"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
+~
+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