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Dharma Quote of the WeekNagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential accomplishing the practice, in verse 116: And even those who realized the truth 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.(p.150) –from Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche by Nagarjuna, with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend • Now at 5O% off! |
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Archive for March 2012
Dharma Quote from Snow Lion Publications
March 7, 2012A Heart Touched By Music
March 7, 2012If you want the truth, I’ll tell you the truth: Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you. — Kabir
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Good News of the Day:
“The way she was singing comforted me a bit. I stood there watching her play for about fifteen minutes, thinking that it must take courage to perform on your own in the middle of a crowded New York ferry terminal. So I stood there listening. She must have felt my presence because she would occasionally look in my direction. By now I was telling myself that if she could perform in front of hundreds of people she didn’t know then I could at least tell her how good she sounded. I walked over and put some money in her carriage and she said, ‘Thank you.’ Instead of continuing my way home, I said to her, ‘I have been going through a rough time lately, but you’ve made me hopeful again.’ ‘I’m happy that I could help,’ she replied. ‘Why are you so sad?'” So starts a real world kindness story.
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Be The Change:
Thank someone who is clearly doing something because they love sharing it.
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The Power of Introverts
March 6, 2012In our culture, snails are not considered valiant animals — we are constantly exhorting people to “come out of their shells” — but there’s a lot to be said for taking your home with you wherever you go. — Susan Cain
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Tip of the Day:
“Do you enjoy having time to yourself, but always feel a little guilty about it? Then Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts” is for you. It’s part book, part manifesto. We live in an era that values its extroverts — the outgoing, the lovers of crowds — but not the quiet types who change the world. In this engaging interview Cain discusses what it really means to be an introvert, the value of solitude in the creative process, and why we need to shift our cultural bias for gregariousness.” This Scientific American article shares more.
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Be The Change:
“Silence is helpful, but you don’t need it in order to find stillness.” Brief snippets from Eckhart Tolle:
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InnerNet Weekly: Making Friends with the Present Moment
March 6, 2012
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Some months ago, for three successive nights, I was awakened by three insights that came to me – persistently and repeatedly – one per night. The first night’s message was: "Only the present moment is real." The second night’s message was: "You can trust the present moment." The third night’s message was: "Make friends with the present moment."
Year of Dancing with Life – Week 22
March 6, 2012
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Five Tips For Making Travel Meaningful
March 5, 2012The person susceptible to “wanderlust” is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation. — Pico Iyer
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Good News of the Day:
Few know more about the art of travel than acclaimed writers Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer, who have a combined six decades of experience chronicling their adventures around the world. These two world wanderers shared a list of the things they do to make travel meaningful and how they go about being a traveler rather than a tourist. Their first piece of advice? “Pick a destination that raises more questions than answers.” Along with their list, this NPR piece also includes beautiful excerpts from the two authors’ writing.
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Be The Change:
As you move about today and this week, consider how your travels offer up opportunities to transform.
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The Power of Metaphors
March 4, 2012An expert is a person who has few new ideas; a beginner is a person with many. — Albert Einstein
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Inspiration of the Day:
“When Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist, was a schoolboy, he was terrible at math because whenever the teacher had him write a number on the chalkboard, he saw something different. The number four looked like a nose to him and he kept doodling until he filled in the rest of the face. The number 1 looked like a tree, 9 looked like a person walking against the wind, and 8 resembled an angel. Everyone else in the classroom saw numbers on the chalkboard; Picasso perceived a variety of different images. The connection between perspective and creative thinking has to do with habituation and over-familiarization. Where creative thinking is concerned, that is the irony of the skill: the more adept you are at something, the less likely you are to look at it in a different way.” In this article, author Michael Michalko explores the power of metaphors.
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Be The Change:
On the topic of ‘Beginner’s Mind,’ this passage starts by proposing an interesting TV experiment: “I want you to watch TV with acute awareness, mindfulness, and precision …”
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Kindness Daily: A Heart Touched By A Musical Soul
March 3, 2012
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She was singing songs about love, keeping on trying, and not underestimating the power within yourself. The way she was singing comforted me a bit. I stood there watching her play for about fifteen minutes, thinking that it must take courage to perform on your own in the middle of a crowded New York ferry terminal.
Competing with Love
March 3, 2012When you start loving what you are learning, it will no longer look like work. Everything will fall in place after that. Just fall in love. — A. K. Raha
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Inspiration of the Day:
“I had a hard time with most of my subjects, especially math. One day, after looking at my grades, my father had a heart-to-heart chat with me. He said, ‘The way to crack your subjects is to fall in love with them. When you start loving what you are learning, it will no longer look like work. Everything will fall in place after that. Just fall in love.’ I was in sixth grade around then, and decided to take him seriously and literally said, ‘I love you’ to my math textbook. Then, something strange happened. I actually fell in love. I started enjoying the mystery behind each geometric question, soaking in it, and experiencing joy when I was able to solve it. Over the years, it got to a point where I would finish all the exercises in the textbook in a day.” On the art of competing with love:
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Be The Change:
Learn. Love. Work. Learn to love work; love to learn work; work to learn love.
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Dalai Lama Quote from Snow Lion Publications
March 2, 2012 |
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Dalai Lama Quote of the WeekWhat 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.(p.176) –from The Path to Enlightenment by H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications The Path to Enlightenment • Now at 5O% off! |
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Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal 