Powerful Quotes
DALAI LAMA DAILY QUOTE–”WORDS OF TRUTH”:
Mao’s Red Army first marched into Tibet in 1949. In 1959, they shelled the Dalai Lama’s Summer Palace in an attempt to kill him, forcing him to flee that night, disguised as a soldier, over five extraordinarily cold and treacherous Himalayan mountain ranges, into exile in India.
To demonstrate… how long China’s atheistic Red Communists have been attempting cultural genocide of Tibetans and their Buddhist religion, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama wrote this prayer, “Words of Truth,” on Sept. 29th, 1960, at age 25. He’ll be 76 this coming July 6th–the day He leads the 11-day “Kalachakra For World Peace” in Washington, D.C. (By contrast, H.H. the 17th Karmapa is now 26.)
“WORDS OF TRUTH”
Honoring and Invoking the Great Compassion
of the Three Jewels–the Buddha, the Teachings,
and the Spiritual Community:
O Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and disciples
Of the past, present, and future,
Having remarkable qualities
Immeasurably vast as the ocean,
Who regard all helpless sentient beings
As your only child,
Please consider the truth of my anguished pleas.
Buddha’s full teachings dispel the pain of worldly
Existence and self-oriented peace;
May they flourish, spreading prosperity and happiness
Throughout this spacious world.
O holders of the Dharma–scholars
And realized practitioners–
May your ten-fold virtuous practice prevail.
Humble sentient beings, tormented
By sufferings without cease,
Completely suppressed by seemingly endless
And terribly intense, negative deeds,
May all their fears from unbearable war,
Famine and disease be pacified to freely
Breathe an ocean of happiness and well-being.
And, particularly the pious people of the
Land of Snows who, through various means,
Are mercilessly destroyed by barbaric hordes
On the side of darkness,
Kindly let the power of your compassion arise
To quickly stem the flow of blood and tears.
Those unrelentingly cruel ones,
Objects of compassion,
Maddened by delusion’s evils,
Wantonly destroy themselves and others.
May they achieve the eye of wisdom,
knowing what must be done and undone,
And abide in the glory of friendship and love.
May this heartfelt wish of total freedom for all Tibet,
Which has been awaited for a long time,
be spontaneously fulfilled.
Please grant soon the good fortune to enjoy
The happy celebration of spiritual with temporal rule.
O protector Chenrezig, compassionately care for
Those who have undergone myriad hardships,
Completely sacrificing their most cherished lives,
bodies, and wealth, for the sake of the
Teachings, practitioners, people and nation.
Thus, the protector Chenrezig made vast prayers
Before the Buddhas and Bodhisativas to fully
Embrace the Land of Snows.
May the good results of these
Prayers now quickly appear.
By the profound interdependence
Of emptiness and relative forms,
Together with the force of great compassion
in the Three Jewels and their Words of Truth,
And through the power of the infallible law
Of actions and their fruits,
May this truthful prayer be unhindered
And quickly fulfilled.
Having been vegetarian/vegan since 1968, I’ve probably heard just about every rationalization attempt extant for continuing to eat our sisters and brothers in the animal realm. However, those who’ve not read Gautama Buddha’s teachings on me…at-eating might be surprised to learn He left no wiggle room in stating:
“If one is trying to practice dhyana (spiritual meditation) and is still eating meat, he would be like a man closing his ears and shouting loudly, and then asserting that he heard nothing. . . . How can a bhikshu (student of spirituality) who hopes to become a deliverer of others, himself be living on the flesh of other sentient beings? . . .S/he who causes suffering shall suffer; there is no escape. “
“To avoid causing terror to living beings, let the disciple refrain from eating meat. . . .The food of the wise is that which is consumed by the sadhus (holy men); it does not consist of meat. . . .There may be some foolish people in the future who will say that I permitted meat-eating, and that I partook of meat myself, but. . .meat-eating I have not permitted to anyone, I do not permit, and I will not permit meat-eating in any form, in any manner, or in any place; it is unconditionally prohibited for all.”–Gautama Buddha, 5th Century, B.C. (“Dhammapada”)
Likewise, after years of requesting of my friend and teacher since 1982 that he speak out decisively to Buddhists about meat-eating, the Dalai Lama stated. . .again, without wiggle room:
“I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet, when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat.”
Personally, I’ve just recently joined this unparalleled, global, social-networking experiment called Facebook, but like you, Rinpoche, I’ve already enjoyed spreading compassion into others’ hearts, and I’m delighted to see you speaking out in behalf of those who can’t.
Finally, anyone interested in more compassionate wisdom on this subject may wish to visit my ‘Dennis Paulson’ FB Page, where every day you’ll find a different COMPASSION FOR ANIMALS quotation from celebrated ones among our sisters and brothers, speaking from their heart just as Rinpoche did here. Big Love and Peace of mind; your friend and theirs,Dennis
(Dennis Paulson left a message on my Facebook post. I found it quite powerful. I have reproduced here for everyone to read. Anyways, many ppl can read on the comments of the post, but that will get pushed down eventually…so it’s here now to stay and to share continuously. I will have more quotes extracted from his wonderful FB page as he recommended to share with all of you on this post. So this post will continue to grow…must check back to it from time to time…please share these quotes wherever you can…help the animals please… Tsem Rinpoche)
BUDDHA ON IMPURITIES: "By degrees, little by little, from time to time, a wise person should remove her or his own impurities, as a metalsmith removes the dross of silver." - --Gautama Buddha ("The Dhammapada") 12 March 2012 at 03:51
ZOPA RINPOCHE ON HAPPINESS: "The sun of real happiness shines in your life when you start to cherish others." - --Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1946- ), principal disciple of Tibet's Great Bodhisattva Lama Thubten Yeshe, whose vision--the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT)--Zopa Rinpoche has brilliantly midwifed, nurtured and expanded as Spiritual Director of what's grown to 161 centers, projects and services in 41 countries, worldwide, since Lama's passing in 1984 (far too early to a congenital heart problem at age 49 in Los Angeles--the most dynamic center of the Land of the Red Men, to which, Padmasambhava prophesied in the 8th Century, the Dharma would move to)
Rinpoche, whose name Zopa means Patience, just as Yeshe means Wisdom, is already 65, practicing the paramita of patience while the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe--Osel Rinpoche--experiences Western cultures from behind a camera's lens, following his current passions of filmmaking and music. Both Zopa Rinpoche and Osel Rinpoche understand Lama Yeshe's brilliant vision in their bones, just as Lama envisioned it:
"The once-bright fire of ancient wisdom, with its profound psychological explanation of the mind, is now only a faint glimmer. If it is not to be extinguished entirely, the unbroken Tibetan tradition of scripture and insight must be transmitted to the Western consciousness, where it may be preserved as a living force in human culture."
