasa where he had taken a load of wood on a donkey.
41867 The Dalai Lama entered into a conversation with him. "Where are you off to?"
41868 he asked. "I am going back home," the man replied. "I have taken a load of
41869 wood to the Norbulinka to the kitchens there." This was when a new building
41870 called the Chensel Palace was being constructed. New taxes had been
41871 introduced to pay for it and part of the tax was the requisitioning of pack
41872 animals to transport rocks. "He already has some very beautiful palaces but
41873 still he is building a new one. People have to spend a lot of their time
41874 there and use their animals for building this new palace. It is that fellow
41875 Kumbula who decided yet another palace is needed in Norbulinka even though
41876 there are a lot there already. He is not a bad fellow, this Kumbula," the old
41877 man continued, "but he really does load up the ordinary people with his taxes
41878 and requisitions. This fellow Kumbula, he always has to be starting some new
41879 project or other, he is that sort of fellow." Now Kumbula was right there
41880 with the Dalai Lama, and a bit later the old fellow started up again. "This
41881 Kumbula is definitely too quick to start up new projects, if you ask me; but
41882 you know, he is no fool either, and he is loyal to the Dalai Lama. He is
41883 useful to the Dalai Lama, no doubt about that." The gist of his remarks was
41884 that the ordinary man like himself found the taxation burdensome. The Dalai
41885 Lama was very pleased with the conversation.
41886 "Rinpoche," the old man said, thinking the Dalai Lama was just a
41887 distinguished looking older monk, "have some tea with me." They had some tea
41888 and tsampa together and then the old fellow pulled out a bottle of barley beer
41889 and offered it to the Dalai Lama. "I am a monk, I do not drink beer," the
41890 Dalai Lama protested. "Do not be silly," he said, "a lot of the monks are
41891 drinking beer nowadays, go ahead and have a swig." "Is that so?" said the
41892 Dalai Lama. "A lot of the monks nowadays are drinking beer are they?" "Piles
41893 of them," the old fellow replied, "though I am pleased to see that you do not
41894 accept my offer." After the old man had downed his beer with some bread he
41895 was carrying, they set off in the direction of Ganden together, talking as
41896 they went. As they began to approach Ganden, at the place called Dechen, they
41897 caught sight of a large smoke offering and the monks of Ganden lined up to
41898 welcome a special guest. The old fellow said, "They are making a big welcome
41899 up there for someone today, I wonder who is coming." The Dalai Lama said, "I
41900 am not positive, but I suspect it is for me." Then the old fellow began to
41901 suspect that he was there with the Dalai Lama and he thought he had better
41902 make a run for it. As he tried to flee the Dalai Lama caught hold of him and
41903 would not let him go. He took the old man right in through the gates of
41904 Ganden Monastery and told the people there not to let him leave, but to give
41905 him a good meal and something excellent to drink. After he had been well-fed
41906 and looked after, the Dalai Lama sent word to bring him.
41907 The old man was beside himself with fear, thinking he was going to be
41908 given a terrible punishment, but the Dalai Lama treated him as a friend and
41909 told him to sit down, right opposite to where Kumbula was sitting. "Hey, old
41910 fellow," he said, "I must introduce you to Kumbula. This is Kumbula." He was
41911 overcome with embarrassment, but the Dalai Lama said that he should not be.
41912 "You spoke your heart, you spoke what you felt was true and there is no shame
41913 in that. You described faults as faults and good qualities as good qualities.
41914 Some people only complain but you did not do that. Some, again, cover up
41915 faults and say nothing but good and that is not right either. You spoke
41916 honestly and openly, and I am very happy." He gave him fifty white silver
41917 sangs as a parting gift, a large sum of money, and said that the problems
41918 would be looked into. It was from then that the levies on the people for
41919 Norbulinka building projects stopped.
41920 -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, translated by Ven. Dr. Gareth Sparham, "Memoirs
41921 of a Tibetan Lama", published by Shambhala Publications
41923 The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor
41924 to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and
41926 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41928 Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on
41929 the present moment.
41930 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41932 You only lose what you cling to. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41934 Pain is certain, suffering is optional. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41936 Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it
41937 at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
41938 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41940 Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to
41942 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41944 Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear
41946 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41948 If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved
41949 worrying will do you no good.
41950 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41952 There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates
41953 people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant
41954 relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
41955 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41957 Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be
41959 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41961 Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on
41963 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41965 Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others.
41966 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41968 Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41970 People with opinions just go around bothering one another.
41971 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41974 than the man who would conquer
41975 a thousand-thousand men,
41976 is he who would conquer
41979 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41981 Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41983 With our thoughts we make the world. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41985 However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they
41986 do you if you do not act on upon them?
41987 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41989 Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
41990 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41992 Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.
41993 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41995 A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not
41996 considered a good man because he is a good talker.
41997 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
41999 Silence is an empty space, space is the home of the awakened mind.
42000 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42002 Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and
42004 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42006 All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our
42007 thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil
42008 thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that
42009 draws the wagon... If a man speaks or acts with a good thought, happiness
42010 follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
42011 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42013 The mind is everything. What you think you become. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42015 The fool who knows he is a fool is that much wiser. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42017 Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
42018 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42020 In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create
42021 distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.
42022 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42024 Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun, and the Truth.
42025 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42027 Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
42028 in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe
42029 in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do
42030 not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
42031 Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many
42032 generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything
42033 agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
42034 then accept it and live up to it.
42035 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42037 If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would
42039 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
42041 brain fully charged
42044 It really seemed like every band built on the one just prior to it, so that as
42045 each day moved on, the acts just generated more and more energy and awesome
42046 music, storing it up in a celestial battery. the peak of it all for me was
42047 the phish show on the last night, which was so high energy and saturated with
42048 fun and healthy vibes that I felt like "i never need to feel fear again".
42049 that feeling lasted for days after the festival was over. hopefully memory of
42050 that thought never fades.
42052 Don't become easily discouraged. If you never try to go beyond that
42053 stage of initial discouragement because there are thoughts arising in your
42054 meditation, you are never going to have the true experiences of meditation.
42055 You need to go beyond that initial stage. You need to keep trying. If you
42056 keep making that effort to go beyond that initial discouragement, you will
42057 arrive at the experience of not getting caught up in your thoughts and mental
42059 Sometimes you may even observe an increase in the frequency of thoughts.
42060 When that happens, don't get discouraged. My enlightened master Jigme
42061 Phuntsok Rinpoche says:
42062 "One sign that your meditation is beginning to be effective is that both
42063 subtle thoughts and obvious thoughts become more noticeable than before. This
42064 is not a bad sign; it's a good sign. When water rushes in a strong river
42065 current, you don't see the fish or rocks beneath the rapids. But when the
42066 current slows and the water becomes clear, then you can see the fish, the
42067 rocks, and everything below the surface distinctly. Similarly, if you never
42068 pay attention to your mind, and your thoughts and emotions are uncontrolled,
42069 you don't even know how many thoughts go by. But when your mind becomes
42070 more stable and calm, you begin to see your thoughts more clearly. Don't be
42071 discouraged. Take heart at this sign. Don't hold yourself too loosely or
42072 too tightly. Maintain your meditation in the right way without concern and
42073 gradually your meditation experience will increase and stabilize."
42074 Remember: Do not follow the past. Do not anticipate the future. Remain
42075 in the present moment. Leave your mind alone. Those four simple,
42076 straightforward instructions give us a chance to go beyond our mental events
42077 and, eventually, to experience the natural state of mind.
42078 -- Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche, in "Our Pristine Mind", published by Shambhala
42081 Knowing full well that his aim is to achieve enlightenment, Sujata adopts
42082 a parallel program to help sustain him. Symbolically feeding Gautama with
42083 each offering to the priests, she utters the dedication prayer,
42084 May the Bodhisattva take my food and thereby truly attain perfect and
42085 completely unexcelled awakening!
42086 After six years of this, the gods notify her that Gautama has ceased his
42087 austerities and urge her to take further action. Due to her abundant good
42088 karma in past lives, she is preordained to serve him. Sujata sets to work
42089 preparing the rice milk offering in the fashion of the one thousand cows
42090 milked to feed the five hundred and so forth. In observing miracles around
42091 the cooking pot, she prays that they foretell the Bodhisattva's imminent
42092 supreme awakening. She brings the rice porridge in a golden bowl to Gautama
42093 where he is sitting along the river and offers it to him after reverentially
42094 making prostrations. According to this story, the Bodhisattva regains his
42095 former strength and splendor upon consuming Sujata's excellent food. In
42096 this version, it is his first meal after the six years of austerities and has
42097 instantly restored him to wholeness. After bathing and meditating at the
42098 river, Gautama proceeds to the tree of enlightenment. All these events have
42099 taken place within the span of one day.
42100 -- Wendy Garling, in "Stars at Dawn", published by Shambhala Publications
42102 True compassion is spacious and wise as well as resourceful. This type of
42103 compassion could be called intelligent love or intelligent affection. We know
42104 how to express our affection so that it does not destroy a person but instead
42105 helps him or her to develop. It is more like a dance than a hug. And the
42106 music behind it is that of intellect.
42107 -- " 'Intellect and Intuition,' in The Heart of the Buddha: Entering the
42108 Tibetan Buddhist Path", by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, published by
42109 Shambhala Publications
42111 Gampopa recognized in Dusum Khyenpa an exceptional being and declared that
42112 he would amply spread Buddhism throughout Tibet. He added that he would be
42113 liberated in this life from samsara, cyclic existence. Over many years the
42114 Karmapa received from this great bodhisattva the teachings that Gampopa
42115 himself had been given by his masters. First, Gampopa transmitted to him the
42116 teachings of the Kadampa tradition, including the classical scholastic studies
42117 known as the "gradual path," which emphasize the development of
42118 renunciation and altruism. They henceforth became an educational constant for
42119 the Kagyu lineage and the basis of the study of the Vajrayana. Dusum Khyenpa
42120 then received from his master the teachings and transmissions related to the
42121 tantras. One day, when Gampopa bestowed upon his disciple the Hevajra
42122 initiation, the Karmapa perceived his master in the form of the deity himself.
42123 Gampopa then urged Dusum Khyenpa to go on retreat into the neighboring
42124 caves in order to actualize what had been transmitted. After only nine days
42125 of meditation, he spontaneously experienced a strong feeling of warmth and
42126 bliss. He removed his monk robes and dressed himself in the simple attire of
42127 white cotton-repa--worn by yogis. He meditated for nine months,
42128 concentrating in particular on the practice of calm abiding (samatha), which
42129 allows practitioners to pacify and stabilize their mind. Having excelled in
42130 this, he continued his retreat for three more years, perfecting his meditative
42131 capacities on the understanding of the nature of mind through penetrating
42132 vision (vipashyana) practice. Finally Gampopa conferred upon him the ultimate
42133 instructions of the Kagyu lineage. He then considered that the realization of
42134 his disciple was henceforth stable.
42135 From then on the life of Dusum Khyenpa was divided between retreat and
42136 travel. He traveled throughout central Tibet, receiving instructions from
42137 other teachers or dispensing his own teachings. Nonetheless, until his master
42138 passed away, he often returned to Gampopa to receive other transmissions.
42139 Gampopa encouraged the Karmapa to go on retreat in the near future at Kampo
42140 Gangra in eastern Tibet, prophesying that it would be in this location that
42141 Dusum Khyenpa would attain complete enlightenment.
42142 -- from "History of the Karmapas", by Lama Kunsang, Lama Pemo, and Marie
42143 Aubèle, published by Shambhala Publications
42145 One cannot force or grasp a spiritual experience, because it is as delicate as
42146 the whisper of the wind. But one can purify one's motivation, one's body,
42147 and train oneself to cultivate it. Because we come from a culture which
42148 teaches us there is always something external to be obtained which will lead
42149 us to fulfillment, we lose contact with our innate wisdom. As the Indian
42150 Tantric Buddhist saint Saraha says in one of his dohas (poems expressing the
42151 essence of his understanding):
42152 Though the house-lamps have been lit,
42153 The blind live on in the dark.
42154 Though spontaneity is all-encompassing
42155 And close, to the deluded it remains
42157 -- Tsultrim Allione, in "Women of Wisdom", published by Shambhala Publications
42159 being royalty is nothing compared to being composed from parts of a far
42160 flung star explosion, as we all are.
