Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Have a good heart, act with kindness, nothing is more important

Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887) Patrul Rinpoche spent most of his life wandering in the mountains, living in caves, forests, and hermitages lost in the wilderness, There he constantly meditated on love, compassion, and bodhicitta-the wish to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. These he held as the very root of spiritual practice. To everyone, high and low, he would say, "Have a good heart, act with kindness; nothing is more important than that."

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Eeverybody thinks that compassion is important.

Everybody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the differences are extraordinarily important. Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line. We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion, and we can extend our compassion to everyone. -- from Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' by Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion

Friday, December 23, 2005

The Battle of Ego

THE BATTLE OF EGO

Student: The desire of ego to be fulfilled -- how does one liberate those desires of fulfillment that ego presents?

Chogyam Trungpa: It seems that trying to fulfill is another escape -- equally the same as trying to suppress. Generally there is a conflict between you and your experiences, your desires. It is a kind of game between ego and its extensions. Sometimes ego tries to overpower the projections, and sometimes the projections try to overpower ego -- that kind of battle goes on all the time. So the point is to see that battle as it is, rather than fulfill the desires or try to suppress them.

-- From TRANSCENDING MADNESS: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SIX BARDOS edited by Judith Lief, page 141.

There are in a sense Two aspects of your mind

Dharma For Fri, Dec 23rd

There are in a sense two aspects of your mind.
There is how your mind is in it nature,
and how it appears or manifests in your experience.
From the point of view of the appearance of your mind,
you could say your mind is full of lots of suffering
and all sorts of confused or deluded projections.
But from the point of view of how your mind really is,
there is nothing in any of this confusion because all of this confusion
is secondary to the nature of mind itself.
Your mind as it is, is Buddha nature.

-- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Commentary on the Essence of Creation and
Completion

Monday, December 19, 2005

Never Speak Harsh Words

Never speak harsh words for they will rebound upon you. Angry words hurt And the hurt rebounds. Like a broken gong Be still, be silent. Know the stillness of freedom Where there is no more striving. --Buddha Shakyamuni, The Dhammapada, Shambhala Pocket Classics

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Adverse conditions

Adverse conditions are spiritual friends. Devils and demons are emanations of the victorious ones. Illness is the broom for evil and obscurations. Suffering is the dance of what is.

-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, The Great Path of Awakening

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Pain in healed by empathy

Pain is healed by empathy rather than confrontation. The impulse to cooperate identifies the healer. The Sutra of the Immaculate Friend

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

merit accumulation

We cannot accumulate merit if we have a macho sense of pride and arrogance that we already have enough truth and virtue collected and now we are going to collect some more. The person who collects merit has to be humble and willing to give rather than being willing to collect. The more a person is willing to give, that much more effective, in some sense, is the accumulation of merit.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness

Monday, December 05, 2005

Continue practice into everyday life

Continue practice into everyday life with a single meditation, always keeping in mind the intention to help others in all activities, eating, dressing, sleeping, walking, or sitting.
Jamgon Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Desire is the source of endless problems

Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very true.

--His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from 365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart

Friday, December 02, 2005

Gampopa

Childish sentient beings always cherish themselves and work for their own benefit, so they suffer. The Buddhas cherished others and worked for their benefit, so they attained Buddhahood.

-- Gampopa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Elegance

Elegance here means appreciating things as they are. Things as you are and things as they are. There is a sense of delight and of fearlessness. You are not fearful of dark corners. If there are any dark, mysterious corners, black and confusing, you override them with your glory, your sense of beauty, your sense of cleanness, your feeling of being regal. Because you can override fearfulness in this way, tantra [or the highest stage in Tibetan Buddhist practice] is known as the king of all the yanas [stages on the path]. You take an attitude of having perfectly complete and very rich basic sanity.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From THE LION'S ROAR: An Introduction to Tantra

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Deepak Chopra says...

God won't go away as long as human beings feel afraid and lonely. He might evolve--so one hopes--into something other than a white-bearded authority figure with a taste for vengeance. In moderate denominations that happened a long, long time ago. But modern life couldn't handle a nicer God. Millions of people feel too hollow and afraid, angry and attacked, lonely and disconnected. This phenomenon is called alienation. It was well diagnosed by Marx and Freud, who pointed out that the human psyche suffers terribly when people are yanked out of a connection with Nature, when traditions stop being a safety net, and when dislocation and insecurity are the daily norm.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/why-god-wont-leave-us-al_b_11238.html

Sunday, November 06, 2005

It is true that we can say everything is illusion like a dream.But...

It is true that we can say everything is illusion, like a dream. But even a dream is real for us while we are sleeping. When we wake up we finally discover that everything we thought, saw and did was not real, but only a dream. In the same way life can be considered as a big dream, and death the moment we wake up.

--Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, From: The Mirror, Advice on the Presence of Awareness, Station Hill Press

Monday, October 31, 2005

That vulnerability is compassion

The rest of us could be covered with iron cast shields, but some sore spot always exists in us, which is fantastic. That sore spot is known as embryonic compassion, potential compassion. At least we have some kind of gap, some discrepancy in our state of being, which allows basic sanity to shine through.... Not only that, but there is also an inner wound, which is called tathagatagarbha, or buddha nature. Buddha nature is like a heart that is sliced and bruised by wisdom and compassion. When the external wound and the internal wound begin to meet and to communicate, then we begin to realize that our whole being is made out of one complete sore spot altogether. That vulnerability is compassion. We really have no way to defend ourelves anymore at all. A gigantic cosmic wound is all over the place -- an inward wound and an external wound at the same time. Both are sensitive to cold air, hot air, and little disturbances of atmosphere which begin to affect us both inwardly and outwardly. It is the living flame of love, if you would like to call it that.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From: TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, Shambhala

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Compassion is based on some sense of "soft spot"

Compassion is based on some sense of "soft spot" in us. It is as if we had a pimple on our body that was very sore -- so sore that we do not want to rub it or scratch it....That sore spot on our body is an analogy for compassion. Why? Because even in the midst of immense aggression, insensitivity to our life, or laziness, we always have a soft spot, some point we can cultivate -- or at least not bruise. Every human being has that kind of basic sore spot, including animals. Whether we are crazy, dull, aggressive, ego-tripping, whatever we might be, there is still that sore spot taking place in us. An open wound, which might be a more vivid analogy, is always there.... We are not completely covered with a suit of armor all the time. We have a sore spot somewhere, some open wound somewhere. Such a relief! Thank earth!

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From: TRAINING THE MIND AND CULTIVATING LOVING-KINDNESS, Shambhala

Saturday, October 29, 2005

They knew Plame was undercover

They knew Plame was undercover
by kos
Fri Oct 28, 2005 at 12:56:32 PM PDT
They knew, as Josh notes.
Go to page 5 of the indictment [PDF]. Top of the page, item #9.
On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.
This is a crucial piece of information. the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) is part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, i.e., not Directorate of Intelligence, the branch of the CIA where 'analysts' come from, but where the spies come from.
Libby's a long time national security hand. He knows exactly what CPD is and where it is. So does Cheney. They both knew. It's right there in the indictment.
::
Tags: Valerie Plame, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney (all tags)

Thursday, October 27, 2005

The truth here

The truth here is that the calm state is the essence of the mind, and the movement is it's energy: they are two inseparable aspects of the same reality, like an ocean and it's waves or the sun and it's rays.

If we consider the calm state something positive to be achieved, and the movement of thoughts something negative to be abandoned, thereby cultivating the dualism of acceptance and rejection, then we will never overcome our ordinary mentality.

So, maintaining presence without unwanted diversion, one must simply acknowledge whatever thoughts arise - - good or bad, relevant or insignificant - and just continue observing the state of "movement"- - this point is vitally important.

--Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, From: The Mirror - Advice on the Presence of Awareness, Published by Station Hill Openings/ Barrytown, LTD.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

When you have met your match

When you've met your match, you've found a teacher.

--Pema Chödron, Start Where You Are

Sunday, October 23, 2005

THE ULTIMATE ASPECT OF THE DHARMA

There are many people who are more learned than I and more elevated in their wisdom. However, I have never made a separation between the spiritual and the worldly. If you understand the ultimate aspect of the dharma, this is the ultimate aspect of the world. And if you should cultivate the ultimate aspect of the world, this should be in harmony with the dharma. I am alone in presenting the tradition of thinking this way.
--From Chogyam Trungpa's Unpublished Diary, 1966.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

That which is most important as an object of scrutiny

That which is most important as an object of scrutiny is the mind itself. We experience happiness and sadness, we experience attachment and aversion, we experience faith and devotion, and all of these experiences are thoughts or styles of thought that arise in our mind. External objects do not produce them. Therefore, it is our minds themselves that must be scrutinized and it is the true nature of our minds that must be recognized.

--Thrangu Rinpoche

Friday, October 14, 2005

To See what you have done

To see what you've done, look at your body. To see what you'll be, look at your actions.

--Jamgon Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening

Thursday, October 13, 2005

When sunlight falls on a crystal

When sunlight falls on a crystal, lights of all colors of the rainbow appear; yet they have no substance that you can grasp. Likewise, all thoughts in their infinite variety- devotion, compassion, harmfulness, desire- are utterly without substance. That is the mind of the Buddha. There is no thought that is something other than voidness.

--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

"Before the apex stone is fitted"

Ever heard of Changing Images of Man?The report was issued by Stanford Research Institute in 1973, having been commissioned by the US Department of Education five years earlier, and its influence has far outstripped its limited circulation. Its one brush with a general readership came in 1982, when Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press republished it as "one of the 1,000 most important works of modern times," though at this writing even used copies are unavailable at any price through Amazon.The report found that "Analysis of the nature of contemporary societal problems leads to the conclusion that...the images of man that dominated the last two centuries will be inadequate for the post-industrial era."
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/10/before-apex-stone-is-fitted.html

The pure state of enlightenment

The pure state of enlightenment is our own mind... not some sort of dazzling light coming from outside. If we recognize our primordial state of pure presence, pure from the beginning, albeit temporarily obscured, and we stay present in this recognition without getting distracted, then all the impurities dissolve: this is the essence of the path. Now the nature of the primordial state as total purity truly manifests, and recognizing it for what it is, we become it's owner forever.

--Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Friday, October 07, 2005

When thoughts arise

When thoughts arise,

Instead of regarding them as faults,

Recognize them to be empty and leave them just as they are.

-- Gyalwa Götsangpa, quoted in The Ocean of Definitive Meaning by H.H. IX Karmapa

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth

Compassion is the ultimate attitude of wealth: an anti poverty-attitude, a war on want. It contains all sorts of heroic, juicy, positive, visionary, expansive qualities. And it implies larger-scale thinking, a freer and more expansive way of relating to yourself and the world... It is the attitude that one has been born fundamentally rich rather than that one must become rich.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Monday, October 03, 2005

In the universe

In the universe there are infinite sentient beings, including all enlightened beings. All these beings, either enlightened or in samsara, have the same base. One of the most important things we learn in Dzogchen is what the base is. The base is our real condition. When we explain the base, we use the explanation of essence, nature and energy. There is no difference, enlightened or not. That is why in Dzogchen we say that since the beginning our state is the enlightened state. Our real base or condition never changes or is modified. If we follow the teaching and use methods or practices for purification, we purify obstacles, but that doesn't change our nature. Our real condition is the same base since the beginning.

--Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Adverse conditions

Adverse conditions are spiritual friends.

Devils and demons are emanations of the victorious ones.

Illness is the broom for evil and obscurations.

Suffering is the dance of what is.

-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lödro Thaye, The Great Path of Awakening

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Who is wise

Who is wise,
The eloquent or the quiet man?
Be quiet,
And loving and fearless.



--Buddha Shakyamuni, The Dhammapada, Shambhal

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Intention

Intention is the karma of the mind.

­ Gunaprabha, The Treasury of Abhidharma

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

If the creator of the world entire

If the creator of the world entire / they call God, of every being be the Lord / Why does he order such misfortune / And not create happiness but only discord?

If the creator of the world entire / They call God, of every being be the Lord / Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance / And he such inequity and injustice create?

If the creator of the world entire / they call God, of every being be the Lord / Then an evilmaster is he, (O Aritta) / Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!

And hence the Buddha demonstrates that the three most common attributes of God; omnipotence, omniscience and benevolence are obviously incompatible with the existential fact of dukkha (dissatisfaction and suffering.)

--Buddha Shakyamuni, from: The Bhuridatta Jataka

More on this at the link below:http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_distinction.htm

Monday, September 19, 2005

You can appreciate your life.

You can appreciate your life, even if it is an imperfect situation. Perhaps your apartment is run down and your furniture is old and inexpensive. You do not have to live in a palace. You can relax and let go wherever you are. Wherever you are, it is a palace.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Advanced ideas and descriptions....

Advanced ideas and descriptions of spiritual experiences, only exploit the weaker aspects of human nature, our expectations and desires to see and hear something colorful, something extraordinary. If we begin our study with these dreams of extraordinary, "enlightening" and dramatic experiences, then we will build up our expectations and preconceptions so that later, when we are actually working on the path, our minds will be occupied largely with what--will be rather than with what--IS.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, CUTTING THROUGH SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM

Monday, September 12, 2005

The way to be daring

In the practice of meditation, the way to be daring, the way to leap, is to disown your thoughts, to step beyond your hope and fear, the ups ad downs of your thinking process. You can just be, just let yourself be, without holding on to the constant reference points that the mind manufactures.

-- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Poetry by the Education President

This is a poem made up entirely of actual quotations from George W.Bush, arranged for "aesthetic" purposes, by The Washington Post writerRichard Thompson. A wonderful poem like this is too good not to share. Ah, yes! A testament to literacy in the age of Every Child LeftBehind!

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER!

I think we all agree, the past is over.

This is still a dangerous world.

It's a world of madmen and uncertainty

And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked

Is our children learning?

Will the highways of the Internet

Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.

I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.

I know that the human being

And the fish can coexist.

Families is where our nation finds hope,

Where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family!

Knock down the tollbooth!

Vulcanize society!

Make the pie higher!

Make the pie higher!

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Samaya of Body

The samaya of body involves always regarding one's basic phenomenal situationas an expression of sacredness. We do not doubt the sacredness of our world.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of the Buddha

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

On the bodhisattva path we take chances

Often our sense of vulnerability, our feeling that we need to protect ourselves, acts as an obstacle to any sense of warmth. But on the bodhisattva path we take chances, extending ourselves without reservation for the sake of others. And it is the discovery of our own wakefulness, or bodhicitta, that creates the trust that allows us to take such chances.

--Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Heart of the Buddha

Sunday, September 04, 2005

The Actual Meaning Of A Warrior

Everyone has to die, so there is no need to destroy someone we think of as an enemy who is subject to death anyway. This is not really being a warrior. The actual meaning of a warrior in the Dharmic sense is subduing the enemy of the mind so as to remove the root of suffering.

--Thrangu Rinpoche

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Perception about Death

Now, due to people's perception about death, some become frustrated with this impermanence topic. They confront death with a frightened and terrified attitude. But it is senseless to be so paranoid and so attached to the physical body.

--H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Compassion

Real compassion is without attachment. Pay attention to this point, which goes against our habitual ways of thinking. It's not this or that particular case that stirs our pity. We don't give our compassion to such and such a person by choice. We give it spontaneously, entirely, without hoping for anything in exchange.