12 March 2012 at 03:07
GESHE LODRO ON PURIFICATION: "There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The main of these are the three poisons--desire, hatred, and obscuration.
"Even though we have these at all times, and even though the meditator will still retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning, at that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
"In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a religious practitioner of middling capacity–that of only oneself escaping from cyclic existence--this is also impure.
"What is a pure motivation? To take as one’s aim the welfare of all sentient beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity. Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath, should expel all bad motivation.
"When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia. There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is as just indicated." - --Geshe Gedün Lodrö (1924-1979) entered Drepung Monastic University near Lhasa at the age of nine, as a novice monk. While in exile in India, he gained the degree of Geshe in 1961, as the first among three scholars who were awarded the number one ranking in the highest class. A scholar of prodigious intellect, he was famous for his wide learning and ability in debate. In 1967, the Dalai Lama sent him to teach at the University of Hamburg, where he learned to speak Greman fluently and become a tenured member of the faculty. In 1979, he served as Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. His books include "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual Transformation Through Meditation" and "Walking Through Walls: A Presentation of Tibetan Meditation."
12 March 2012 at 02:52
NAGARJUNA--EMULATE REALIZED BEINGS: --From "Nagarjuna's Letter To A Friend," Verse 116, p. 150: "Even those who realized the truth did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge like crops of corn from Earth's dark depths, but once were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary beings. Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime being, right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they emerge from the darkness of the Earth like a crop. In the past, they were subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']; they were ordinary people dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are, therefore, worth following as an example for accomplishing the path." - --Pandit Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE), the Indian philosopher who founded the Madhyamaka (Middle Path) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism (Greater Vehicle, for the path to enlightenment), arguably the most influential Indian Buddhist thinker after Gautama Buddha himself. One of the eight vidyadharas--receiver of the tantras of Lotus Speech such as 'Supreme Steed Display'--he's said to have taken birth in the southern part of India about 400 years after Buddha's parinirvana.
Having received ordination at Nalanda Monastery, he later acted as preceptor for the monks. He knew alchemy, lived for 600 years, and transformed ordinary materials into gold, in order to sustain the sangha. At Bodhgaya [where Gautama achieved the Awakened State under that now-famous tree], Nagarjuna erected pillars and stone walls to protect the Bodhi Tree, and constructed 108 stupas.
From the realm of the nagas, he brought back the extensive Prajnaparamita scriptures. He was the life pillar, but specifically, he was a major exponent of the unexcelled vehicle of Vajrayana. Having attained the realization of Hayagriva, he transmitted the lineage to Padmasambhava.
09 March 2012 at 14:20
PROF. WILLIS ON BUDDHISM: "Buddhism is a come-and-see model. Meditation is the path. You don't have to accept dogma. You have to spend time on the cushion. Buddhism has helped me, in real ways, to find what I was looking for as a young person in a world that was violent. It showed me how to locate deep wounds that racism caused in my early life, and having found them, how to heal them." - Jan Willis (1948- ), whose B.A. and M.A. are in Philosophy from Cornell, holds a Ph.D. from Columbia in Indic & Buddhist Studies, and is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University. Calling herself a "Baptist-Buddhist," just as I'm a "Christian-Buddhist," we both share the same precious root Tibetan teacher, Lama Thubten Yeshe. One of the earliest American scholar-practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, Jan has published a number of books, articles and essays on various topics in Buddhism, including Buddhist meditation, women and Buddhism, and Buddhism and race.
Her books include: "Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist--One Woman’s Spiritual Journey" (Wisdom Publications); "The Diamond Light: An Introduction To Tibetan Buddhist Meditation"; "On Knowing Reality: The Tattvartha Chapter of Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi"; "Enlightened Beings: Life Stories From the Ganden Oral Tradition," and one she edited, "Feminine Ground: Essays On Women and Tibet."
As she wrote in "Dreaming Me": "If I have learned anything about myself, thus far, it is that in my deepest core, I am a human being, graced by the eternal truths espoused both by Baptists and Buddhists. And, more than that, I am aware that it is not any particular appellation that matters, for ultimately, what I have come to know is that life—precious life—is not a destination; life is the journey."
She's studied with Tibetan Buddhists for four decades in India, Nepal, Switzerland and the U.S., and has taught courses in Buddhism for 35 years. In Dec., 2000, "TIME" magazine named Willis one of six “spiritual innovators for the new millennium.” In 2003, she received Wesleyan University’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2005, was profiled in a "Newsweek" article about “Spirituality In America.”
Willis grew up in Docena, Alabama (U.S.), a small mining town just outside of Birmingham, which she described as the most segregated city in America at the time. Her father, a steelworker, was deacon at a Baptist church the family attended. “Racism was palpable” during her childhood, she said, and hate crimes against blacks--including children--were common. Willis experienced this firsthand when a burning cross was planted on the lawn of her family’s home.
09 March 2012 at 14:14
GYAMTSO RINPOCHE ON EMPTINESS: Speaking on the progressive states of meditation on Emptiness, Rinpoche taught the following on the vehicle of the hearers--view and meditation:
VIEW: Because fixation on a self is the root of samsara, as well as the root of karma and mental afflictions, and since fixation on a self is the root of all suffering, its opposite--selflessness--must be ascertained. Because the observed objects of self-fixation are devoid of inherent nature; because the mind of self-fixation, as well, is devoid of inherent nature, and because the self of past and future lives is like a water-moon, certainty in selflessness--the true nature--must be stabilized.
MEDITATION: When, in that way, you discover certainty in selflessness, within that certainty, relax and rest. When the apprehension of nonexistence arises clearly, rest free of apprehending existence or nonexistence." - Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche (1934- ) is an accomplished yogi and scholar in the Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist tradition, who teaches primarily through dohas, or 'songs of realization'--much like the great master Jetsun Milarepa. Rinpoche is known for his joyful songs of realization, and his spontaneous and skillful teaching style.
After completing his early monastic training, Rinpoche embraced the life of a yogi-ascetic, wandering for years throughout eastern and central Tibet, undertaking solitary retreats in caves and charnel grounds to realize, directly, the teachings he had received.
While in such a retreat in 1959, a group of 21 nuns asked Rinpoche for protection from the Communist Chinese invaders. When they told him H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama and H. H. the 16th Karmapa had already fled Tibet, Rinpoche replied: "Then, we are going, too!” He led the nuns and other refugees over the Himalayas to safety in Bhutan.
Rinpoche spent the next nine years at a scholastic monastery for Tibetan refugees in Buxa Duar, India. There, he mastered the teachings of all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism; became renowned as a teacher of texts and meditation, and received a Geshe Lharampa degree from the 14th Dalai Lama.