42163 Six right livelihood guidelines...
42166 Eat with awareness and gratitude.
42167 Pause before buying and see if breathing is enough.
42168 Pay attention to the effects of media you consume.
42170 Pause. Breathe. Listen.
42171 When you feel compelled to speak in a meeting or conversation, pause.
42172 Breathe before entering your home, pleace of work, or school.
42173 Listen to the people you encounter. They are buddhas.
42175 Practice gratitude.
42176 Notice what you have
42177 Be equally grateful for opportunities and challenges.
42178 Share joy, not negativity.
42180 Cultivate compassion and loving kindness.
42181 Notice where help is needed and be quick to help
42182 Consider others' perspectives deeply.
42183 Work for peace at many levels.
42186 Cultivate "don't know" mind (= curiosity).
42187 Find connections between Buddhist teachings and your life.
42188 Be open to what arises in every moment.
42190 Accept constant change.
42192 -- Source: "Moon journeying through clouds", Zen Buddhist chants, sayings and recitations from the Buddhist Society for Compassionate Wisdom.
42194 never forget that the truth is always larger than you know.
42197 Roger Babson's Ten Commandments of Investing
42199 + Keep speculation and investments separate.
42200 + Don't be fooled by a name.
42201 + Be wary of new promotions.
42202 + Give due consideration to market ability.
42203 + Don't buy without proper facts.
42204 + Safeguard purchases through diversification.
42205 + Don't try to diversify by buying different securities of the same company.
42206 + Small companies should be carefully scrutinized.
42207 + Buy adequate security, not super abundance.
42208 + Choose your dealer and buy outright (i.e., don't buy on margin.)
42210 Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection. -- Mark Twain
42212 All of us cherish helpful and loving friends, and wise, compassionate
42213 spiritual mentors are especially important to us to progress on the path.
42214 Being separated from the people we value or having an important relationship
42215 not work out the way we had hoped is painful, yet it is a common occurrence in
42216 cyclic existence. Because we ourselves, others, and all the conditioned
42217 things around us are impermanent by nature, whatever comes together must also
42219 -- Thubten Chodron, "Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and
42220 Avoid the Causes of Suffering", published by Shambhala Publications
42222 There are no limits to our imagination,
42224 we can only imagine them.
42227 When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say
42228 to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."
42231 Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a
42235 First, let's take a look at how physical and emotional health supports
42236 our spiritual health. What is spiritual health? One way that the Buddhist
42237 teachings define spiritual health is having a sense of interconnection with
42238 other living beings on the planet, as well as respect for the natural
42239 environment. Recognition of this interconnection with others is developed as
42240 we call to mind the things that all beings have in common: the wish to attain
42241 happiness and avoid suffering. We can reflect on this by thinking that all of
42242 the wonderful things we want for ourselves, others want them too. Just so,
42243 all of the painful things we would like to avoid, others wish to avoid those
42245 However, spiritual health is far more than a mere sense of connection.
42246 True spiritual health arises from discovering love and compassion for all
42247 sentient beings. In doing so, we cut through our own painful feelings of
42248 anger, resentment, and strong desire, which cause us so much personal
42249 unhappiness and sorrow. By bringing ourselves back into harmonious
42250 relationship with friends, family, and the larger community, even those we may
42251 dislike, we ourselves become spiritually rich.
42252 -- Anyen Rinpoche & Allison Choying Zangmo, "The Tibetan Yoga of Breath:
42253 Breathing Practices for Healing the Body and Cultivating Wisdom",
42254 published by Shambhala Publications
42256 Our worries may zoom around the state of the world. "What happens if the
42257 economy plummets? If the ozone layer keeps decreasing? If we have more
42258 anthrax attacks? If terrorists take over the country? If we lose our civil
42259 liberties fighting terrorism?" Here, our creative writing ability leads to
42260 fantastic scenarios that may or may not happen, but regardless, we manage to
42261 work ourselves into a state of unprecedented despair. This, in turn, often
42262 leads to raging anger at the powers that be or alternatively, to apathy,
42263 simply thinking that since everything is rotten, there's no use doing
42264 anything. In either case, we're so gloomy that we neglect to act
42265 constructively in ways that remedy difficulties and create goodness.
42266 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", published by Shambhala Publications
42268 It really seemed like every band built on the one just prior to it, so that as
42269 each day moved on, the acts just generated more and more energy and awesome
42270 music, storing it up in a celestial battery. the peak of it all for me was
42271 the phish show on the last night, which was so high energy and saturated with
42272 fun and healthy vibes that I felt like "i never need to feel fear again".
42273 that feeling lasted for days after the concert was over. hopefully memory of
42274 that thought never fades.
42275 -- fred t. hamster, after lockn 2016
42277 The dawn of the Great Eastern Sun is based on actual experience. It is not a
42278 concept. You realize that you can uplift yourself, that you can appreciate
42279 your existence as a human being. Whether you are a gas station attendant or
42280 the president of your country doesn't really matter. When you experience
42281 the goodness of being alive, you can respect who and what you are. You need
42282 not be intimidated by lots of bills to pay, diapers to change, food to cook,
42283 or papers to be filed. Fundamentally, in spite of all those responsibilities,
42284 you begin to feel that it is a worthwhile situation to be a human being, to be
42285 alive, not afraid of death.
42286 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior", published
42287 by Shambhala Publications
42289 These deities share a freedom from passion and experience more and more
42290 subtle states of mind in each higher level. In the first level, the freedom
42291 from passion is experienced; in the second, freedom from discursive thought;
42292 in the third, the elimination of gross joy in meditation, leaving only sublime
42293 delight; in the fourth, freedom even from delight. Above these are the four
42294 levels of the realm of formlessness, whose inhabitants have transcended form
42295 altogether and have no bodies or forms at all. Here deities experience
42296 successively even more subtle states of mind: the infinity of space, the
42297 infinity of consciousness, "nothing at all," and neither perception nor
42299 These states can certainly appear enormously attractive from our human
42300 point of view. In fact, they correspond to what many think religious practice
42301 is all about--attaining some kind of heaven or some sort of tranquillity or
42302 bliss. But from the Buddhist viewpoint, the sublimity even of these states is
42303 not a worthy ultimate goal. One may ask, "What can possibly be wrong with
42305 It is important to remember that the divine states of the desire realm,
42306 the form realm, and the formless realm, like all the other states known in the
42307 other five realms, are still part of samsara and subject to karma,
42308 impermanence, and suffering. In spite of the relative exaltation of their way
42309 of being, there comes a day for every god when he or she begins to feel the
42310 signs of impending death. The intoxication of the godly state gives way to
42311 sadness, pain, fear, and finally terror, and this is followed by death and
42312 rebirth in a lower realm.
42313 In addition, the gods have one enormous liability: precisely because of
42314 their power, longevity, and intoxication, they are unable to hear the dharma
42315 with its teachings about duhkha, the first noble truth. They, like the
42316 inhabitants of all the other nonhuman realms, are victims of their karma and
42317 are unable to practice a spiritual path to gain liberation.
42318 -- Reginald A. Ray, in "Indestructible Truth", published by Shambhala Publications
42320 The Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "I like to walk alone on country paths,
42321 rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the
42322 earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such
42323 moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually
42324 consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real
42325 miracle is to walk on earth... a miracle we don't even recognize."
42326 -- from Jan Chozen Bays, MD, "How to Train a Wild Elephant & Other Adventures
42327 in Mindfulness", published by Shambhala Publications
42329 Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself
42331 Whatever pain you feel, take it in, wishing for all beings to be free of it.
42332 Whatever pleasure you feel, send it out to others. In this way, our personal
42333 problems and delights become a stepping-stone for understanding the suffering
42334 and happiness of all beings.
42335 -- Pema Chodron's "Compassion Cards", published by Shambhala Publications
42337 Tuvaṭaka Sutta: The Discourse on Being Quick
42340 "Let them completely destroy the root
42341 Of conceptual differentiation,
42342 That is, [the idea] 'I am the thinker.'
42343 Ever mindful, they train to subdue their cravings.
42345 "They shouldn't get entrenched in any teachings they know
42346 Whether their own or that of others.
42347 Good people say that
42348 Being entrenched is not release.
42350 "They would not, because of this, think themselves
42351 Better, worse, or equal [to others].
42352 Experiencing many things,
42353 They don't take a stand in thoughts of themselves."
42355 The Buddha's first teachings in this poem are particularly important.
42356 Here he emphasizes the destruction of the root source for conceptual
42357 proliferation which he describes as being either the idea "I am the
42358 thinker" or the thought "I am." While the grammar of the Pali phrase
42359 allows for both translations into English, the two options both identify some
42360 form of conceit as the basis from which a problematic differentiation of
42361 concepts with which the world is categorized arises. When this conceit is
42362 uprooted, the conceptual proliferation stops. A sage does not categorize or
42363 conceptualize the world with any fixed reference point of existing as "I."
42364 While training to become such a sage, a monastic should avoid swelling up
42365 with conceit, which is described as thinking they are better, worse, or equal
42366 to others. The alternative to such comparative thinking is to have a mind
42367 that is still and unmoving like a calm sea. Many of the training instructions
42368 the Buddha mentions can be understood as support for having a still, peaceful
42370 -- Gil Fronsdal, "The Buddha before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early
42371 Teachings", published by Shambhala Publications
42373 I. Path of Accumulation
42375 One who has the Mahayana family cultivates bodhicitta, receives teachings
42376 from masters, and makes effort in the virtues until the heat of wisdom is
42377 attained. During this time, progress is classified in four stages:
42378 realization, aspiration, greater aspiration, and achievement. Why is this
42379 called the path of accumulation? Because on it, one gathers the accumulations
42380 of virtue in order to become a vessel for the realization of heat and so forth.
42381 Therefore, it is called the path of accumulation.
42383 These are also called the root virtues which are similar to liberation.
42384 At this stage, twelve of the branches of enlightenment are practiced:
42386 A. the four types of mindfulness,
42387 B. the four types of perfect abandonment, and
42388 C. the four feet of miracle powers.
42390 The Four Types of Mindfulness are:
42392 1. sustaining mindfulness of the body,
42393 2. sustaining mindfulness of feelings,
42394 3. sustaining mindfulness of the mind, and
42395 4. sustaining mindfulness of phenomena.
42397 These four occur during the lesser stage of the path of accumulation.
42399 The Four Types of Perfect Abandonment are:
42401 1. abandoning nonvirtues which have been created,
42402 2. not allowing new nonvirtues to be produced,
42403 3. producing the antidotes, virtues which have not arisen, and
42404 4. allowing those virtues which have arisen to increase.
42406 These four occur during the middle stage of the path of accumulation.
42408 The Four Feet of Miracle Powers are:
42410 1. the absorption of strong aspiration,
42411 2. the absorption of perseverance,
42412 3. the absorption of the mind, and
42413 4. the absorption of investigation.
42415 These four occur during the greater stage of the path of accumulation.
42416 -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
42419 II. Path of Application
42421 The path of application begins after perfection of the path of
42422 accumulation. It has four stages corresponding to the realization of the Four
42423 Noble Truths: heat, maximum heat, patience, and realization of the highest
42424 worldly dharma. Why is it called the path of application? Because there, one
42425 makes an effort to directly realize truth.
42427 A. Five Powers. Furthermore, during the stages of heat and maximum heat,
42428 five powers are practiced:
42429 the power of faith,
42430 the power of perseverance,
42431 the power of mindfulness,
42432 the power of absorption, and
42433 the power of wisdom awareness.
42435 B. Five Strengths. During the stages of patience and highest worldly dharma,
42436 five strengths are practiced:
42437 the strength of faith,
42438 the strength of perseverance,
42439 the strength of mindfulness,
42440 the strength of absorption, and
42441 the strength of wisdom awareness.
42442 -- Gampopa, in "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
42445 III. Path of Insight
42447 The path of insight begins after the highest worldly dharma and consists
42448 of calm abiding as a basis for special insight focused on the Four Noble
42449 Truths. Four insights correspond to each of the Four Noble Truths, making a
42450 total of sixteen-eight patient acceptances and eight cognitions: the patient
42451 acceptance of the cognition of the dharma with respect to suffering, the
42452 cognition of the dharma with respect to suffering, the patient acceptance of
42453 the cognition that is the subsequent realization with respect to suffering,
42454 the cognition that is the subsequent realization with respect to suffering,
42456 Why is it called the path of insight? Because there, one realizes the
42457 Four Noble Truths which were not seen before. At this stage there are seven
42458 of the branches of enlightenment:
42459 the perfect mindfulness branch,
42460 the perfect discrimination branch,
42461 the perfect perseverance branch,
42462 the perfect joy branch,
42463 the perfect relaxation branch,
42464 the perfect absorption branch, and
42465 the perfect equanimity branch.