-- HH the XIV Dalai Lama, Violence and Compassion

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Essence of Practice

The essence of practice, wherever you do it,is developing yourself and your way of life-to really develop your happiness,your inner understanding, to deepen your wisdom and selflessness.

The essence of retreat isto make yourself more pure and content,self-realized,content just by being yourself,being alone,and thinking about the true nature of things.

If you don't understand life,than you become disappointed,depressed. You feel useless.

--HH XII Gyalwang Drukpa

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Gently Whispered

Dharma For Sat, 8/20/05

Regardless of the emotion being experienced -- be it desire, anger, pride,jealousy, envy, greed, or whatever -- what is really going on is a shift in attention. The mind is expressing itself in a different way. Nothing implicitly requires one to presume that this emotion has any reality in andof itself...It is just that the mind is expressing itself in a different way than it was a moment ago.

H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, Gently Whispered

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Naropa

Because Naropa was born a prince, was educated, and became a professor at NalandaUniversity, he regarded himself as . . . an educated, sensible person, someone highly respected.But this sensible quality, this sanity of his, turned out to be a very clumsy way of relating with the teachings of Tilopa - the teachings of the Kagyu lineage. Because he was not enough of a freak, because he was not insane enough, he couldn't relate with them at all. Insanity in this case is giving up logical arguments, giving up concept. Things as they are conceptualized are not things as they are.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Struggle Does Not Work

STRUGGLE DOES NOT WORK-Chogyam Trungpa-
We know that our technology cannot shield us from war, crime, illness, economic insecurity, laborious work, old age, and death; nor can our ideologies shield us from doubt, uncertainty, confusion, and disorientation; nor can our therapies protect us from the dissolution of the high states of consciousness that we may temporarily achieve and the disillusionment and anguish that follow. But what else are we to do?...In order to see for ourselves how this process works, we must examine our own experience. "But how," we might ask, "are we to conduct the examination? What method or tool are we to use?" The method that the Buddha discovered is meditation. He discovered that struggling to find answers did not work. It was only when there were gaps in his struggle that insights came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake quality within him which manifested itself only in the absence of struggle. So the practice of meditation involves letting be.
FROM "The Greatest Hoax of All," in SHAMBHALA SUN magazine, September 2005, page 61.

Monday, August 08, 2005

IX Karmapa

When the mind rests without any alteration, gross thoughts cease; bliss, clarity, and non-conceptuality develop; and the mind settles one-pointedly....These experiences of one-pointedness are like seeing the moon's first sliver, on it's first eve of waxing.

--His Holiness The IX Karmapa, The Ocean of Definitive Meaning

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Buddha Shakyamuni

It is not the case that one would live eternally by holding the view that the world is eternal. Nor is it the case that one would live the spiritual life by holding the view that the world is not eternal. Whether one holds that the world is eternal, or whether one holds that the world is not eternal, there is still:
birth, ageing, death, grief, despair, pain, and unhappiness.

--Buddha Shakyamuni

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Machig Labdron

Simply relax in the natural state of being; why try to tie knots in the sky?

First tighten loosely,then loosen loosely---hold onto nothing.

Let it go as it goes, and rest at ease as you are.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Society is destroyed from the inside

SOCIETY IS DESTROYED FROM THE INSIDE

We tend to think that the threats to our society or to ourselves are outside of us. We fear that some enemy will destroy us. But a society is destroyed from the inside, not from an attack by outsiders. We may imagine the enemy coming with spears and machine guns to kill us, massacre us. In reality, the only thing that can destroy us is within ourselves. If we have too much arrogance, we will destroy our gentleness. And if we destroy gentleness, then we destroy the possibility of being awake, and then we cannot use our intuitive openness to extend ourselves in situations properly. Instead we generate tremendous aggression.

From: SHAMBHALA: THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR, By Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Marilyn

Nagarjuna

If something exists in dependence on something else, But that thing upon which it depends must also depend on it, Then which one of these exists on dependence of which?

