"Sir, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
-- Lady Nancy Astor speaking to Winston Churchill
"Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."
- -- Churchill's reply
+ -- Winston Churchill's reply
~
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.
-- David Daye
-- Umberto Eco
~
The subjects that were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I
-fancied least... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
+fancied least. ... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed
my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had
-only one result: I did not too well in examinations.
+only one result: I did not do well at examinations...
-- Winston Churchill
~
One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to
since it has always been and always will be.
-- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Heart of Meditation", translated and
edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications
-
+~
When phenomena are indeed seen to be devoid of true existence, great
compassion will well up effortlessly, a compassion that will never abandon
living beings who circle in samsara through their clinging to true existence.
For as it has been taught, it is in the nature of things that such an attitude
is born.
-
-##--# from "The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham’s Commentary on the Ninth
-Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva", published by Shambhala Publications
-
-
+ -- from "The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham’s Commentary on the Ninth
+ Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+When resting evenly in meditation with the points of body,
+If appearances cease and you are without thoughts,
+These are the doings of a lethargic shamatha.
+But when you rouse yourself with mindfulness,
+It’s like a candle, self-luminous and shining bright,
+Or like a flower that’s naturally vivid and clear.
+Like looking with your eyes at the glow of the sky,
+Awareness-emptiness is naked, open, and clear.
+
+That nonconceptuality that’s luminous and clear
+Is the arising of the shamatha experience.
+On the basis of that meditative experience,
+While supplicating the precious jewels,
+Gain certainty by studying and contemplating the dharma.
+Take the vipashyana that brings the understanding of no self
+And tie the sturdy rope of shamatha to that.
+Then that strong noble being with love and compassion
+Through the mighty strength of rousing bodhichitta to benefit others,
+Having been lifted up with a pure aspiration
+To the completely pure path of seeing,
+There, vipashyana directly realizes the purity that cannot be seen
+And then the faults of mind’s hopes and fears will be known.
+Without going anywhere, you’ll arrive at the Buddha’s ground.
+Without looking at anything, you’ll see dharmakaya.
+Without achieving anything, your aim will be spontaneously accomplished.
+ -- from "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa", By Tsangnyon Heruka,
+ Translated by Christopher Stagg, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Trying to find the pain in life is the renunciation of hinayana. Trying to
+find the ambition in life, trying to reach higher goals, is the
+bodhisattva’s ambition in the mahayana. Trying to find the subtleties of
+life is the tantric discovery of mystical experience in the vajrayana.
+ -- Milarepa, from "Milarepa: Lessons from the Life and Songs of Tibet’s
+ Great Yogi", by Chögyam Trungpa, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The root of our current unsatisfactory condition in a cycle of death and
+rebirth is our innate tendency to view the personal self in a reified manner
+(LRCM: 574). We also have innate tendencies to view all other phenomena in a
+reified manner. To achieve wisdom, or to know emptiness, means to overcome
+this reifying view, to realize that the self or essential being as thus
+conceived does not exist at all. In order reach this realization, according
+to Tsong kha pa, one must use reason to refute the existence, and to prove the
+nonexistence, of this reified self or essence. Having intellectually arrived
+at the correct philosophical view—that the self lacks a shred of intrinsic
+nature—one proceeds along the path to spiritual liberation through intense,
+deep, and extensive meditative familiarization with this view. At the same
+time, however, the practitioner also cultivates compassionate engagement with
+other living beings, making a commitment to help all of them reach perfect
+happiness.
+ -- from "Ask a Farmer: Ultimate Analysis and Conventional Existence in
+ Tsong kha pa’s Lam rim chen mo", by Guy Newland from Changing Minds:
+ Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, edited by Guy Newland, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+inexplicably ted was awoken,
+incredibly loud noise of the broken,
+his cat invaded the stash,
+seeking out some tasty hash,
+sis boom *bong* goes crash--ted won't be tokin'.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+shania the stony gal really dug her twerkin',
+slingin' her booty all around was really workin',
+but the other dancers looked askance,
+and asked "can this chick actually dance?",
+shania wasn't so much dancin' as berzerkin'!
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ All art is composed of subtle and gross elements. There is no way for
+artists to express without elements. When people use expressions such as hot-
+headed, cold-hearted, dry-humored, or all wet, it shows that they naturally
+connect subtle element temperaments with gross element expressions. But
+artists must go beyond outwardly expressing the elements in an obvious way in
+order to gain experience with the inner subtle elements, which are the source
+of the outer gross elements. Then they can make art which reflects what
+people need.
+ According to the Buddhist point of view, an artist’s intention is
+compassion. Buddhist artists create in order to make a link with other beings
+through their inner pure elements, and to transform their outer ordinary gross
+elements into enlightenment by means of that connection.
+ -- Thinley Norbu, from "Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the
+ Five Wisdom Dakinis", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Never admit defeat. Just move the front.
+ -- fred t. hamster
projects / feisty_meow.git / blobdiff