42466 -- The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, by Gampopa, published by Shambhala
42469 IV. Path of Meditation
42471 The path of meditation practice begins after the realization of special
42472 insight. It has two paths:
42473 A. the path of worldly meditation practice and
42474 B. the path of meditation practice beyond the world.
42476 Worldly Meditation Practice consists of the first, second, third, and
42477 fourth meditative stages, and the formless stages of increasing the infinite
42478 nature of space, increasing the infinity of consciousness, increasing the
42479 nothing-whatsoever-ness, and increasing neither perception nor non-perception.
42480 There are three purposes to practicing this meditation:
42482 + suppressing the afflicting emotions which are the subject of
42483 abandonment in the path of meditation;
42484 + establishing the special qualities of the Four Immeasurables and so
42486 + creating the foundation for the path beyond the world.
42489 Meditation Practice Beyond the World consists of the furthering of calm
42490 abiding and special insight, focused on the two types of wisdom. During the
42491 path of insight there were two "patient acceptances" and two
42492 "awarenesses" corresponding to each of the Four Noble Truths, making a
42493 total of sixteen. The eight patient acceptances were completed in the path of
42494 insight. One becomes familiarized with the eight awarenesses in the path of
42495 meditation through the calm abiding and special insight related to the four
42496 meditative concentrations and three of the formless absorptions. Furthermore,
42497 part of the awareness of phenomena is to familiarize oneself with all the
42498 realization of dharma-as-such. Part of the continuity awareness is to
42499 familiarize oneself with all the realization of primordial wisdom. The state
42500 of neither perception nor non-perception is merely worldly meditation because
42501 the movement of sensation is so unclear.
42502 Why is this called the path of meditation? Because there, one becomes
42503 familiar with the realizations that one achieved in the path of insight. At
42504 this stage, there are eight of the thirty-seven branches of enlightenment:
42507 + perfect conception, perfect speech, perfect action,
42508 + perfect livelihood,
42510 + perfect mindfulness, and
42511 + perfect absorption.
42512 -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
42515 Your eggnog to rum ratio should be 23% to 77%. I would then spice the
42516 eggnog with nutmeg and use more than you're comfortable with because sailors
42517 used to use it as [a] hallucinogen...
42518 Also, enter on a reindeer. And if you enter on a reindeer, stay on the
42519 reindeer. And if you can't reach something because you're too high up
42520 sitting on the reindeer, just ask for help. That goes for life, too. Don't
42521 be afraid to ask for help and stay on that reindeer.
42522 -- T.J. Miller's recipe for the perfect holiday party
42524 if you can't beat them, join them, and subvert them from the inside.
42527 regarding christmas cards...
42528 "i would create my own as a desktop publishing activity, with all new current
42529 stuff. but it's way too much effort. basically, i can either give you a
42530 present or make you a card. which do you prefer?"
42531 -- thus spake slackathustra.
42533 Hope is not a strategy.
42534 Luck is not a factor.
42535 Fear is not an option.
42538 A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do,
42542 The Order of the Four Noble Truths
42544 We do analytical meditation to understand the various unsatisfactory
42545 conditions or sufferings of cyclic existence. When we gain an experience of
42546 them, we then place our mind firmly on that experience using stabilizing
42547 meditation. The more we meditate on suffering, the more we are motivated to
42548 rid ourselves of it. We will want to find out its causes and cease creating
42549 them. Thus, after contemplating true suffering, we contemplate true origin.
42550 Investigating this, we will see that suffering arises from karma, which is
42551 produced in dependence on the disturbing attitudes. These in turn are rooted
42552 in self-grasping ignorance. We will want to eliminate this ignorance, and
42553 will see that because it is a faulty attitude or misconception, it can be
42554 eliminated. Thus we will be certain that we can attain the true cessation of
42555 suffering and its origin. Through further contemplating the four noble
42556 truths, we will recognize that the way to abandon self-grasping ignorance is
42557 to meditate on the true path, since this path is principally the wisdom
42558 realizing the non-existence of the self that is adhered to by ignorance. This
42559 is the order in which the four noble truths unfold in meditation and thus is
42560 the order in which to practice them. So, although the actual order in which
42561 the four occur is first the causes and then the effects, when the Buddha
42562 taught for the purpose of practice, he explained the results first.
42563 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity Into Joy and Courage: An
42564 Explanation of the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", published by
42565 Shambhala Publications
42567 Take Refuge in the Buddha
42569 We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
42570 measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
42571 hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
42572 Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
42573 actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
42574 inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
42575 thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: "If I do this, what will people think?
42576 If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit." When we
42577 see something pleasant we think, "Oh, if I could only have that!" We see
42578 that others are prosperous, and we generate jealousy, unable to bear their
42579 prosperity. We see an attractive man or woman, and we want a relationship.
42580 We are not satisfied with a passing relationship but want it to last forever.
42581 And then, once staying together with that person, we desire someone else.
42582 When we see someone we do not like, we become angry and quarrel after a single
42583 word; we feel we cannot remain even for an hour near this hated person but
42584 must leave immediately. Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in
42585 the company of the afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger
42586 at the unpleasant, and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain
42587 relaxed, our minds completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and
42588 hatred without interruption.
42589 Only a Buddha has extinguished all defects and gained all attainments.
42590 Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him or her
42591 with speech, and respect him or her physically. One should enter the teaching
42593 -- from "The Essence of Tantra," by the Dalai Lama, in The Great Exposition
42594 of the Secret Mantra, Volume I: Tantra in Tibet by Tsongkhapa, published
42595 by Shambhala Publications
42597 V. Path of Perfection
42599 After the vajra-like absorption, one actualizes the nature of awareness,
42600 the awareness of exhaustion, and awareness of the unborn. The vajra-like
42601 absorption is the state at the edge of the path of meditation and is included
42602 in the preparation and unobstructed stages. This absorption is called
42603 "vajra-like" because it is unobstructed, hard, stable, of one taste, and
42605 "Unobstructed" means that it cannot be affected by the action of the
42606 world. "Hard" means it cannot be destroyed by obscurations. "Stable"
42607 means it cannot be shaken by discursive thoughts. "One taste" means
42608 everything is of one taste. "All pervasive" means that it observes the
42609 suchness of all knowledge.
42610 The "awareness of the exhaustion of causes" that arises after this
42611 absorption is the primordial wisdom awareness that observes the Four Noble
42612 Truths by the power of the exhaustion of all causes. The "awareness of the
42613 unborn" is the primordial wisdom that observes the Four Noble Truths by the
42614 power of abandoning the result, suffering. In other words, this primordial
42615 wisdom clearly observes the exhaustion of the cause and non-production of the
42616 result and is called the "awareness of the exhaustion and non-production."
42617 Why is this called the path of perfection? Because the training is
42618 perfected and one enters the city of nirvana--this is why it is called the
42619 path of perfection. At this stage, there are ten attainments of no-more-
42620 training: starting with perfect view of no-more-training through the perfect
42621 absorption of no-more-training and then the full liberation of no-more-
42622 training and the perfect primordial wisdom of no-more-training--these ten
42623 attainments of no-more-training are included in the five unafflicted skandas:
42625 perfect speech of no-more-training, perfect action, and perfect
42626 livelihood are in the heap of moral ethics;
42627 perfect mindfulness of no-more-training and perfect absorption are in
42628 the heap of absorption;
42629 perfect view of no-more-training, perfect conception, and perfect
42630 effort are in the heap of wisdom awareness;
42631 perfect, full liberation is in the heap of full liberation;
42632 perfect awareness is in the heap of seeing the primordial wisdom of
42634 -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
42637 i try to think of 10,008 impossible things before breakfast,
42638 and i'm near ecstatic if any of those is worth writing down.
42641 businesses or products mashed up with despots:
42647 Relaxing in the midst of chaos,
42648 learning not to panic--this is the spiritual path.
42649 -- Pema Chödrön, "When Things Fall Apart"
42651 Driving all blames into oneself applies whenever we complain about anything,
42652 even that our coffee is cold or the bathroom is dirty. We may think that we
42653 are the voice of the world, that we are speaking on behalf of others, but we
42654 are simply speaking on behalf of ourselves. According to this slogan,
42655 everything is due to our own ego fixation, which makes us very vulnerable.
42656 Consequently, we provide an ideal target. We get hit, but nobody meant to hit
42657 us--we are actually inviting the bullets.
42658 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma: The
42659 Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion", published by Shambhala
42662 I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
42665 Aren't surveys inherently biased, because they only include people who are
42666 willing to be surveyed? What about people who value their time?
42669 if throwing your dirty clothes at the hamper causes an avalanche,
42670 then it's time to do the laundry. #NoteToSelf
42674 "from each according to his stash, to each according to his jones."
42677 i learned everything i needed to know about the 2016 election cycle by
42678 listening to devo in the 70s. "We're pinheads now. We are not whole."
42681 "i made a sample with my organ!"
42682 "that's disgusting!"
42683 "an electronic organ, dork."
42685 "i sampled the sound of orgasm."
42689 "the universe is flat in all directions" is what an infinitely dimensional
42690 person might say as she perceives all realities simultaneously.
42693 Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one
42694 knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn.
42695 -- General Burnside, of his civil war recruits
42697 music is the balm that soothes.
42698 anger is the bomb that kills.
42699 so don't listen to your anger if you want to feel right about life.
42702 don't torture yourself with overblown expectations of how much you can
42703 accomplish. stretch goals are fine, "burst" goals are not.
42706 In the gap between two thoughts,
42707 Thought-free wakefulness manifests unceasingly.
42710 After Yeshe Tsogyal had helped countless beings in Tibet with her body,
42711 speech, and mind, the naga Nanda made offerings and with tears in his eyes he
42715 Guru, mother, Yeshe Tsogyal,
42716 Key to the mysteries of Padmasambhava,
42717 With mercy taking up the pains of others.
42719 Free from concepts,
42720 "Clean" and "unclean" have no hold on you.
42721 Eager for the benefit of others,
42722 You bury underground all love of self,
42723 Mistress holder of the Teachings,
42724 Mother of Victorious Ones, I bow to you.
42726 -- Excerpted from: "Lady of the Lotus-Born: The Life and Enlightenment of
42727 Yeshe Tsogyal" (translated by the Padmakara Translation Group), published
42728 by Shambhala Publications
42730 The mind captivated by a state of craving has no clue as to what pain and
42731 pleasure really are. When we hanker after objects, do we experience peace and
42732 bliss? Are we in control? Do we feel at ease? Or do we feel restless?
42733 Stressed and worried? Insecure and desperate? The slippery thing about
42734 attachment is that, in our bewilderment, we can't tell the difference
42735 between pleasure and pain, love and desire, happiness and sorrow. The craving
42736 mind can mistake anything for pleasure--even pain! It's like an addiction.
42737 -- Dzigar Kongtrül, "Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening
42738 to Our Natural Intelligence", published by Shambhala Publications
42740 The path of dharma, its fruit, and everything included within great gnosis,
42741 too, are nothing more than the realization of the significance of the
42742 nonduality of phenomena. At this point, there is attainment of the signs of
42743 cultivating bodhicitta. When realized in this manner, there is no need for
42744 training on a multitude of paths. Therefore, the unmistaken path is simply
42745 the realization of the nature of one's own mind just as it is.
42746 -- Rongzom Chökyi Zangpo's treatise on Dzogchen as the culmination of the
42747 Mahāyāna, Entering the way of the Great Vehicle, translated by Dominic
42748 Sur, 2017, published by Shambhala Publications
42750 Lineage is not like a baton that one person passes to another person and then
42751 to another, leaving the ones behind empty-handed. It's like the flame of a
42752 lamp. If you light one lamp and then keep lighting more lamps, the first lamp
42753 still has the flame. There are no distinctions. There is a continuum.
42754 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "The Guru Drinks Bourbon?", published by
42755 Shambhala Publications
42757 A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with
42758 the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila.