--Nagarjuna, Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The Sounds of Hope

The Sounds of Hope
by Cindy SheehanCindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA in Iraq 04/04/04

Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?
The torrential rains of a mother's weeping will never be done.
They call him a hero, you should be glad he's one, but,Have you ever heard the sound of a mother screaming for her son?

Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?
They say he must be brave because his boy died for another mans lies.
The only thing he allows himself are long, deep sighs.
Have you ever heard the sound of a father holding back his cries?

Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?
They say he died so the flag will continue to wave,
But I believe he died because they had oil to save.
Have you ever heard the sound of taps played at your brother's grave?

Have you ever heard the sound of a Nation Rocked to Sleep?
The leaders want to keep you numb so the pain won't be so deep,
But if we the people let them continue, another mother will weep.
Have you ever heard the sound of a Nation Rocked to Sleep?
~ A Nation Rocked To Sleep/For CaseyBy Carly SheehanCopyrighted 2004

The sounds my daughter wrote about in her inspired poem, so poignantly and amazingly a few weeks after her brother, my son, was killed in Iraq, have been repeated over and over again too many times since the criminal invasion/occupation of Iraq began in March of 2003.

The saddest thing about the obscene sounds of violence is that they never should have been heard in the first place. From Maine to California, and from Baghdad to Falluja, these dirges were unnecessary. In my travels, and from hundreds of emails, phone calls, and cards and letters, I am discovering that people who formerly supported the invasion of Iraq are withdrawing their support. I even believe that many of our fellow citizens who still support the ignominy of Iraq are doing so because they are clinging to the deceptions so desperately, because they want the deceptions to so be the truth. It will be painful to come to terms with supporting the lies of this administration. It will be painful to know that wholesale killing of innocent people occurred because you and so many others believed the betrayals, but acknowledging the mistake is the first step to correcting it. And believe me, acknowledging the mistake is not as painful as hearing those devastating sounds.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has realized that he had been duped into supporting the invasion. I have spoken to him about his change of heart, and he is so sad that his wholehearted support of the administration helped cause so many good people to hear those gut wrenching sounds of grief. But he is going forward to do what he can to end this occupation as soon as possible. He has co-sponsored a bi-partisan bill (HRJ 55) with other Congressional leaders like Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Ron Paul (R-TX) to force our administration into a troop withdrawal beginning October 1, 2006. The bill is a good first step to ensuring that families here in America and all over the world do not have to suffer needless death in war. However, I would like the withdrawal to begin tomorrow, because I don't even want to try and imagine the sounds Casey heard before he died. I don't want to imagine the sound of the bullet strong enough to pierce the Kevlar coating on his helmet to rip through his skull. I don’t want to know the sounds of a mother in Iraq wailing for her entire family. These sounds need to stop immediately. It is time to bring our troops home.

The sound I do want to hear is the sound of a Nation Waking Up. I will rejoice to hear the sounds of the collective Mea Culpa and the beating of breasts. I want to hear the deafening clicks as the steady stream of news-o-tainment is turned off, propaganda that is turning us into zombies who are numb to the truth. I want to hear the sound of our children getting off planes and boats from Iraq to the joyful squealing of their children and the deep sighs of relief from their spouses, parents, and other loved ones. I want to hear our citizenry lifting up their voices in chorus and singing, "We will never let this happen again."