Rinpoche was awarded his Khenpo degree under the 16th Karmapa, and from 1968 to 1977, served as principal teacher at Rumtek Monastery in Gangtok, Sikkim--the seat of the Karmapa and Kagyu Tibetan Buddhism-in-exile. He is also a teacher of H. H. the 17th Karmapa and other high-ranking lamas of the Kagyu lineage.
At the request of the 16th Karmapa in 1977, Rinpoche began teaching Dharma and classical Tibetan Dharma language abroad. For 30 years, he traveled and taught extensively in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Rinpoche was a pioneer in giving careful, long-term training to Buddhist translators.
During this time, he also spent several months a year training a new generation of Kagyu Khenpos at the Karmapa’s Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India. Thus, people all over the world appreciate him for his willingness to share the most profound teachings of Buddhism with lamas and laypeople, women and men, and practitioners old and new, alike.
Rinpoche is particularly committed to providing nuns with the same opportunities for study and practice that monks traditionally have. To that end, he established one nunnery in Nepal and another in Bhutan. The women at these nunneries study and practice the profound view and meditation, and sing and dance to the profound songs of realization.
For the years Rinpoche spent teaching worldwide, when asked, “Where do you live?” he usually replied, “On the planet Earth.” At this time in his life, however, Rinpoche has retired from traveling and teaching publicly, and spends his time between his nunneries in Bhutan and Nepal.
His books include: "Stars of Wisdom: Analytical Meditation, Songs of Yogic Joy, and Prayers of Aspiration"; "The Sun of Wisdom: Teachings On the Noble Nagarjuna’s Fundamental Wisdom Of the Middle Way"; "Progressive Stages Of Meditation On Emptiness"; "Beautiful Song of Marpa the Translator"; "Maitreya’s Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being"; "The Two Truths," and "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra With Commentary."
For example, in his book, "Stars of Wisdom," he explains how to gain clarity, peace and wisdom through step-by-step analysis and meditation on the true nature of reality. He also introduces readers to the joy and profundity of yogic song, and reveals the power of aspiration prayers to inspire, transform, and brighten our hearts.
09 March 2012 at 13:42
BUDDHA ON GOOD VS. EVIL: "Whosoever, by a good deed, covers the evil done, such a one illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds." - --Gautama Buddha ("The Dhammapada") 07 March 2012 at 10:21
FATHER MERTON ON MORAL EVIL: "The moral evil in the world is due to man’s alienation from the deepest truth, from the springs of spiritual life within himself. There are crimes that no one would commit as an individual, which he willingly and bravely commits when acting in the name of his society, because he has been convinced that evil is entirely different when it is done 'for the common good.' As an example, one might point to the way in which racial hatreds and even persecution are admitted by people who consider themselves, and perhaps in some sense are, kind, tolerant, civilized and even humane. But, they have acquired a special deformity of conscience, as a result of their identification with their group, their immersion in their particular society." 07 March 2012 at 10:16
BUDDHA ON FREEDOM: "On life's journey, faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day, and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If one lives a pure life, nothing can destroy her or him. If one has conquered greed, nothing can limit his or her freedom." - --Buddha (from the "Dhammapada") 04 March 2012 at 17:45
DALAI LAMA ON DHARMA PROGRESS: "What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror, before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think back to a year ago, and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech and mind at that time, with their present condition. If we practice well, then the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.
"The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning, before adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to become real.
"The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents. When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to fade away and disappear.
"Ignorance and the 'I'-grasping syndrome have been with us since beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger, jealousy, and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a room.
"When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim topics." - --H.H. the Dalai Lama from his book, "The Path to Enlightenment," p. 176
04 March 2012 at 13:25
ADVICE FROM A SPIRITUAL FRIEND: "Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Life is our greatest possession, and love its greatest affirmation." - --Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D. (1924-1998) --the late author and motivational speaker, also known as "Dr. Love" 02 March 2012 at 13:28
GESHE LODRO ON CALM ABIDING: from his book, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual Transformation Through Meditation," translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications."We are beings of the Desire Realm and, thus, our minds are also included within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves great compassion.
"At that point, the mental basis--one's own mind--has become of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one's object and developing compassion for them, such that the mind comes to be of the nature of great compassion.
"The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm abiding*, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path. The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether, when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that path.
"It is important to understand this question, because that is, in fact, what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the nature of calm abiding." - --Geshe Gedün Lodrö (1924-1979) entered Drepung Monastic University near Lhasa at the age of nine as a novice monk. He gained the degree of Geshe in 1961, while in exile in India, as the first among three scholars who were awarded the number one ranking in the highest class. A scholar of prodigious intellect, he was famous for his wide learning and ability in debate. In 1967, the Dalai Lama sent him to teach at the University of Hamburg, where he learned to speak German fluently and become a tenured member of the faculty. In 1979, he served as Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. He also wrote "Walking Through Walls: A Presentation of Tibetan Meditation."
02 March 2012 at 11:03
LAMA YESHE ON MIND'S POTENTIAL: "Our problem is that inside us, there's a mind going, 'Impossible, impossible, impossible. I can't, I can't, I can't.' We have to banish that mind from this solar system. Anything is possible; everything is possible. Sometimes, you feel that your dreams are impossible, but they're not. Human beings have great potential; they can do anything. The power of the mind is incredible, limitless." - --Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984) was born in Tibet and educated at Sera Monastic University. He fled the Chinese oppression in 1959 and with his chief disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, began teaching Buddhism to Westerners at their Kopan Monastery outside Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1975, they founded an international Buddhist organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), which now has more than 161 centers, projects and services in 41 countries, worldwide. 02 March 2012 at 06:20
DALAI LAMA ON ALTRUISM: "In the practice of altruism, the most efficacious way to help others is through 'teaching' what should be adopted in practice, and what should be discarded from current behavior." 01 March 2012 at 13:05
HIPPOCRATES ON HEALTH: "If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise--not too little and not too much--we would have found the safest way to health. Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease." - --Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.), Greek physician considered one of three Fathers of Western Medicine 01 March 2012 at 12:56
DALAI LAMA ON NONATTACHMENT: "One day old and dear friends will separate, goods and riches obtained by great effort will be left behind. Consciousness, a guest of the body, this temporary dwelling, will depart. From this moment on, to renounce all attachments to this life is a practice of the bodhisattva." - --H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama 29 February 2012 at 11:31
SYLVIA BOORSTEIN ON LOVING KINDNESS: "Becoming aware of fragility, of temporality, of the fact that we will surely all be lost to one another, sooner or later, mandates a clear imperative to be totally kind and loving to each other, always.” - --Sylvia Boorstein, from her book, "It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness," p. 119 29 February 2012 at 11:24
MERYL STREEP DONATES $1 MILLION 'IRON LADY' SALARY: Meryl, pictured here made up as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," won the third Academy Award of her career Sunday for that role. This was Streep’s 17th nomination. She was given a standing ovation by the crowd, and pleaded with them to stop cheering and sit down the second she got to the microphone, joking: “When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, ‘Oh no! Oh come on, why her? Again!’”