42761 Even with realization, if you do not directly cut through, it is like tossing
42762 out a tempered sharp weapon: the view will not protect you, and you are bound
42763 by fear. The yoga that brings together view and conduct is like the weapons
42764 carried by warriors that vanquish all the enemy hosts.
42765 -- Machik Lapdrön, "Chöd: The Sacred Teachings on Severence", by Jamgön
42766 Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, translated by Sarah Harding, published by Shambhala
42769 The system of two truths is propounded solely for didactic purposes, as an
42770 entry to the path. On the ultimate level, the division into two truths has no
42771 place. There is only the inconceivable dharmadhātu, pure suchness, the
42772 ultimate mode of being. As it is written in the sutra,
42774 There is but one truth: absence of all origin,
42775 Yet some will crow about there being four.
42776 But in the essence of enlightenment,
42777 Not one is found--why speak of four?
42779 But whereas on the ultimate level, the two truths are not posited, on the
42780 relative level, they are. For there is certainly a difference between the way
42781 things are and the way they appear. As was said earlier, "These the two
42782 truths are declared to be."
42783 -- The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham's Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of
42784 The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation
42785 Group, published by Shambhala Publications
42787 People who embark upon the path of the Mahayana, the supreme path of
42788 beings of great scope leading to omniscience, should try to acquire four
42789 circumstances. They should (1) live in solitude, in a place that has all the
42790 necessary conditions and is in harmony with the Dharma. They should (2)
42791 frequent a teacher who is learned in the Tripitaka and steeped in the practice
42792 of the three trainings. By doing this, they will avoid the inferior attitudes
42793 of ordinary folk as well as the wrong behavior that leads to suffering, and
42794 they will acquire all the good qualities deriving from the Dharma of
42795 transmission and realization. They should in addition (3) nourish an intense
42796 wish to practice in accordance with the teaching expounded by their master and
42797 should (4) zealously adopt the supreme protection afforded by the merit
42798 accumulated in their past and present existences. The venerable Nagarjuna
42799 refers to these four conditions as the "four wheels," the idea being
42800 that, just as someone riding in a (horse-drawn) chariot can cover in a short
42801 time a distance that would take many days for a cow or ox, a Bodhisattva
42802 taking advantage of these four conditions will progress speedily toward
42803 omniscience. Nagarjuna refers to them in his Suhrllekha when he says:
42805 Your dwelling place befits the task,
42806 You keep the company of holy beings.
42807 With highest aspirations and a store of merit,
42808 You have indeed the "four wheels" all complete.
42810 -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by
42811 Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
42812 by Shambhala Publications
42815 We are far removed from eighth-century Tibet, where we meet her, but
42816 Yeshé Tsogyal continues to be present and available. She lives outside
42817 linear time, but visits it: her limitless emanations form a bridge from her
42818 lifetime to the present. She promised to remain accessible to any spiritual
42819 seeker wishing to follow her lead. In her own words,
42821 And so, from now until the scouring of samsara,
42822 My stream of emanations, primary and secondary,
42823 Will flow unceasing.
42824 Especially to those who in the future meditate
42825 Upon the subtle veins and energies,
42826 I'll show myself--at best directly,
42827 Else in visions, or at least in dreams,
42828 Appearing as a common person, or as the secret consort.
42829 I shall clear the obstacles of those who keep samaya,
42830 Bringing progress to their practice,
42831 Helping to attain with speed the blissful warmth and thence
42834 As promised, she continuously appears to lead and inspire the faithful in
42835 dreams, visions, and real life. As well, her human reincarnations ceaselessly
42836 return to the world, guiding others in whatever capacity is needed.
42837 -- from "The Life and Visions of Yeshe Tsogyal", by Drime Kunga and Yeshe
42838 Tsogyal, translated by Chönyi Drolma, published by Shambhala Publications
42840 It is impossible to conceive how many beings, from beginningless time in
42841 samsara, have been related to us--as parents, as enemies, or as people
42842 indifferent to us. In fact, all beings have been linked to us in these three
42843 ways innumerable times. When they were our enemies, they injured us; when
42844 they were our parents or our friends, they cherished and aided us; when they
42845 were neither, they ignored us. It would be impossible to calculate the number
42846 of relationships that we have experienced. Once when the noble Katyayana went
42847 begging for alms, he came across a group of people and, perceiving the karmic
42848 links that bound them together, commented:
42850 He strikes his mother, eats his father's flesh;
42851 His hated foe he dandles on his lap.
42852 Here is a wife that sucks her husband's bones--
42853 At this samsara how can I not laugh?
42855 -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by
42856 Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
42857 by Shambhala Publications
42859 When the actual process of dying begins, you pass through eight phases--
42860 the first four involve the collapse of the four elements, and the last four
42861 involve the collapse of consciousness into the innermost level of mind, called
42862 the mind of clear light.
42863 In the final phase of dying, when all coarse consciousnesses dissolve into
42864 the all-empty, which is the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the myriad
42865 objects of the world, as well as concepts such as sameness and difference, are
42866 pacified in this subtlest mind. At that time, all appearances of environments
42867 and beings withdraw of their own accord. Even for a nonpractitioner, coarse
42868 appearances also withdraw; this withdrawal of conventional appearances,
42869 however, is not due to a perception of reality attained through meditation.
42870 When, in the last phase, the temporary winds that carry consciousness have all
42871 dissolved, the mind (whether of a practitioner or a nonpractitioner) becomes
42872 as if undifferentiated, and an immaculate openness dawns.
42873 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Heart of Meditation", translated and
42874 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications
42876 There's a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have
42877 ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain
42878 and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals
42880 A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is
42881 to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our
42882 inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet.
42883 When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual
42884 discipline, they often think that somehow they're going to improve, which is
42885 a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. It's a bit like
42886 saying, "If I jog, I'll be a much better person." Or the scenario may be
42887 that they find fault with others; they might say, "If it weren't for my
42888 husband, I'd have a perfect marriage." And "If it weren't for my mind, my
42889 meditation would be excellent."
42890 But loving-kindness--maitri--toward ourselves doesn't mean getting rid
42891 of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years.
42892 We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous
42893 or full of feelings of unworthiness. Meditation practice isn't about trying
42894 to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending
42895 who we are already.
42896 Perhaps we will experience what is traditionally described as the fruition
42897 of maitri--playfulness...
42898 -- Pema Chödrön, from "Awakening Loving-Kindness", published by Shambhala
42901 In texts we inherited from India, the basic principle is sometimes called
42902 the "fundamental innate mind of clear light" and the "fundamental innate
42903 wisdom of clear light"--these two terms having the same meaning. In other
42904 texts, it is called the "space-diamond pervading space," whereas in even
42905 others it is called the "jewel mind," as, for example, when it is said,
42906 "Separate from the jewel mind, there is no buddha and no sentient being."
42907 Then, in Tibet, in some texts, it is called "ordinary consciousness"
42908 and "innermost awareness." These terms are used in the context of speaking
42909 about freedom from thought, which is psychologically and experientially
42910 described as "self-release," "naked release," and "unimpeded
42911 penetration"; we will be discussing these in detail later. The innermost
42912 awareness is said to be the basis of the appearance of all of the round of
42913 suffering (called "cyclic existence") and also the basis of liberation
42914 (called "nirvana"). Everything, without exception, is complete in the
42915 continuum of innermost awareness. It is even said to be "naturally arisen,"
42916 since it has always been and always will be.
42917 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Heart of Meditation", translated and
42918 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications
42920 When phenomena are indeed seen to be devoid of true existence, great
42921 compassion will well up effortlessly, a compassion that will never abandon
42922 living beings who circle in samsara through their clinging to true existence.
42923 For as it has been taught, it is in the nature of things that such an attitude
42925 -- from "The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham's Commentary on the Ninth
42926 Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva", published by Shambhala
42929 When resting evenly in meditation with the points of body,
42930 If appearances cease and you are without thoughts,
42931 These are the doings of a lethargic shamatha.
42932 But when you rouse yourself with mindfulness,
42933 It's like a candle, self-luminous and shining bright,
42934 Or like a flower that's naturally vivid and clear.
42935 Like looking with your eyes at the glow of the sky,
42936 Awareness-emptiness is naked, open, and clear.
42938 That nonconceptuality that's luminous and clear
42939 Is the arising of the shamatha experience.
42940 On the basis of that meditative experience,
42941 While supplicating the precious jewels,
42942 Gain certainty by studying and contemplating the dharma.
42943 Take the vipashyana that brings the understanding of no self
42944 And tie the sturdy rope of shamatha to that.
42945 Then that strong noble being with love and compassion
42946 Through the mighty strength of rousing bodhichitta to benefit others,
42947 Having been lifted up with a pure aspiration
42948 To the completely pure path of seeing,
42949 There, vipashyana directly realizes the purity that cannot be seen
42950 And then the faults of mind's hopes and fears will be known.
42951 Without going anywhere, you'll arrive at the Buddha's ground.
42952 Without looking at anything, you'll see dharmakaya.
42953 Without achieving anything, your aim will be spontaneously accomplished.
42954 -- from "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa", By Tsangnyon Heruka,
42955 translated by Christopher Stagg, published by Shambhala Publications
42957 Trying to find the pain in life is the renunciation of hinayana. Trying to
42958 find the ambition in life, trying to reach higher goals, is the
42959 bodhisattva's ambition in the mahayana. Trying to find the subtleties of
42960 life is the tantric discovery of mystical experience in the vajrayana.
42961 -- Milarepa, from "Milarepa: Lessons from the Life and Songs of Tibet's
42962 Great Yogi", by Chögyam Trungpa, published by Shambhala Publications
42964 The root of our current unsatisfactory condition in a cycle of death and
42965 rebirth is our innate tendency to view the personal self in a reified manner
42966 (LRCM: 574). We also have innate tendencies to view all other phenomena in a
42967 reified manner. To achieve wisdom, or to know emptiness, means to overcome
42968 this reifying view, to realize that the self or essential being as thus
42969 conceived does not exist at all. In order reach this realization, according
42970 to Tsong kha pa, one must use reason to refute the existence, and to prove the
42971 nonexistence, of this reified self or essence. Having intellectually arrived
42972 at the correct philosophical view--that the self lacks a shred of intrinsic
42973 nature--one proceeds along the path to spiritual liberation through intense,
42974 deep, and extensive meditative familiarization with this view. At the same
42975 time, however, the practitioner also cultivates compassionate engagement with
42976 other living beings, making a commitment to help all of them reach perfect
42978 -- from "Ask a Farmer: Ultimate Analysis and Conventional Existence in
42979 Tsong kha pa's Lam rim chen mo", by Guy Newland from Changing Minds:
42980 Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey
42981 Hopkins, edited by Guy Newland, published by Shambhala Publications
42983 inexplicably ted was awoken,
42984 incredibly loud noise of the broken,
42985 his cat invaded the stash,
42986 seeking out some tasty hash,
42987 sis boom *bong* goes crash--ted won't be tokin'.
42990 shania the stony gal really dug her twerkin',
42991 slingin' her booty all around was really workin',
42992 but the other dancers looked askance,
42993 and asked "can this chick actually dance?",
42994 shania wasn't so much dancin' as berzerkin'!
42997 All art is composed of subtle and gross elements. There is no way for
42998 artists to express without elements. When people use expressions such as hot-
42999 headed, cold-hearted, dry-humored, or all wet, it shows that they naturally
43000 connect subtle element temperaments with gross element expressions. But
43001 artists must go beyond outwardly expressing the elements in an obvious way in
43002 order to gain experience with the inner subtle elements, which are the source
43003 of the outer gross elements. Then they can make art which reflects what
43005 According to the Buddhist point of view, an artist's intention is
43006 compassion. Buddhist artists create in order to make a link with other beings
43007 through their inner pure elements, and to transform their outer ordinary gross
43008 elements into enlightenment by means of that connection.
43009 -- Thinley Norbu, from "Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the
43010 Five Wisdom Dakinis", published by Shambhala Publications
43012 Never admit defeat. Just move the front.
43015 down came eddy from his heady,
43016 where he dwells often unsteady,
43017 you see he gets so high,
43018 mind expanded to sky;
43019 real world grokking just not ready.
43022 Generally speaking, when we are too desirous of something in life, we're
43023 less likely to attain it. Success seems to increase in direct proportion to
43024 the diminution of our desires. The same logic applies to our need for
43025 recognition. We might want to be appreciated and respected, but we have only
43026 a limited ability to influence how other people respond and we can't make
43027 somebody show us gratitude any more than we can force someone to love us. If
43028 we show love without expecting it to be reciprocated, we will have more chance
43029 of finding love than if we simply yearn for it. Likewise, doing something
43030 without expecting gratitude is more likely to elicit appreciation for what we
43031 do. Whether someone can acknowledge our actions or not should be no concern
43033 We simply commit ourselves to doing things to the best of our ability and
43034 in as thorough a manner as possible without sloppiness. We should never think
43035 that other people are indebted to us or obligated to help us in return. We
43036 should simply do things because we love doing them, not because we want other
43037 people to feel indebted to us. Shantideva says:
43039 The work of bringing benefit to beings
43040 Will not, then, make me proud and self-admiring.
43041 The happiness of others is itself my satisfaction;
43042 I do not expect another recompense.
43044 -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion
43045 through Training the Mind", published by Shambhala Publications
43047 Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava says:
43049 If you want to go sightseeing, try touring your own clear,
43050 mirrorlike mind instead.
43052 What technique can we use to effectively start our journey to realizing
43053 our natural, pristine state?
43054 The clearest instructions for doing this come from Guru Rinpoche
43055 Padmasambhava, the main architect of the Pristine Mind teachings. Guru
43056 Rinpoche has given us the essential opening instructions for practicing
43057 Pristine Mind meditation in four steps:
43059 Don't follow the past.
43060 Don't anticipate the future.
43061 Remain in the present moment.
43062 Leave your mind alone.
43064 We must understand these instructions. They are designed to help us stay
43065 in the present moment. Some other forms of meditation teachings say that
43066 remaining in the present moment is the ultimate objective of meditation.
43067 However, the present moment itself is not ultimate reality, ultimate truth, or
43068 the ultimate goal of Pristine Mind meditation. Nor is it what I mean when I
43069 refer to our fundamental nature. Instead, being in the present moment, with
43070 our mind calm and relaxed, simply creates the right conditions to begin to
43071 connect with our Pristine Mind.
43072 --Excerpted from "Our Pristine Mind: A Practical Guide to Unconditional
43073 Happiness", by Orgyen Chowang, published by Shambhala Publications
43075 Some people think that causes are not necessary. They think that things do
43076 not need causes and can exist without them. This is mistaken. Think about
43077 it. If you plant a seed in a flowerpot, a flower will grow. It will not grow
43078 from this table in front of me now. What is the reason for that? The causes
43079 for a flower are present in a flowerpot, and for that reason a flower can grow
43080 there. The causes for a flower are not present on the surface of this table,
43081 and for that reason a flower cannot grow there. If things arose in the
43082 absence of causes, a flower would have to be able to grow from the surface of
43083 this table even though the causes for a flower are not present there. Or, as
43084 we know, flowers bloom in the summer but not in the winter. What is the
43085 reason for that? In the summer, the causes and conditions for the growth of
43086 flowers are complete. In the winter, they are not. In dependence upon that,
43087 flowers grow in the summer but not in the winter. If causes were not
43088 necessary, flowers would grow in the winter also. They would grow at all
43090 -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashīla's
43091 Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School", published by Shambhala
43094 Human beings have many kinds of suffering. Some human beings are put into
43095 prisons. Some are destitute. Some are enslaved by others. Thus, they are
43096 not actually hell-beings, but their sufferings are like those of hell-beings;
43097 they are not actually hungry ghosts, but their sufferings are like those of
43098 hungry ghosts; and they are not actually animals, but their sufferings are
43099 like those of animals. We think in that way about the sufferings that human
43100 beings experience. Some human beings are wealthy and comfortable. However,
43101 that wealth and comfort does not last for a very long time. Not being able to
43102 enjoy wealth and comfort for a long time, in the end suffering comes to them
43103 too. When we think about the suffering that they experience, compassion
43105 The demigods suffer from continual jealousy of and warfare with the gods
43106 of the Desire Realm. As for the gods, though comfortable temporarily, later
43107 they fall down into painful situations and, at the time of falling, they
43108 suffer greatly. Similarly, even the gods of the Form Realm and the Formless
43109 Realm cannot just stay there. They fall down to the states of hell-beings,
43110 hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and so forth. When they fall, mentally they
43111 suffer greatly. Therefore, sentient beings born in the states of the six
43112 wanderers have nothing but suffering. If we think about that, compassion can
43114 -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashīla's
43115 Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School", published by Shambhala
43118 When they related this to Buddha, he poured water into a little vessel and
43119 asked, "Will this water remain without evaporating?" Because India is very
43120 hot, the Hearers thought, "In a few days the water will evaporate. This
43121 must mean that our virtue will not remain at all." They were extremely
43122 worried. Then Buddha asked, "If this water is poured in the ocean, how long
43123 will it stay? It will remain until the ocean itself evaporates."
43124 Therefore, if you do not just leave this virtue, but dedicate it, making a
43125 prayer petition that it become a cause of help and happiness for limitless
43126 sentient beings, then until that actually occurs, the virtue will not be lost.
43127 Like a small amount of water poured into the ocean, which will last until the
43128 ocean itself dries up, so the fruit of your virtue will remain until it has
43129 ripened. The benefit of hearing, thinking, and meditating, in terms of
43130 causing all persons to possess happiness and the causes of happiness, is
43131 inconceivable, but if it is not dedicated, then when anger arises, it will be
43132 destroyed. This benefit cannot be seen with the eye, but it is inconceivable.
43133 -- Kensur Lekden, from "Meditations of a Tibetan Tantric Abbot: The Main
43134 Practices of the Mahayana Buddhist Path", translated and edited by
43135 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications
43137 Because you need to obtain the happy effects and the causes producing them,
43138 and because it is necessary for yourself and others to attain them, you must
43139 meditate. In this world there were nihilists who said that one should not
43140 meditate, doing only those activities that will bring about marvelous
43141 happiness, comfort, and prosperity in this lifetime. The nihilists said that
43142 one should gather possessions and clothing, and if one's body is sick, one
43143 should take medicine, that these activities were justified, but that nothing
43144 else was needed. Such a philosophy appeared in the world and with respect to
43145 it there is this Buddhist teaching: You need a job for your livelihood, you
43146 need to work for the sake of your country, for the sake of yourself and
43147 others, to set up factories, to plant fields; still you should act mainly for
43148 the sake of your future life, because you will not always remain in this
43149 lifetime. All persons will definitely die, and the time of death is
43150 indefinite. At the time of death, nothing helps except religious practice.
43151 This is how it is. Therefore, even though you need happiness and comfort in
43152 this life and even though it is necessary to strive for the sake of food and
43153 drink now, this lifetime is short. Our longest condition of life is our
43154 countless future lives. If you consider only this which you can see now and
43155 you do not consider all the future lives which you cannot see, you will incur
43156 immeasurable fault. You will harm yourself.
43157 -- Kensur Lekden, from "Meditations of a Tibetan Tantric Abbot: The Main
43158 Practices of the Mahayana Buddhist Path", translated and edited by
43159 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications
43161 The ground of primal wisdom
43162 Where the truth beyond all concepts is beheld
43163 Is reached more easily by humans than by gods.
43164 The essence also of the deep path of the Vajrayāna
43165 Is more easily attained by those who find a human form.
43166 The basis of the Dharma of both great and lesser vehicles
43167 Is said to be supremely noble--
43168 This human state endowed with freedoms and advantages.
43170 Just like a beggar who has chanced upon a treasure of great price,
43171 Reflect with joy upon your freedoms and advantages.
43172 In doubt and apprehension that you might be dreaming,
43173 Implement the sacred Dharma--
43174 Source of happiness and benefit in this and future lives!
43175 -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind", published
43176 by Shambhala Publications
43178 This lifetime passes like the weeping clouds
43179 Where dance the lightning garlands of the Lord of Death,
43180 And from them, day and night, there falls
43181 An endless rain to bathe the shoots
43182 That grow in the three levels of existence.
43184 The world and its inhabitants will pass.
43185 The universe is formed and then destroyed
43186 By seven fires, a flood, and then the scattering wind.
43187 The all-encircling sea, the continents,
43188 And even mighty Sumeru compounded of four jewels,
43189 All girded by the rings of lesser peaks--all this will pass.
43190 The time will come when all will have dissolved
43191 Into a single space.
43192 Remember this and practice Dharma from your heart.
43193 -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind", published
43194 by Shambhala Publications
43196 The most important thing is to have faith and trust in the Buddha's
43197 words. The Buddha's teachings were not taught to deceive us but to explain
43198 the way things actually are. Many people try to analyze the Buddha's
43199 teachings, but how is it possible to scrutinize a buddha's qualities? We
43200 don't even know what will happen tomorrow, or when we will die, or anything
43201 about our future lives, so how could we possibly examine the teachings of the
43202 Omniscient One? Since we are totally obscured by our strong disturbing
43203 emotions, in order to progress on the path toward enlightenment, we have no
43204 choice but to have faith in the Buddha's teachings and apply them in our own
43206 The ability to practice Dharma depends on certain conditions. For
43207 example, this is a rare time during which the teachings of the Great
43208 Perfection are said to flourish. We're very fortunate that through
43209 Padmasambhava's blessings, such teachings have appeared and we're able to
43210 receive them. We must have accumulated incredible merit and made fervent
43211 prayers very sincerely over numerous lifetimes to be able to encounter such
43212 amazing teachings now. Still, most people are just too involved in worldly
43213 activities to have time to practice the Dharma, and very few people in this
43214 world totally dedicate themselves to the teachings. Most people work for the
43215 sake of success in this life, to gain wealth, fame, power, and so on, but none
43216 of these worldly aims can liberate us from the suffering of samsara; in fact,
43217 they only create further conditions for ensuring that we remain in samsara for
43218 countless lifetimes to come.
43219 -- Penor Rinpoche, from "An Ocean of Blessings: Heart Teachings of Drubwang
43220 Penor Rinpoche", translated by Ani Jinba Palmo, published by Shambhala
43223 "When the sun comes out and illumines the world, its image is reflected in
43224 all clean vessels of water, being in all places without coming or going. If
43225 one vessel breaks, then the reflection of the sun does not appear in it. Do
43226 you think it is the fault of the sun that its reflection does not appear
43228 "No--it is just because the vessel is broken; it's no fault of the sun."
43229 "The knowledge of realization of Thusness, buddha-knowledge, is also like
43230 this, appearing throughout the cosmos, without before or after: Buddha appears
43231 in the clean mind-vessels of all sentient beings. If the mind-vessel is
43232 always clean, the embodiment of Buddha is always seen; if the mind is
43233 polluted, the vessel breaks and the Buddha cannot be seen."
43234 -- from "The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of The Avatamsaka
43235 Sutra", translated by Thomas Cleary, published by Shambhala Publications
43237 Why is endeavor necessary? If we consider material progress, we see that
43238 research started by one person can always be continued by another. But this
43239 is not possible with spiritual progress. The realization we talk about in the
43240 Buddhadharma is something that has to be accomplished by the individual. No
43241 one else can do it for us. Of course, it would be wonderful if in the future
43242 we could attain realization through some sort of new injection or by means of
43243 a new generation of computers, without having to go through any difficulties.
43244 If we could be absolutely certain that such a time would come, we could simply
43245 lie back and wait to get enlightened. But I doubt that this will ever happen.
43246 It is better to make an effort. We have to develop endeavor.
43249 Thus with patience I will strive with diligence.
43250 For in such diligence enlightenment is found.
43251 If no wind blows, then nothing stirs,
43252 And neither is there merit without diligence.
43254 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Bodhisattva Guide: A Commentary
43255 on The Way of the Bodhisattva", The Bodhisattva Guide was originally
43256 published as For the Benefit of All Beings, also published by Shambhala
43259 I am not angry with my bile and other humors--
43260 Fertile source of suffering and pain!
43261 So why should living beings give offence,
43262 They likewise are impelled by circumstance?
43264 Suffering may result from both animate and inanimate causes. We may curse
43265 inanimate things like the weather, but it is with animate beings that we most
43266 often get angry. If we analyze these animate causes that make us unhappy, we
43267 find that they are themselves influenced by other conditions. They are not
43268 making us angry simply because they want to. In this respect, because they
43269 are influenced by other conditions, they are in fact powerless. So there is
43270 no need to get angry with them.