More importantly, however, earlier this year, she gave away the $1 million salary she earned in "The Iron Lady" to the National Women's History Museum, explaining that the museum is raising funds to build a new home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. She recently shared what inspired her with the "Los Angeles Times":
"History, until the 20th Century, was written by one member of the human family, and it wasn't the mother; it was dad. That's who wrote history, and what was important? Movements of armies, sovereignty of nations, all sorts of things. But, women were there all along, and they have incredible stories that we don't know anything about.
"It would be a beacon to women all over the world, because there really is no such museum. There are cottage museums--there's a quilt museum, there's a cowgirl museum--but there are so many great stories. Every child knows the name of our first traitor, Benedict Arnold, but nobody knows the name of the first female soldier to take a bullet for the U.S., who enlisted under her dead brother's name. Nobody knows Deborah Sampson's name. That's a great story.
"Or, Elizabeth Freeman, who was the first slave to sue for her own freedom, and won! Every boy and girl should know these stories. I hope we get it done." She admits she owes it to the memory of her grandmother to help get this project off the ground: "My grandmother had three children in school, and she would have to go to the golf course and get my grandfather off the ninth tee to make him go to the school board election, 'cause she was not allowed to vote. She's so vivid in my life."
29 February 2012 at 08:58
DALAI LAMA ON A HEALTHY MIND: "If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue." 27 February 2012 at 17:10
GLENN MULLIN ON TIBET'S CONTRIBUTION TO WEST: From "A Biographical Sketch of the Fourteen Dalai Lamas," by Glenn H. Mullin, a Tibetologist, Buddhist writer, translator of classical Tibetan literature, and teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation: "The Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950's, and the mass exodus of the Tibetan refugees that followed, although a terrible human tragedy, has had the effect of making the Dalai Lama and the high Tibetan Lamas accessible to the Western world for the first time.
"The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has now made numerous teaching tours of the West. The depth of his learning, wisdom and profound insight into the nature of human existence have won him hundreds of thousands of friends around the world. His humor, warmth and compassionate energy stand as living evidence of the strength and efficacy of Tibetan Buddhism, and of its value to human society.
"The concept of the 'tul-ku,' or Incarnate Lama, was an integral aspect of Tibetan culture. The Dalai Lama was but one of the approximately one-thousand such 'tul-ku' incarnates, but he was somehow special amongst them, a king of 'tul-kus,' above and beyond the perimeters of this or that sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
"The temporal ruler over all of Tibet, he was, in addition, the spiritual leader not only of Tibet, but of all those lands where Tibetan Buddhism predominates, such as Mongolia, Western China, Northern India, and so forth. His devotees were not limited to the six-million Tibetans, but to the tens of millions of Buddhists who inhabit these vast lands--a territory larger than the entirety of Europe. Now that Tibet no longer exists as an independent nation, his secular position has diminished somewhat , but his spiritual influence has only grown."
"Moreover, the respect of the international community for the Tibetan Lamas and Tibetan Buddhism has tremendously increased. The destruction of Tibet and its future resurrection were prophesied by the 8th-Century Indian sage Padma Sambhava, who also prophesied: 'When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Dharma will be carried to the land of the Red Man.'
"Perhaps the suffering of Tibet and the amazing dignity of the Tibetans in the face of it was the necessary catalyst to bring the wealth of Tibetan culture to the world's attention. When asked about the above prophecy, His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV answered: 'Prophecy or no prophecy, the Western world is showing strong interest in Buddhism.
"More and more universities are offering Buddhist studies, and hundreds of Buddhist meditation centers have appeared around the world. I, myself, firmly believe that Buddhism is the property of humankind, not of any particular people or nation. It has a lot to offer to humankind, in terms of understanding and developing the mind. Through understanding the mind and increasing its creative qualities, we increase human peace and happiness.'
"If we Tibetans can contribute to this in any way, we are most pleased to be able to do so. There are many elements in Buddhism that could benefit the world, many methods for cultivating higher love, compassion and wisdom. Everyone benefits by increasing these qualities, but people do not have to become Buddhists, in the formal sense, in order to use the Buddhist techniques.
"The purpose of the teachings is only to benefit living beings. The world is deeply in need of peace, love and understanding. If Buddhism can make a contribution to this end, we would be happy to do so. We are all on this planet together. We are all brothers and sisters with the same physical and mental faculties, the same problems, and the same needs.
"We must all contribute to the fulfillment of the human potential, and the improvement of the quality of life, as much as we are able. Humankind is crying out for help. Ours is a desperate time. Those who have something to offer should come forward. Now is the time." (From "A Life of Wisdom: Essential Writings By and About the Dalai Lama," edited by Clint Willis, pp. 338-340.) - Glenn H. Mullin (1949- ) is a Canadian Tibetologist, Buddhist writer, translator of classical Tibetan literature, and teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation. He divides his time between writing, teaching, meditating, and leading tour groups to the power places of Nepal and Tibet.
Glenn lived in the Indian Himalayas between 1972 and 1984, where he studied philosophy, literature, meditation, yoga, and the enlightenment culture under 35 of the greatest living masters of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His two principal tantric gurus were the late, great masters Kyabje Ling Dorjechang and Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang, who were best known as Yongdzin Che Chung, the two main gurus of the present Dalai Lama.
The list of Glenn's other teachers and initiation masters includes the Dalai Lama, Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Ngakpa Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Khenchen Konchok Gyaltsen, Geshe Ngawang Dargyey, Geshe Rabten, and Gongsar Tulku.
Glenn has worked as author, editor, and translator on nearly 25 books on Tibetan Buddhism, many of which focus on the lives and works of the early Dalai Lamas. A sampling of his titles include Tsongkhapa's "Six Yogas of Naropa"; "The Practice of Kalachakra"; "The Fourteen Dalai Lamas"; "The Flying Mystics of Tibetan Buddhism"; "The Female Buddhas," and "The Dalai Lamas On Tantra." He has also worked as a field specialist on three Tibet-related films and five television documentaries; has co-produced five audio recordings of Tibetan sacred music, and served as tour guide on the DVD "The Sacred Sites of the Dalai Lamas."
27 February 2012 at 16:18
DALAI LAMA ON UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY: "I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace."