43272 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Bodhisattva Guide: A
43273 Commentary on The Way of the Bodhisattva", published by Shambhala
43276 I am not contained between my hat and boots.
43279 These delightful mountain solitudes
43280 Are like the family estate to the supreme guide's heirs,
43281 And, as the best of protectors himself has said,
43282 To rely on solitude is indeed the pinnacle of joys!
43284 Forests, hermitages, and isolated dwelling places--
43285 These are the outer solitude of the Victor's heirs.
43286 Avoiding selfishness and fainthearted fears--
43287 This is the bodhisattvas' internal isolation.
43289 Keeping, therefore, to outer forms of solitude,
43290 Tame the inner afflictions through tranquility and insight
43291 And aspire to the supreme conduct of Samantabhadra--
43292 Possessing such good fortune one is truly the Buddha's heir.
43294 With sweetly cascading mountain streams,
43295 Rocky mountain shelters ascending to heaven,
43296 And gently falling dewdrops of whitest moonlight,
43297 This mountain retreat surpasses even the deva realm.
43299 The dance of the slender trees does not stir the passions,
43300 And sweet birdsong brings neither attachment nor aversion,
43301 Enveloped in nonconceptuality's gentle, cooling shade--
43302 Such youthful companionship is surely better than a silent void!
43304 Undisturbed by noisy chatter, that thorn in meditation's side,
43305 Alone in this excellent place of unattended solitude,
43306 The old monkey of the mind has nowhere left to roam
43307 And, settling down within, finds satisfaction.
43309 Under the bright, oppressive sunlight of busy, bustling crowds,
43310 Our faults and unhelpful thoughts eclipse the constellations,
43311 But when embraced by threefold solitude's cooling nectar beams,
43312 Such faults can easily be overcome through proper antidotes.
43314 When it is undisturbed by rippling thoughts of sadness,
43315 The pool-like surface of the mind is still, unmoving,
43316 And faith and compassion's reflections readily arise.
43317 In such constancy, what need is there for a companion?
43319 If the mirror of mind is wiped clean, time and again,
43320 And uncluttered with objects or circumstances,
43321 Study, reflection, and meditation present a clear impression.
43322 What is there to prevent the dawn of Dharma's light?
43324 Hunger, thirst, cold, and the like--all forms of physical affliction--
43325 Together with sadness, fear, and all such mental suffering,
43326 Can, through the teachings, enhance the purifying path
43327 And, unburdened by avoidance or indulgence, adorn the mind!
43329 -- Patrul Rinpoche, from "Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rimé, and the
43330 Path of Perfect Wisdom", translated by Adam Pearcey, published by
43331 Shambhala Publications
43333 Our endeavor is not religious, but rather a test of what we as a human
43334 being can become, the greatest unfolding of our potential.
43335 -- Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
43337 Because everything leans, you belong to something much, much greater than what
43338 you may often refer to as "the world" or "my life"; you belong to something
43339 greater than your community, political party, nation, or even this magnificent
43340 planet Earth. You are a noble citizen of the boundless field of contingent
43341 relationships, pratityasamutpada.
43342 -- Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, from "The Logic of Faith", published by
43343 Shambhala Publications
43345 It is through the teacher's blessing that you see
43346 The self-arisen primal wisdom, inexpressible,
43347 Beyond both word and thought.
43348 And in the moment of its seeing,
43349 Timeless are the three times,
43350 No difference separates the future from the past.
43351 This is the Wisdom That Has Gone Beyond; the Middle Way;
43352 The Stilling (of all thought and sorrow); the Great Seal;
43353 The Great Perfection of the quintessential ultimate reality,
43354 That is, the fundamental natural state
43355 Where, from the very first,
43356 Phenomena are all exhausted.
43357 It is mind's luminosity,
43358 The self-arisen primal wisdom.
43359 Many names it has received, yet all have but one meaning:
43360 Ultimate reality, beyond the range
43361 Of speech, of thought, of explanation:
43362 The enlightened mind,
43363 The space-like nature where saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not two.
43364 -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in Meditation", published by Shambhala
43367 Become accustomed to the fact that all we accept or reject, dualistically
43368 affirm or deny (such as enjoyment and disgust, happiness and frustration,
43369 beauty and ugliness, fear and security, sickness and health, enemies and
43370 friends, love and hatred, or whatever), has one taste, thus judgments are
43373 Listen great being: do not create duality from the unique state.
43374 Happiness and misery are one in pure and total presence.
43375 Buddhas and beings are one in the nature of mind.
43376 Appearances and beings, the environment and its inhabitants are one in
43378 Even the duality of truth and falsehood are the same in reality.
43379 Do not latch onto happiness; do not eliminate misery.
43380 Thereby everything is accomplished.
43381 Attachment to pleasure brings misery.
43382 Total clarity, being non-conceptual,
43383 Is self-refreshing pristine awareness.
43384 -- Longchenpa, from "You Are the Eyes of the World", published by Shambhala
43387 The realizations that arise through meditating thus
43388 Are all of the same taste.
43389 They are not manifold; they are not different.
43390 It is like those who come from three directions
43391 And meet together in a single place,
43392 And like the different flowing streams
43393 That join and are as one within a single sea.
43394 Bliss, luminosity, and no-thought--
43395 Whichever of these methods one may practice--
43396 When mental movement comes to complete rest
43397 And in the nature of the mind, the unborn space, dissolves,
43398 The enlightened mind, devoid of concepts
43399 (Whether of existence or of nonexistence),
43400 The sun of fundamental nature, bright and clear,
43401 Will rise up from within.
43402 In this realization, changeless and unmoving,
43403 There is nothing to be added, nothing to remove.
43404 -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in Meditation", published by Shambhala
43407 Listen! I, pure and total presence, the creative intelligence
43408 which manifests universes,
43409 Do not teach those who surround me,
43410 A reality that can be affirmed or denied.
43411 I do not teach about splitting the unique into two.
43412 I do not analyze that which is beyond analysis.
43413 I do not correct that which is naturally uncontrived.
43414 Let whatever you do or whatever appears
43415 Just be in its natural state, without premeditation.
43416 That is true freedom.
43417 -- Longchenpa, from "You Are the Eyes of the World", published by
43418 Shambhala Publications
43420 Milarepa's Song on the Way of the Yogi
43422 I am just a man, a yogi of Tibet;
43424 I've studied little but have many key instructions.
43425 Though I'm humble, I have great perseverance.
43426 I sleep little and have great endurance in meditation.
43427 I'm an expert in all by knowing one thing
43428 And I understand everything to be one:
43429 I am an expert in genuine reality.
43430 On my small seat, stretching my legs is pleasant.
43431 With thin clothes, my body is perfectly warm.
43432 With small bits of tsampa, my stomach is full.
43433 My example is that which all meditators aspire to.
43434 I'm a gathering place for those with faith.
43435 I'm an object of reliance for those fearful of birth and death.
43436 I go in no fixed direction
43437 And I stay in no one particular place.
43438 For conduct, I go without reference points.
43439 I have no attachment to material things
43440 And no notion of clean or dirty food.
43441 For me, the pain of the afflictions is small.
43442 I have little self-regard and few desires.
43443 I've little attachment to perceiver and perceived
43444 And I've loosened the knots of the state of nirvana.
43445 I'm a friend of the elderly, a shoulder to lean on,
43446 And a playmate for young children.
43447 I'm a yogi who roams the country far and wide.
43448 May you devas and humans be healthy and happy.
43449 -- Milarepa and Tsangnyon Heruka, "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa",
43450 published by Shambhala Publications
43452 It's very important to keep examining your mind at all times and be aware of
43453 what occurs in it. We have this habit of criticizing others; we are very good
43454 at pointing out their faults, but we have a hard time being aware of our own
43455 flaws. Examining the faults of others will not benefit anyone and only leads
43456 to more disturbing emotions, blocking our path to liberation. Whatever anyone
43457 else does, let them do it. It's not your business to find other people's
43458 flaws, and even if you do point them out, there is no way for you to correct
43459 them. On the other hand, it is very important to watch your own mind and
43460 train in subduing and reducing your own disturbing emotions. Analyze your
43461 mind, constantly watch your thoughts, recognizing whether they are positive or
43462 negative, and become aware of your faults. If you constantly observe yourself
43463 and analyze your thoughts, you will eventually be able to tame your mind.
43464 Since we haven't been able to purify our karmic and emotional obscurations,
43465 our gross disturbing emotions can come up anytime, and whenever these emotions
43466 come up, we should apply the antidote by looking into our mind and trying to
43467 understand that all phenomena are emptiness. If you leave your mind in a
43468 relaxed state without contriving anything, disturbing emotions will cease.
43469 -- Drubwang Penor Rinpoche, from "An Ocean of Blessings", published by
43470 Shambhala Publications
43472 In general, all joys and sorrows that seem outside
43473 Are magical creations of one's mind alone;
43474 Reflections from inside that appear outside,
43475 Not things outside that have come near.
43477 Knowing this well, when analysis
43478 Severs the root of the basic mind,
43479 You will abide in the true sky of reality
43480 Beyond this fog of appearance.
43482 This so-called existence is a fiction.
43483 This so-called nonexistence is a fiction.
43484 Untainted by all such fictions,
43485 The nature of the mind is perfect buddhahood.
43487 Thoughts of "is" and "is not" are like ripples in water;
43488 They follow one after the other.
43489 Dissolving easily into the aimless state,
43490 They arrive at the ocean of the primordial sphere of reality.
43492 Appearances are the magical display of the mind.
43493 The mind is empty, without base, without foundation.
43494 By holding baseless phenomena to be the self
43495 You and I wander in the realm of samsara.
43497 Without pursuing perceptions,
43498 When you look directly at the perceiver itself,
43499 You will see your own inexpressible face;
43500 The path to achieve buddhahood is not far.
43502 Through the blessings of the divine three foundations,
43503 May you quickly find the emptiness of your own mind,
43504 And from the kingdom of the ever-pure great perfection,
43505 Bring about the great aims of boundless beings.
43506 -- from "Gendun Chopel: Tibet's Modern Visionary", by Donald S. Lopez
43507 Jr., published by Shambhala Publications
43509 Parallel to compassion, the Buddhist teachings emphasize loving-kindness--the
43510 wish for others to have happiness and the causes of happiness. A traditional
43511 way of generating loving-kindness begins by looking at our own constant
43512 longing for happiness and its causes. Then we contemplate how all others have
43513 this same longing, every bit as intense as our own. When we understand that
43514 we are no different from other beings in this way, we see how unreasonable it
43515 is to care so much more about ourselves than others. We do so only out of
43516 sheer habit--ignorant habit. At that point, once we've shed some light on
43517 our habit, we turn our mind toward others, wishing them happiness as much as
43518 we wish it for ourselves. Then, in our daily lives, we try to behave in
43519 accord with this wish, by being kind with our actions, in our speech, and in
43521 -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on
43522 Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World",
43523 published by Shambhala Publications
43525 So many wonderful qualities are already present within us, just waiting to be
43526 discovered. The key lies in understanding that things are impermanent and
43527 unreal. Sadness, of course, is not an end in itself. But deep sorrow comes
43528 with realizing that everything we previously took to be lasting and real is
43529 actually just about to disappear--and it never even existed in the first
43530 place. Such sadness and disillusionment have a wonderful effect. Sorrow
43531 makes us let go. As we stop chasing futile and ultimately painful goals, we
43532 embark on the spiritual path with superior strength and resolve.
43533 -- Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, from "Sadness, Love, Openness: The Buddhist Path
43534 of Joy", published by Shambhala Publications
43536 The blind ant runs about for the sake of happiness.
43537 The legless worm crawls about for the sake of happiness.
43538 In brief, all the world is racing with each other,
43539 Running toward happiness, one faster than the next.
43541 Sometimes, seeing a goddess is revolting.
43542 Sometimes, seeing an old woman creates lust.
43543 Thinking, "This is it," something else comes along.
43544 How can the deceptions of the mind be counted?
43546 Our attitudes change so much
43547 From childhood to when we are old and decrepit.
43548 Analyze your own experience and you know this.
43549 How can you have confidence in today's thoughts?
43551 Due to the mind's insanity, we do not recognize our own face,
43552 Yet we constantly measure the secular and sacred, heaven and earth.
43553 Courageous are we who seek lasting refuge
43554 In this series of mistaken appearances.
43555 -- from "Gendun Chopel: Tibet's Modern Visionary", by Donald S. Lopez
43556 Jr., published by Shambhala Publications
43558 When people say that I have worked a lot for peace, I feel embarrassed. I
43559 feel like laughing. I don't think I have done very much for world peace.
43560 It's just that my practice is the peaceful path of kindness, love,
43561 compassion, and not harming others. This has become part of me. It is not
43562 something for which I have specially volunteered. I am simply a follower of
43563 the Buddha, and the Buddha taught that patience is the supreme means for
43564 transcending suffering. He said, "If a monk harms others, he is not a monk."
43565 I am a Buddhist monk, so I try to practice accordingly. When people think
43566 this practice is something unique and special and call me a leader of world
43567 peace, I feel almost ashamed!
43568 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Bodhisattva Guide", published
43569 by Shambhala Publications
43571 We have talked about impermanence and how painful it is to acknowledge that
43572 everything, including ourselves and all that we love, is going to perish. But
43573 the recognition of impermanence is also the threshold to something more,
43574 something greater. The reason we take impermanence to heart is that we need
43575 that understanding to inspire and guide us. Impermanence closes the gap
43576 between others and ourselves. When we recognize that everyone is subject to
43577 the same merciless conditions, we cannot but respond with affection. With the
43578 recognition of the impermanent world comes great compassion, genuine care.
43579 This pivotal discovery provides the circumstance for a complete opening of our
43580 minds. As compassion gains force, it enables our minds to recognize the
43581 profound nature of emptiness--the true nature of things that lies beyond all
43582 concepts. Sorrow and pain become catalysts for deep-felt loving care, and the
43583 power of universal compassion delivers the realization of the true view.
43584 That’s when we have truly become students of the Dharma.
43585 -- Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, from "Sadness, Love, Openness: The Buddhist
43586 Path of Joy", published by Shambhala Publications
43588 Buddha qualities are indivisible.
43589 The disposition is attained as it is.
43590 The true state is [always] free from any fickleness and deceit.
43591 Since beginningless time the nature has been peace itself.
43593 Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
43594 and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
43595 [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
43596 In truth, these are not two different things.
43598 -- Maitreya, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, and
43599 Asanga in "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary",
43600 translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Shambhala Publications
43602 Like vines that wrap themselves round sandal trees,
43603 People who keep company with holy ones
43604 Become, in their turn, holy.
43606 And like kusha grass left in a fetid marsh,
43607 People who keep company with evil beings
43608 Will in their turn be evil.
43610 So keep the company of holy beings
43611 And from bad teachers strive to keep your distance.
43613 -- Longchenpa, in "Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind, The Trilogy of
43614 Rest, Volume 1", translated by Padmakara Translation Group, published by
43615 Shambhala Publications
43617 Thinking about the self as composed of "aggregates" (Skt. skandha) can
43618 help us reflect on our personal identity in new ways. Generally, we attribute
43619 characteristics to our personal identity, feeling that it is solid, permanent,
43620 and real. But here, describing the self as being composed of aggregates can
43621 help us see ourselves more accurately. The word skandha can be translated
43622 literally as "heap." This definition, when applied to ourselves, can help
43623 us see that we do not have a cohesive, real, and solid self. We are just a
43624 heap of stuff--flesh, blood, veins, nerves, bones, hair, cartilage, and so
43625 on. When we sort through this heap, what are we actually? None of the
43626 elements of the heap is actually "me." We are a mere mishmash of material
43627 conditions that we have identified with and labeled "I."
43628 -- Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo, in "Stop Biting the Tail
43629 You're Chasing: Using Buddhist Mind Training to Free Yourself from Painful
43630 Emotional Patterns" published by Shambhala Publications
43632 I once heard a Buddhist teacher say that the whole point of having a teacher
43633 was to become autonomous. I considered that for a while. I thought, "Well,
43634 yes, as a mother, I did everything I could to help my son stand on his own two
43635 feet. I get that." But is it possible for anyone to stand on their own two
43636 feet without their mother, father, or guardian to guide them? When we are
43637 born, we are completely helpless and dependent. We would never survive
43638 without the help of others. There is truly no such thing as autonomy. So if
43639 you want to live in accordance with the nature of things--which means living
43640 in grace--practically speaking, it will require some humility and gratitude
43641 for the ways in which your tradition has come down to you with so much care.
43642 -- Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, from "The Logic of Faith: The Buddhist Approach
43643 to Finding Certainty Beyond Belief and Doubt", published by Shambhala
43646 If we are attached to a thought, it becomes an obstacle to the development of
43647 our meditation or samadhi. The remedies for reducing attachments to thoughts
43648 are called "pacification" and "taming the mind," which involve what to
43649 do when we are unwilling to let go of thoughts. Normally we regard thoughts,
43650 and especially certain thoughts, as either particularly important or
43651 particularly pleasant and therefore worthwhile or entertaining. However, in
43652 meditation, thoughts are nothing other than impediments to what we are trying
43653 to do. So, when we are practicing meditation, we have to maintain the
43654 attitude, "This is my time to meditate and now I am not trying to think
43655 thoughts. If I let myself think, I am wasting this time I have to practice."
43656 -- Khenchen Thrangu, from "The Mahamudra Lineage Prayer: A Guide to
43657 Practice", published by Shambhala Publications
43659 The arrogant mind never stops searching for identity, and this identity always
43660 defines itself through attributes: "the beautiful one," "the smart one,"
43661 "the creative one," "the successful one." Sometimes we take this further by
43662 creating a more elaborate persona: "the rebel," "the maverick," "the suffering
43663 artist," "the fearless leader." We can hold onto these labels on a "good" day.
43664 But when we feel insecure about our attributes, or our lack thereof, we start
43665 to wonder how to define ourselves; we wonder who it is we really are.
43666 Regardless of whether we're having a good day or a low self-esteem day, the
43667 point is, we haven't found a way to relax, to be natural, unself-conscious.
43668 We don't know how to take our seat in ordinariness and feel comfortable in
43669 our own skin. We're always searching for something to be.
43670 -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on
43671 Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence", published by Shambhala
43675 It's time for the adults to take back the wheel
43676 WE KNOW OUR ABCS...
43677 Apple pie, Baseball, Compassion, & Science
43680 Elevate your experience and remain wide-open like the sky.
43681 Expand your mindfulness and remain pervasive like the earth.
43682 Steady your attention and remain unshakable like a mountain.
43683 Brighten your awareness and remain shining like a flame.
43684 Clear your thought-free wakefulness and remain lucid like a crystal.
43685 -- Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, "Clarifying the Natural State", from "Jewels of
43686 Enlightenment: Wisdom Teachings from the Great Tibetan Masters", compiled
43687 and translated by Erik Pema Kunsang, published by Shambhala Publications
43689 Meditation, by nature, is like tasting nectar.
43691 To meditate on the meaning of what you have heard and contemplated
43692 pacifies all the illnesses of negative emotions.
43694 You will cross the ocean of conditioned existence and arrive at the
43695 far shore--the heart essence.
43697 Please meditate in the forest from now on.
43699 -- Longchenpa, from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of
43700 the Vast Expanse", Compiled and edited by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, published
43701 by Shambhala Publications
43703 Compassion has no hierarchy of worthy and unworthy suffering; it makes no
43704 distinctions between the deserving and the undeserving. Wherever there is
43705 suffering, there is a need for compassion. Finding compassion for those who
43706 cause pain is an ongoing practice requiring remarkable patience and
43707 perseverance. It is a difficult journey, but the path of bitterness and
43708 division is far more painful. The path of compassion begins with your
43709 willingness to soften and stay present in all the moments when you are prone
43710 to recoil and flinch. You learn to open your eyes and heart in all the places
43711 you have been blinded by fear or rage. You begin to dismantle the boundaries
43712 that have too long divided you from others.
43713 -- "All the Rage--Buddhist Wisdom on Anger and Acceptance", Edited by Andrea
43714 Miller and the Editors of the Shambhala Sun, published by Shambhala
43717 Each and every being in this world, including animals and all other beings of
43718 the six realms, wants to be happy. Nobody wants to suffer. Even through we
43719 have no wisdom or clairvoyance, we can see that everyone in this world is
43720 afflicted with disturbing emotions and delusion based on their karma
\97not only
43721 we humans, but all beings in the six realms. Even a tiny little ant is
43722 constantly afflicted by the five poisons, and it
\92s impossible for such a being
43723 to generate bodhichitta, faith, devotion, or pure perception for an instant.
43724 It can
\92t even conceive of a path to liberation or ultimate happiness. Due to
43725 karma accumulated throughout beginningless lifetimes, all sentient beings
43726 experience various kinds of sorrow and happiness. Yet this isn
\92t just random,
43727 for all that we experience is the result of our past actions.
43728 ##--#Penor Rinpoche, from "An Ocean of Blessings: Heart Teachings of Drubwang
43729 Penor Rinpoche", translated by Ani Jinba Palmo, published by Shambhala
43732 Dreaming is a dynamic process. Unlike the static images of film that we
43733 use as a metaphor, the images of a dream are fluid: they move, beings talk,
43734 sounds vibrate, sensation is vivid. The content of dream is formed by the
43735 mind, but the basis of the vitality and animation of the dream is the prana.
43736 The literal translation of the Tibetan word for prana, lung, is "wind," but
43737 it is more descriptive to call it the vital wind force.
43738 Prana is the foundational energy of all experience, of all life.
43739 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and edited by Mark Dahlby, from "The Tibetan
43740 Yogas of Dream and Sleep", published by Shambhala Publications
43742 Do they know this kid likes his chemistry set a little too much?
43745 The Nine Expressions of Dance
43747 The upper part of one's body should have the demeanor of a lion.
43748 The waist should maintain the demeanor of elegance.
43749 The wrists and ankles should maintain a demeanor of dexterity.
43750 The thigh muscles should maintain a relaxed demeanor.
43751 The blood should maintain a fiery red demeanor.
43752 The countenance should maintain a handsome demeanor.
43753 The movements should maintain a slow demeanor.
43754 The knees should maintain a supple demeanor.
43755 The feet and head should maintain a demeanor of happiness.
43756 And overall [the dancer] should maintain a demeanor
43757 That is both heroic and magnificent.
43759 -- by Konchog Lhadrepa and Charlotte Davis, from "The Art of Awakening:
43760 A User's Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Art and Practice", published by
43761 Shambhala Publications
43765 Stop living a false and empty life.
43766 Drop those deceptions of your own mind
43767 And endless projects that you don't need!
43769 Don't make your head spin with the burden
43770 Of strings of ideas that never come true
43771 And endless distracting activities--
43772 They're just waves on water.
43775 -- Patrul Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Vagabond: The Life and Teachings of
43776 Patrul Rinpoche", By Matthieu Ricard, Edited by Constance Wilkinson,
43777 published by Shambhala Publications
43779 Like the vast expanse of the ocean, birthplaces of other beings are vast and
43780 multitudinous. Just as the yoke has only a single opening, human birth is
43781 small in extent and few in number. Just as the tortoise rises up only once
43782 every hundred years, so it is rare to accumulate the karma that results in
43783 human birth. Just as the tortoise is blind, so one's accumulated karma is
43784 feeble. Just as the yoke is tossed about in every direction by the wind, so
43785 there are many adverse forces obstructing the coincidence of conditions needed
43787 -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
43788 the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", translated by Lobsang Dagpa and
43789 Jay Goldberg, published by Shambhala Publications
43791 The actual nature of things is inconceivable and inexpressible. Yet, for
43792 those fortunate individuals who seek to penetrate the profound meaning of
43793 dharmata, I shall offer here a few words by way of illustration.
43794 What we call the essence of mind is the actual face of unconditioned pure
43795 awareness, recognized through receiving the guru's blessings and
43796 instructions. If you wonder what this is like, it is empty in its essence,
43797 beyond conceptual reference; it is cognizant by nature, spontaneously present;
43798 and it is all-pervasive and unobstructed in its compassionate energy. This is
43799 the pure awareness (rigpa) in which the three kayas are inseparable.