26 February 2012 at 11:08
MARIE CURIE ON UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY:"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." - --Marie Curie (1867-1934), a Polish-born French physicist famous for her work on radioactivity. Curie's efforts with her husband, Pierre Curie, led to the discovery of polonium and radium and, after Pierre's death, the development of X-rays. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and is the only woman to win the award in two different fields.
26 February 2012 at 11:05
PAUL HAWKEN ON UNIVERSAL RESPONSIBILITY:"Instead of trying to be responsible for all the problems in the world, we should take on what we love and care about. Then, we honor both our inner world and the outer world at the same time. There’s no separation between the two, and there is no hesitation, no self-doubt. This will help us develop great faith that others are taking care of their piece. People who don’t know the details about climate change may care deeply about the forests, the animals, and the children. It is very important that we share, not only our merit, but also the responsibilities. Somehow, we have to relieve ourselves of the enormity, which is so debilitating." - --Paul Hawken (1946- ), environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author of seven books, including four national bestsellers: "The Next Economy" (1983), "Growing A Business" (1987), "The Ecology of Commerce" (1993) and "Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement In the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming" (2007)--this leading environmentalist and social activist's examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change. His books have been published in over 50 countries, in 27 languages.
His work includes starting ecological businesses, writing about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with heads of state and CEOs on economic development, industrial ecology, and environmental policy. "Growing A Business" became the basis of a 17-part PBS series which Hawken hosted and produced. The program, which explored the challenges and pitfalls of starting and operating socially-responsive companies, was shown on television in 115 countries and watched by over 100 million people.
He has served on the board of many environmental organizations including Point Foundation (publisher of the "Whole Earth Catalogs"), Center for Plant Conservation, Conservation International, Trust for Public Land, Friends of the Earth, and National Audubon Society. Among recognition and awards he's received are:
Green Cross "Millennium Award for Individual Environmental Leadership" presented by Mikhail Gorbachev in 2003; World Council for Corporate Governance in 2002; Small Business Administration “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 1990; Utne's “One Hundred Visionaries who could Change our Lives” in 1995, Western Publications Association “Maggie” award for “Natural Capitalism” as the best Signed Editorial/Essay” in 1997; "Creative Visionary Award" by the International Society of Industrial Design;
"Design in Business Award For Environmental Responsibility" by the American Center for Design; Council On Economic Priorities’ 1990 "Corporate Conscience Award"; Metropolitan Magazine Editorial Award for the "100 Best People, Products and Ideas That Shape Our Lives"; the "Cine Golden Eagle Award In Video" for the PBS program “Marketing” from Growing a Business; California Institute of Integral Studies Award “For Ongoing Humanitarian Contributions to the Bay Area Communities”; Esquire Magazine award for the "Best 100 People Of A Generation" (1984), and seven honorary doctorates.
26 February 2012 at 10:38
DALAI LAMA ON WHY THIS LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS: "It is definite that all of us must die. Although what occurs to the mind after the body dies cannot be held up and demonstrated to the eye, as can a material phenomenon, from accounts given to us by sages, philosophers and people with clairvoyance, there can be little doubt that the mind continues to evolve.
"Moreover, the types of living beings in existence are not limited to those having gross physical bodies, such as the people, animals, insects, etc., that we witness around us. Not only Buddhists, but many independent spiritual cultures throughout the world have perceived the existence of other realms, such as hell beings, ghosts, various celestial beings, and so forth.
"The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is followed by nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and insects as insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic potencies of all realms of cyclic existence.
"Many beings transmigrate from higher to lower realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of rebirth is not directly in our own hands, but is conditioned by our karma and delusions. Those who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny at the time of death, but for ordinary beings, the process is very much an automatic chain reaction of karmic seeds and habitual, psychic response patterns.
"Totally unprepared for the spiritual situations that confront them after death, untrained persons are thrown into a fit of confusion and terror. Unable to recognize or relate to the states of consciousness that arise, eventually they seek a womb in which to escape their sorrow, and wander until they find the realm and conditions most suited to their spiritual level and to the karmic forces of previous actions that are propelling them.
"Death holds very little hope for ordinary worldly persons with no spiritual experience. Having passed their entire lives ignoring death and sheltering themselves from thoughts of it, when it strikes, they become utterly shocked and lose all courage and confidence. Everything that confronts them is unknown, for they never took the time to apply the methods that reveal the nature of mind, birth, life and death.
"Control over one's future evolution is to be won during one's life, not at the time of death. The yogi Milarepa said, 'Fearing death, I took to the mountains. Now, I have realized the ultimate nature of the mind, and no longer need to fear.' The root cause of one's spiritual development is oneself. Buddha said, 'We are our own savior, or we are our own enemy.'
"Until now, we have lived largely under the power of delusions and, as a result, although we instinctively desire happiness, we create only the causes of frustration and sorrow. We wish to avoid suffering, but because our minds are not cultivated in wisdom, we run directly towards suffering like a moth caught in the light of a flame.
"Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery does not have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly our lack of spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind is controlled principally by afflicted emotions and illusions. Attachment, aversion and ignorance, rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom, are the guiding forces.
"Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of the spiritual path--the Path to Enlightenment. . . .To purify the mind means to counteract and uproot all sources of emotional disturbance and delusion--both those inborn, and those conceptually formed--together with the seeds of the previous karmic instincts that we have accumulated upon our mindstream over our lives since beginningless time.
"When the delusions are totally removed, one no longer has the mental conditions that cause one to create further negative karma. And, when the seeds of negative karma are purified, one no longer carries within oneself the causes of frustration and misery.
"This is why persons who seek happiness and wish to overcome suffering are wise to exert themselves in spiritual methods. . . .At this time, when we have a human body and mind, and have met with the profound teachings of the Great Way, we should take advantage of the opportunity and engage in spiritual methods.
"If we do not practice now, while we have an incarnation most suitable to the attainment of enlightenment, what hope do we have for progress in the future? Many types of sentient beings, such as dogs and insects that live near a temple, meet with the teachings but, not having an appropriate physical or mental basis, they are unable to comprehend them or put them to use.
"No matter how much we love an animal, we are not able to teach it how to meditate and cultivate spiritual qualities. Whenever Atisha would meet a dog, he would stroke it lovingly and whisper into its ear, 'Because of your previous negative karmic actions, you are now unable to practice the holy teachings.'
"Atisha did not do this out of a lack of compassion, but because the dog lacked a basis capable of practice, and he wished to lay an instinct of the teachings upon its mindstream. Unlike animals, we human beings are capable of engaging in the highest meditations and of attaining enlightenment in one lifetime.
"Moreover, if we engage in negative ways and wrong views, instead of applying ourselves to spiritual methods, or if we are born in remote areas where a lineage of instruction does not exist, then our human life does not give us the same opportunities for growth. For example, although for centuries, Tibet was a country rich in the study and practice of the Great Way, the Chinese have prohibited spiritual activities there for several decades now.
"To lack this basic freedom is a great obstacle to the attainment of enlightenment. Those of us who have the opportunity to study and meditate are indeed fortunate. As Shantideva said, 'Now, when we have the ability and have met with the teachings, we should engage in spiritual practice.'
"Human life is something rare and precious, but is is also quite impermanent. Even as we sit here, it is undergoing continual change. If we look around us and ask ourselves how many of our friends and acquaintances have died over the last year, the ever-present reality of our impermanent nature becomes obvious. . . .
"We all intellectually realize that we, ourselves, are going to die, but the mind always tries to insulate itself from this fact. Somehow, we feel very solid, and we imagine the reality of our death to be somewhere very far away in the future. But, every moment, it creeps closer to us, and not one of us can guarantee that we will remain alive even until this evening.
"An aspect of death that most terrifies many beings is that suddenly, one is totally alone and unsupported by anything but one's spiritual knowledge. When this is strong, one is able to deal effectively with every circumstance that death brings. But, when it is weak, one must enter the dangerous path of the Bardo empty-handed. Then, one's heart will fill with regret, and one will realize the error of not having pursued deeper goals.
"Buddhism speak of the Three Jewels of Refuge--the Enlightened Ones, the Teachings, and the Spiritual Community. In a sense, the Enlightened Ones are the ultimate refuge, because they are the ones who give the teachings. But actually, the ultimate refuge is the Dharma that they teach, for it is through the study and practice of the teachings that we gain enlightenment and protection from suffering.
"Dharma here has two meanings: the transmission of the teachings, which are to be studied and mastered, and the transmission of realization, which is gained through practice. It is through applying the Dharma methods that remove faults, increase strengths, and give birth to insight and knowledge, that we benefit from the existence of the Enlightened Ones.
"Thus, Dharma is the immediate object of refuge, and the Enlightened Ones and Spiritual Community are the teachers and friends on the way. From amongst the three spiritual goals discussed in the 'Lam Rim' literature--high rebirth, liberation, and complete enlightenment--most world religions expound relatively uniform methods for producing high rebirth as a human or in a heaven.
"All Buddhist schools expound the first two paths--those leading to high rebirth and nirvana, or liberation from cyclic existence. A unique quality of the Mahayana is that it emphasizes paths leading to omniscience. Within the Mahayana, only those schools that contain tantric methods have the ability to produce complete enlightenment in a human being in one lifetime.
"Schools relying solely upon Sutrayana methods must work on the principle of establishing a spiritual direction in this life that will culminate in enlightenment only after a string of future lives. Nonetheless, although there are many levels and forms of Dharma practice, they all share the fundamental aim of leading sentient beings from darkness to light, evil to goodness, ignorance to clarity.
"From the beginning of our practice, we should cultivate the discipline of abandoning harmful, destructive ways and cultivating simple virtues such as kindness, patience, nonviolence, and so forth. Instead of meaningless literature, we should try to read from the biographies and writings of past masters.
"Being mindful of all activities of body, speech and mind, we should continue our life with our practice kept as an inner treasure, not as an ornament to be flaunted before others. There is a Tibetan saying: 'Change your mind; leave the rest as it is.' This is particularly good advice for beginners." - (From the Dalai Lama's "The Path To Enlightenment," p. 32-36.)
25 February 2012 at 14:53
AVOID REBIRTH IN LOWER DESTINIES: "In the Great Vehicle, meat is forbidden; meat-eating, it is taught, causes rebirth in lower destinies." - --Sakya Pandita (1182-1251 A.D.), an excellent Tibetan scholar, skilled in the art of literary expression, from "A Precious Treasury of Elegant Sayings." Along with Tsongkhapa and Longchenpa, he is recognized as an incarnation of Manjushri, the personification of the perfection of transcendent knowledge. He also authored "Clarifying the Buddha's Intent," which presents a gradual, systematic approach to the Path, and "Ordinary Wisdom: Sakya Pandita's Treasury of Good Advice." 25 February 2012 at 09:02
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, randall landfair. randall landfair said: RT @tsemtulku: My personal blog: : Powerful Quotes http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2011/02/powerful-quotes.html [...]
Thank you so much, Rinpoche, for your infinite kindness is spreading our COMPASSION FOR ANIMALS message to your far larger audience. In appreciation for all you’re doing to help stop unnecessary suffering, if you wish to email me, I’ll be happy to email you my lengthy letter on “Vegetarianism” which I share with my own corporation’s fasting clientele on seven continents, if they’re interested in this subject.
Not only does it have many compassionate quotes I’ll be using daily on my ‘Dennis Paulson’ Facebook page–and you’re welcome to use on yours, or here in your Blog, or any way you wish. . .as just as small token of my appreciation of who you are and what you’re doing with your congenitally-oversized heart this time through. In fact, I’ll leave you with just two paragraphs from that lengthy letter, to whet your appetite. <;-) Big Love and Peace of mind; your new friend and Dharma brother, Dennis
"THE FOLLOWING SITE, RINPOCHE, lists vegetarian restaurants, worldwide: . Another listing vegetarian restaurants and health-food stores (over 8000 in more than 100 countries) is at: . Also, know that one of the best books I’ve found on the compassionate practice of not eating fellow sentient beings is “Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings On Abstaining From Meat” by one of Tibet’s greatest saint-scholars, Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol (ISBN 1-59030-116-1), available for $11.96 at Shambhala Publications . A website full of Buddhist teachers speaking out against meat-eating is at , and they also provide vegetarian recipes at .
“Description of “Food of Bodhisattvas”: Based on the teachings of the Buddha, this book offers the most compelling and impassioned indictment of meat-eating to be found in Tibetan literature and is pertinent to anyone interested in vegetarianism as a moral or spiritual issue. The Buddha’s teachings show how destructive habits can be examined and transformed gradually from within. The aim is not to repress one’s desire for meat and animal products by force of will, but to develop heartfelt compassion and sensitivity to the suffering of animals, so that the desire to exploit and feed on them naturally dissolves. There are two texts presented here. One is an excerpt from Shabkar’s “Book of Marvels,” consisting of quotations from the Buddhist scriptures and the teachings of masters of Tibetan Buddhism that argue against the consumption of meat, with Shabkar’s commentary. The second, the “Nectar of Immortality,” is Shabkar’s discourse on the importance of developing compassion for animals. The Shabkar website is at: .”