43800 -- from "Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rime, and the Path of
43801 Perfect Wisdom", translated by Adam Pearcey, published by Shambhala Publications
43803 Being attached to your ordinary dualistic considerations is a pitfall in your
43804 way of living. No matter what appears, by applying yourself without being at
43805 all distracted from the perspective and meditation, this unobstructed,
43806 powerful way of life will come about with the six senses naturally relaxed.
43807 Apply yourself without contradicting this.
43808 -- Longchenpa, from "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard
43809 Lipman and Merrill Peterson, published by Shambhala Publications
43812 Hear me, young and faithful girl!
43813 I, the Lotus-Born, will preach the Dharma in the land of ogres.
43814 My flawless adamantine form, surpassing change,
43815 Is not to be compared with that of beings racked by ills.
43816 The country of Tibet I filled with Dharma, within the earth and on it.
43817 If you are strong in practice and instruction,
43818 No shortage of the Dharma will there be.
43819 -- Yeshe Tsogyal, from "Lady of the Lotus-Born: The Life and Enlightenment
43820 of Yeshe Tsogyal", by Gyalwa Changchub and Namkhai Nyingpo, translated by
43821 Padmakara Translation Group, published by Shambhala Publications
43823 Ultimately, spiritual and worldly values are totally contradictory; this is
43824 something we simply have to accept. In the materialistic world, being "rich"
43825 means that you own plenty of property, run various businesses, and have a
43826 great deal of money; whereas the spiritual world defines being "rich" as
43827 perfect contentment. From a spiritual point of view, we are rich when we no
43828 longer torture our minds with thoughts about everything we lack.
43829 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Best Foot Forward: A Pilgrim's Guide
43830 to the Sacred Sites of the Buddha", published by Shambhala Publications
43832 The cultivation of Pure Awareness does not evolve in a straight line. It is
43833 not that we have a certain realization and then it is ours and we can hang on
43834 to it and in the next practice session begin from there and move on to the
43835 next higher realization. Every time we sit down to practice, it's a brand new
43836 situation, a new journey. "Back to square one," as Trungpa Rinpoche used to
43837 say. Back to Suzuki Roshi's "beginner's mind."
43838 -- Reginald A. Ray, from "The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation
43839 for Awakening the Sacred", published by Shambhala Publications
43841 When the seven consciousnesses melt
43842 Into the consciousness of the universal ground,
43843 And the universal ground is purified in the ultimate expanse,
43844 There occurs primordial coemergent wisdom,
43845 Empty, luminous, and self-arisen.
43846 This is what yogis must recognize.
43847 -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind: The Trilogy
43848 of Rest, Volume 1", translated by Padmakara Translation Group, published
43849 by Shambhala Publications
43851 The purpose of a knife is much like the purpose of the brain, and that is to
43852 stop being used. Just as the brain should do some computation and then desist
43853 from functioning for a while to rest and relax, so too should one stop using a
43854 knife as soon as the purpose for which the knife was picked up is achieved.
43855 If it seems like it's fun to play with a knife or if one feels that the knife
43856 is an extension of one's penis, then that is not a very good reason to pick up
43857 a knife; one should probably put the knife right back down in those degenerate
43858 (in the mathematical sense) cases. #WhatILearnedFromTheBoyScouts
43861 Full of trust you left home,
43862 and soon learned to walk the Path--
43863 making yourself a friend to everyone
43864 and making everyone a friend.
43866 When the whole world is your friend,
43867 fear will find no place to call home.
43869 And when you make the mind your friend,
43870 you'll know what trust
43875 I have followed this Path of friendship to its end.
43876 And I can say with absolute certainty--
43877 it will lead you home.
43879 -- from "The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns",
43882 If we are honest with ourselves, we know from our own experience that the more
43883 we try to find solutions to our problems through thinking about them, the more
43884 we start going around in circles, sometimes interminably. Buddhism counsels
43885 us to resist being abused by our conflicting emotions and to let go of
43886 excessive thinking. Emotions can be expressed in an unhealthy, self-
43887 destructive manner or in a healthy and constructive fashion. Similarly, we
43888 can think in a self-destructive, confused way, which reinforces our negative
43889 habits, or we can think in a constructive way. Buddhism emphasizes that
43890 overindulgence in conflicting emotions and distorted forms of thinking only
43891 reinforces our old habits, which solidifies our karmic tendencies even
43893 -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "Mind at Ease: Self-Liberation through Mahamudra
43894 Meditation", published by Shambhala Publications
43897 ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENSPEEPERS!
43898 DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN!
43899 ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN
43900 MIT SPITZENSPARKEN.
43901 IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN
43902 DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
43903 ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
43906 This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment.
43907 Fingergrabbing and pressing the cnoeppkes from the computers is allowed for
43909 So all the "lefthanders" stay away and do not disturben the brainstorming von
43910 here working intelligencies.
43911 Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked anderswhere!
43912 Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished the blinkenlights.
43914 Naval Lint! Belly up to the finest barnacle scrub on the market, and have
43915 your teams boat bright as a button!
43916 Only $9.99 a bottle, sold at all Ben Franklin Department Stores.
43917 -- fictional product developed due to misspelling of navel lint
43919 (a missing phone haiku)
43922 no friends, no spam, brain at peace
43923 must log back in now!
43927 Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the
43928 truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct,
43929 or for being years ahead of your time. If you're right and you know it,
43930 speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the
43931 truth is still the truth.
43934 The sky is pure, open space, free from all obstructions. The nature of
43935 our mind is similar: the afflictions, self-centered attitude, and other
43936 obscurations are not in its essential nature. Just as clouds may temporarily
43937 obscure the open sky, anger, attachment, and confusion can temporarily obscure
43938 our mind. When they do, the pure, open nature of the mind still remains; we
43939 just can't see it at the time.
43940 By generating the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, we
43941 will be able to eradicate obscurations from our mind forever and enjoy the
43942 sky-like spaciousness of a purified mind.
43943 -- Thubten Chodron, from "Awaken Every Day: 365 Buddhist Reflections to
43944 Invite Mindfulness and Joy", Shambhala Publications
43947 at interdimensional
43951 Love is about finding something pleasant in everyone. It can't be external
43952 appearance, or what the person is engaged in at the moment; it has to be just
43953 the fact that this is a sentient being who wants happiness and does not want
43954 suffering and who has been the best of friends at some time in the limitless
43955 past. A Tibetan definition of love is that the person pleasantly comes to
43956 mind (yid du 'ong ba). Rather than pushing people away, you experience a core
43957 similarity and closeness in them that makes you receptive to their basic
43958 being, regardless of the problem--regardless of how distorted their current
43959 attitudes and behavior are. That's how strong spiritual love is.
43960 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, from "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for
43961 Connecting with Others", Shambhala Publications
43963 this is not confirmed yet, but UVa is changing the name of its funding tokens.
43964 UVa is moving away from the PTAO payment codes (Project, Task, Award, and
43965 Organization) to a new acronym using "Cost center, Activity, Program, Spend
43966 category" or... CAPS!!!
43967 finally all my hard work in fallout new vegas will be paying off.
43969 Rob's Meeting Mantra:
43971 Is what I am thinking necessary to say?
43972 Is it necessary for this to be said by ME?
43973 Is it necessary for me to say this RIGHT NOW?
43977 fred's chow mantra:
43978 just eat when you're hungry,
43979 and be sure you're hungry and not just sating an appetite,
43980 because scheduled food times are irrelevant to your body,
43981 and can lead to overfeeding unless you're malnourished;
43982 so let the body decide when to eat,
43983 and use your brain to decide what you feed it.
43986 No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
43989 Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
43992 Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
43995 It is well for people who think,
43996 to change their minds occasionally
43997 in order to keep them clean.
44000 Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.
44001 -- Benjamin Lee Whorf
44003 Misery is almost always the result of thinking.
44006 Most of the mistakes in thinking
44007 are inadequacies of perception
44008 rather than mistakes of logic.
44011 Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
44012 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
44014 What we think, we become. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
44016 pseudo-code for our daily lives:
44019 if (not one_thing) then {
44025 U need 2 keep working on that shine,
44026 U can't lord it over others,
44027 U R your own completeness as they are theirs.
44030 and goddess said to me, she said like, "i am omni-sexual and pan-gender...
44031 bitches." i apologize for her language, but that's what she said.
44035 vape temperature mantra for cannabis
44036 (also a haiku if you don't pronounce the numbers...)
44038 things are tastiest,
44039 celsius degrees ranging 164 -> 228,
44042 get lightly toasted 164+,
44043 proceed on to half baked at 180+,
44044 way fully baked at 200+.
44046 dude, know when it's cooked,
44047 never go over 230 ever,
44048 we vape you long time.
44051 I found I was able to get a lot of tension off my shoulders by almost
44052 "outing" myself in the press in that way, in very early circumstances. So
44053 I wasn't going to get people crawling out the woodwork saying [seedy, muck-
44054 raking voice]: "I'll tell you something about David Bowie that you don't
44055 know..." I wasn't going to have any of that. I knew that at some point I
44056 was going to have to say something about my life. And, again, Ziggy enabled
44057 me to make things more comfortable for myself. There was an excitement that
44058 the age of exploration was really finally here. Which is what I was going
44059 through. It perfectly mirrored my lifestyle at the time. It was exactly what
44060 was happening to me. There was nothing that I wasn't willing to try, to
44061 explore and see if it was really part of my psyche or my nature. I was
44062 terribly exploratory in every way, not just culturally but sexually and...
44063 God, there was nothing I would leave alone. Like a--it's a terrible pun,
44064 but--like a dog with a bone, I suppose! So I buried it!
44065 The quote has taken on far more in retrospect than actually it was at the
44066 time. I'm quite proud that I did it. On the other hand I didn't want to
44067 carry a banner for any group of people, and I was as worried about that as
44068 the aftermath. Being approached by organisations. I didn't want that. I
44069 didn't feel like part of a group. I didn't like that aspect of it: this is
44070 going to start overshadowing my writing and everything else that I do.
44072 -- David Bowie, in Mojo, July 2002
44074 I am King Gesar of Ling,
44075 not so long ago named king
44076 and principal ruler of the six provinces of Ling,
44077 mandated by the gods to be the destined leader
44078 and the one to quell the demons of the dark side.
44079 Since I am the one entrusted with this aspiration,
44080 my deeds and actions must follow.
44081 -- from "The Taming of the Demons: From the Epic of Gesar of Ling",
44082 translated by Jane Hawes, David Shapiro, and Lama Chönam, published
44083 by Shambhala Publications
44085 One of the stories that drew me to Zen was about how one of our Zen
44086 ancestors responded to both insult and praise. In this story, Hakuin Zenji
44087 was falsely accused of impregnating a young girl who lived in the village near
44088 his hermitage. When her parents and the villagers came to accuse him, he said
44089 merely, "Is that so?"
44090 When the baby was born, Hakuin received the infant and cared for the child
44091 with the help of a wet nurse. Sometime later, the girl confessed to her
44092 parents that a village boy was the father of her child. Those who had accused
44093 him earlier came then to reclaim the child and to praise Hakuin.
44094 In response to their praise, he simply said, again, "Is that so?"
44095 -- Reb Anderson, from "Entering the Mind of Buddha: Zen and the Six Heroic
44096 Practices of Bodhisattvas", published by Shambhala Publications
44098 One day in a lecture Suzuki Roshi said, "When you see one leaf falling, you
44099 may say, Oh, autumn is here! One leaf is not just one leaf; it means the
44100 whole autumn. Here you already understand the all-pervading power of your
44101 practice. Your practice covers everything."
44102 -- Shunryu Suzuki, from "Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes
44103 of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", published by
44104 Shambhala Publications
44106 Compared with the force of the all-powerful weapons that exist today, we are
44107 nothing, even less than ants. And yet those weapons were not made by demons
44108 or aliens from another planet. They were made by humans just like me and
44109 you... If we ever press the red button, others will do the same. If we bomb
44110 them, bombs will rain on us. That's cause and effect, and it will just go
44111 on and on. So what can we do? Only one thing can help us: loving-kindness.
44112 Loving-kindness is the very foundation of a civilized world.
44113 -- Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, from "Sadness, Love, Openness: The Buddhist Path
44114 of Joy", published by Shambhala Publications
44116 may lies taste like the spawn of ash in my mouth,
44117 may untruths burn themselves away in the mist,
44118 all fabrications will shatter and ooze away,
44119 that the manifest truths may shine free.
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