P.S. My apology, Rinpoche, but my abovementioned URLs were all inside these: . Thus, HTML programming didn’t print them. No worries, however, as I’ve broken them all out for your readers below. Cheers
THE FOLLOWING SITE, RINPOCHE, lists vegetarian restaurants, worldwide:
http://www.greenpeople.org/restaurants.htm
Another listing vegetarian restaurants and health-food stores (over 8000 in more than 100 countries) is at:
http://www.happycow.net/raw/raw_living.html
Also, know that one of the best books I’ve found on the compassionate practice of not eating fellow sentient beings is “Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings On Abstaining From Meat” by one of Tibet’s greatest saint-scholars, Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol (ISBN 1-59030-116-1), available for $11.96 at Shambhala Publications:
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/1-59030-116-1.cfm
A website full of Buddhist teachers speaking out against meat-eating is at:
http://vegpeace.org/buddhistvegetarian.html
. . .and they also provide vegetarian recipes at:
http://vegpeace.org
The Shabkar website is at:
http://www.shabkar.org
Dear Rinpoche,
It is with the greatest respect that I ask the following in regards to vegetarianism.
Since people who practice vegetarianism (mostly) do so in order to remove themselves from the process of causing suffering to animals as they see it, can it not be argued that vegetarianism is not enough when we consider the amount of abuse that goes on in dairy farms?
All vegetarians I know well (excluding Kecharians) regularly consume milk, eggs, cheese, ice cream and so on, but with the production of dairy products, it places countless animals under the most severe stress and trauma, and a basic search on Google returns plenty of stories of animal abuse within dairy farms. I also recently read that even free-range products come from farms that are actually far removed from treating their animals as fairly as they claim.
I’ve spoken with a number of vegetarians on this issue (a couple were rather militant about the cause), and a few have said something along the lines of, “While we might cause 60% animal suffering, meat-eaters cause 100%!” This argument, to me, seems wholly illogical: if you see your dietary habits as having an influence on animal welfare, surely you would want to cause as little suffering as possible?
Of course, I’ve heard the argument that “dairy isn’t so easy to give up”, which again doesn’t seem to carry any weight: if you see your dietary habits as having an influence on animal welfare, if vegetarians are really so concerned, then surely the choice to become Vegan – although no doubt a difficult transition to make – should be chosen if the welfare of animals really is at the heart of the matter? As a Vegan friend of mine said, there are studies to show that humans are the only species to consume milk beyond infancy, and some in the medical profession actually advise cutting down dairy as much as possible the older one gets.
I should mention that I consume meat. I make no excuses for it, nor do I attempt to hide it. I have various reasons to believe the vegetarian argument doesn’t work and have yet to be convinced by it. However, the reason I take an interest in the subject is because I’m constantly aware (and have been approached by) some vegetarians try to be quite forceful in their arguments and yet, there seems to be a double standard in their preaching.
I don’t concern myself with the choices of others. People choose what they choose and any consequences rest on their shoulders, but what I am trying to find an answer to (and have yet to be given an answer beyond vague or nonsensical) is why vegetarians claim to be against the suffering of animals, yet continue to consume products that contribute quite significantly to their suffering?
There is the argument: “Oh, so an animal dying is OK so long as you get to enjoy your steak or burgers?” To this one could retort: “So an animal suffering continuously is OK so long as you get to enjoy your milk, eggs, cheese and ice-cream?”
Again, I offer my post with no disrespect intended whatsoever. I just feel that if there is an issue within a cause, there needs to be understanding where grey areas exist in order for people to be able to make a fully informed decision.
Kind regards,
Sandy
ON, SANDY, a topic you posted today on Rinpoche’s Wall–”Experience: Your Personal Guru To The Meaning Of Life”–he replied: “You seem to enjoy writing, sharing, have critical analysis, learning, and dharma. . . .The current arrangement you are in is fine, but moving to the next levels would be even more wonderful. . . . What is your goal with it? Where would you TRULY like to be with it. How far do you want to go with this? I don’t need nice words or words that I would want to hear, but more where you wish to truly go with your passion?”
Below your abovementioned article suggesting that one’s experience is sufficient to understanding the meaning of life, your age is listed as 27. Many think that humans, today, don’t even begin to boot until their early 20s, so you’ve not had the opportunity to gain much experience of life in what MTV calls The Real World, assuming you’ve spent most of your life, thus far, in school.
On the one hand, Sandy, you understand the need for experience to write more intelligently about subjects, yet that doesn’t dissuade you from taking on all vegetarians, despite the fact you’re still a meat-eater. If you read your above piece objectively you begin and end with these caveats: “It is with the greatest respect that I ask the following in regards to vegetarianism.” and “Again, I offer my post with no disrespect intended whatsoever.”
In between, however, you disrespect all vegetarians for not immediately taking the next step into veganism–another place you’ve no experience of. Perhaps what Rinpoche is suggesting by suggesting “moving to the next levels would be even more wonderful,” is that you first become a vegetarian–so you can write about it with experiential knowledge and distilled wisdom–and then move up another level into veganism, so you can do the same there.
Personally, I became a vegetarian 43 years ago, and it took me several years to finally give up, collectively, chicken, then fish, and finally any milk which required keeping animals contiinually pregnant (not to mention killing off most of the male calves dropped daily on such farms).
The Buddhist Path to Awakening, Sandy, is graduated for a reason. Perhaps Rinpoche is also suggesting, in his infinite compassion, that you begin with the analytical meditation in which you see all beings as have repeatedly been your precious mother, to whom you owe a great debt of gratitude. Once you’ve gain that level of universal compassion, then perhaps you’ll be able to intelligently debate your own justification for ordering their slaughter daily to feed yourself.
Granted, Sandy, the vast majority of our sisters and brothers in this human realm are still caught in killing, so you’ll always have plenty of readers for your stuff, in which you’re disrespecting every vegetarian on Earth for not doing what you’ve never even had the courage or discipline or interest to try. Forget Buddhist and Christian injunctions on not killing which are being daily ignored.
My most precious Tibetan teacher, Lama Yeshe, used to repeatedly say: “Slowly, slowly, Dear; it take time.” You’ve got the grammar chops down, Sandy, and Dafne (from San Diego, despite the fact she still roots for not one but two Eastern U.S. professional football teams) has invited you to join her in a new writing project she’s started.
As the Dharma moves inexorably westward, young writers such you and Dafne will be needed to fill the shoes of old ones such as myself. However, it does help to first gain some ‘experience’ in walking this Graduated Path to Enlightenment, before you begin criticizing those not walking it as you would like them to, or at the speed you’d like to see them awaken.
We each awaken in our own time, Sandy, at our own speed, which is why Buddhism is structured to accommodate various levels of mind/motivation. In the future, my younger Dharma brother, please be respectful of your sisters and brothers who’ve trying very hard to create positive karma–meritorious acts–by stepping back from the killing. . .first.
All of us who’ve graduated into veganism hope, of course, they’ll all eventually move, as Rinpoche suggests, to the next level or two. I’ve heard Lama Zopa Rinpoche say to a Western student: “Perhaps it’s not yet time for you to be writing about Dharma.” In the sense that you first must ‘experience’ what you’re writing about, he makes an excellent point.
Recently, Sandy, as I’m just new to FB, having allowed the first half-billion of you to beta-test it for me, I’ve created both a personal and corporate page, the latter for my global business which has been helping end unnecessary suffering on seven continents over the past 35 years: Fasting Center International.
Please feel free, Sandy, and anyone else reading here to Friend me (Dennis Paulson), and I hope you’ll also check out our Fasting Center International page–both new, as noted–where I’ve begun some discussion topics you may or may not find interesting. One thing I can guarantee you, however, is that they’re all based on experiential knowledge and distilled wisdom, including one I just posted today–having been inspired to by Rinpoche’s own compassion for animals.
It’s title,Sandy, may make the writer in you salivate (I’m joking, of course): “Vegetarian Or Vegan: Opting For A More Intelligent, Plant-Based Diet–Going Directly To The Source Of Nutrients.” I encourage Comments, of course, but not if they’re disrespectful of others trying their best to remove themselves from the unnecessary killing and suffering.
Slowly, slowly, Sandy; it takes time. Respectfully, your unmet friend and Dharma brother, Dennis Paulson, Founder/Director, Fasting Center International, Inc.
P.S. I’m so new to FB, Rinpoche, that I’ve only had two Chats so far, neither initiated by me. Late last night (about 3 a.m. here where I live in Santa Barbara, California, I was ‘pinged’ into a Chat by another Rinpoche living near Mysore, India (13 hrs. ahead of me). He’s an 11th incarnation, and a doctor of Tibetan Medicine this time. We chatted for an hour, and he said he’d ‘ping’ me again tonight, if that was alright.
Talk about ‘experience,’ Sandy! <;-) Instructively, I just checked his FB page, and synchronously, vis a vis your piece about thinking life 'experience' will teach you "the meaning of life" (not to mention intelligent preparation for your death), his most recent post is this quote by the Panchen Lama: "When the doctor gives me up, when rituals no longer work, when friends have given up hope for my life, when anything I do is futile, may I be blessed to remember my guru's instructions."
If, Sandy, we could all sort it out without 'Gurus' (Sanskrit for 'Teacher'), suffering would not exist, and you'd not be eating your sisters and brothers in the animal realm. Why? Because you'd have moved to the next level of understanding the Immutable Law of Cause and Effect, know to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains as karma (Skt. for action), and to Christians, Hindus and Jains as "reaping what's been sown."
Thank you, Sandy, for allowing Rinpoche and I share a bit of our own experiential knowledge and distilled wisdom with you, knowing we both see you definitely have writing skills, as well as a passion for it, just as we both you'll consider taking those up a level or two, as addressed by us both. I'll leave you with a little of the 'experience' of the Rinpoche who'll soon be chatting with me again tonight from India, who told me last night he's just been invited to come to my America for the first time, in July (same month my friend and teacher since 1982 will give the 11-day "Kalachakra For World Peace" in Washington, D.C. (which you and Dafne might wish to consider attending, for a very serious 'experiential' innoculation):
[As promised, Sandy, here's a little of the bio of my just-met new Facebook friend (this lifetime, although we obviously created the karma previously for this meeting). From my side, I feel very blessed and honored he found me on FB, all the way from Mysore! Isn't this technology awesome?! From you side, Sandy, listen to how often he talks about learning from Guru's/Teachers, as opposed to what you called "life experience"]:
"Under the guidance of his spiritual teachers, he undertook most of the traditional trainings of Buddhism. This includes the study of Buddhist Sutra, Tantra, dialectics, astronomy, grammar and composition. He received several important empowerments and transmissions of Secret Mantrayana, and Medicine Buddha from realized masters in Tibet.
"In 1990’s, few monasteries and senior monks in Amdo were able to establish communication with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in exile in India. During that period, in 1989, the Dalai Lama issued an official letter approving the 11th Hanzin Rinpoche as the true re-incarnation of 10th Hanzin Rinpoche.
"While continuing his higher Buddhist training and practice, Rinpoche served patients and devotees through teachings, Tibetan medicine, divination, Phowa (transference of consciousness), astronomical forecast, MO (prediction), purification rituals, hands on healing, dream interpretation, tantric healing and by performing puja's to avert and clear the obstacles.
"In 1998, Hanzin Rinpoche secretly fled into exile in India during the time when China had launched a campaign to target and persecutes senior influential monks and Rinpoches. Upon arrival, Rinpoche had a private audience with the Dalai Lama. In order to take his Buddhist insight and practice into great heights, Rinpoche stayed nearly five years in Dharamsala (near HH the Dalai Lama) receiving teachings, transmissions, and empowerments from His Holiness the Dalai Lama from time to time, while teaching Buddhist philosophy at Sherab Gatsel ling School in Dharamsala, after his arrival from Tibet.
"Rinpoche continued to receive secret transmissions, empowerments, teachings and pith instructions from senior monks in India from Gelukpa and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Rinpoche spent over a year in Sed Gyud Monastery receiving special transmissions and empowerments of Guhyasamaja, Heru-Kapa and Yamantaka of Gelukpa tradition, while teaching to the monks in the monastery.
"In 2006, Rinpoche travelled across the Himalayan region in Nepal, Sikkim, and West Bengal, researching endangered herbs and ancient Bon and Buddhist text on medicine, preserved in local monasteries in the region. One of Rinpoche’s visions is to serve human beings by formulating herbal cure for dealing with alcohol and drug addiction [something my own global business has done for the past 3.5 decades, Sandy] with the help of his spiritual realization and knowledge of Tibetan medicine. In India, Rinpoche received a certificate of Tibetan medical practitioner from the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine, Central Tibetan Administration of HH. The Dalai Lama, based in Dharamsala.
"Rinpoche is currently one of the senior masters of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, the main seat of the Panchen Rinpoche, the second highest ranking spiritual leader of Tibet. He trains senior monks of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery and gives transmissions, empowerments and teachings. Amidst his role in the monastery, Rinpoche also consult patients, monks and lay people, on Tibetan Medicine in Bylakuppee.
"Having spent a great deal of time in study, practice, meditation and research in Buddhist Tantra and Medicine, both in Tibet and exile, Rinpoche has only recently shown interest to visit western countries for teachings, dialogues, consultations, or exchange programs. Rinpoche has, so far, visited New Caledonia, Australia, and Switzerland."
the ghost insidemy body and control me and i do no wht to do
the malay guy like me he pray me has a vodoo .and i get histriorical 2times
please help me and my hole body can see the guys is praying me
and my eye always csn see ghost