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, KIA 04/04/04 She is co-founder of "Gold Star Families for Peace."
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/851

Monday, July 18, 2005

HEAR TAPE OF JULY 23, 2002, DOWNING STREET MEETING…

. . or an amazing 9-minute recreation thereof that uses the exact words of the "Downing Street Memo."
This remarkable audio production conveys far more clearly than the written word what went on behind closed doors that day three years ago. The cast and credits for this production, are as follows.
Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee John Scarlett -- Anonymous
Sir Richard Dearlove, the Chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) – John Rafter Lee
Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of Defence Staff – Demian Martell
Then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon – Ed Asner
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw -- Anonymous
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith – Larry Pressman
Sir David Manning, a foreign policy advisor – Brian O'Connor
Prime Minister Tony Blair – Demian Martell
Narrator – Mimi Kennedy
Recording Engineered By Michael Jay
LINK TO AUDIO AVAILABLE FOR USE ON RADIO:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/recreation.m3u
Take it and air it!
LINK TO TRANSCRIPT:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/drama2.pdf
CONTACT FOR INTERVIEWS:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/478

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Einstein says

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the

Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."



~ Albert Einstein

Friday, July 15, 2005

Probability of 7/7 Drill and Attack Coinciding

Probability of 7/7 Drill and Attack Coinciding
Infowars.com July 13, 2005
Comment:This is absolutely mind boggling. The chances for these two events taking place at the same time, let alone in the same locations are astronomical (numbers so big we had to look up how to say them). And these estimates are within a very conservative five year mean. In other words, most statistical analysis that is designed to create the impression of a similarly incredible improbability is usually framed within a greater amount of time: 50 years since England began experiencing bombings, 130 years since the Tube first opened, etc. We don't need to frame these results in that way because the chance is so low that these events would ever occur simultaneously without some sort of intervention that one might go so far as to call it impossible.
Probability of 7/7 Drill and Attack Coinciding LU Stations: 274
RELATED:
Explosions In London
Probability of one attack by hour (5yr mean): One chance in 9,474,920
Open Hours per Day: 19
Probability of 3 station terror hit (5yr mean): One chance in 850,602,500,906,920,000,000
Open Days a Year: 364
Mean Sample frequent (yrs) 5 Probability of one attack by hour (10yr mean): One chance in 18,949,840
Mean Sample frequent (yrs) 10 Probability of 3 station terror hit (10yr mean):One chance in 6,804,820,007,255,360,000,000Same Time 3 LU Stations: 274
Probability of drill on 1 stations per hour:One chance in 817,342
Open Hours per Day: 19
Probability of drill on 3 stations per hour:One chance in 546,023,643,432,766,000
Open Days a Year: 157 Same Time 3 PROBABILITY OF DRILL AND TERROR ATTACK COINCIDING BY CHANCE (10yr mean):One chance in 3,715,592,613,265,750,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000Estimate of Grains of sand in the whole world:7,500,000,000,000,000,000(http://www.miamisci.org/tripod/whysand.html)
In context: If I go to a beach, or a desert, or under the sea and pick a single grain of sand. What chance is there of you going to the same part of the world by chance and picking up the same grain? You are trillions of times more likely to do this that the London drill coinciding with this attack at that hour I wonder why the media aren't reporting the drill??

Action Alert:CAFTA & Codex

Action Alert:CAFTA & Codex

http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/update07.13.05.htm


July 13, 2005

Will the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) finally force you
to get a doctor's prescription just to buy vitamin C, or E, or other dietary
supplements you currently pick up "over the counter" in America? Powerful special
interests are banking on it.

Since 1995, Big Medicine has spent billions of dollars trying to get
Washington to
regulate your dietary supplements just as European governments do. So
far, that
effort has failed in America. But you may lose the battle for health
freedom if CAFTA
entangles the U.S. in Europe's infamous Codex Alimentarius (Codex).

And if you think CAFTA -- the bogus "free trade" agreement -- really has

nothing to
do with limiting the manufacture and distribution of dietary
supplements, then why
does it specifically mention Codex?

CAFTA, chapter 6, article 6.3.6(d) states: "The Committee [Committee on

Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Matters] shall provide a forum for consulting on
issues, positions,
and agendas for meetings of the WTO SPS Committee, the various Codex
committees (including the Codex Alimentarius Commission), the
International Plant
Protection Convention, the International Office of Epizootics, and other

international
and regional fora and food safety and human, animal, and plant health."

On top of this, CAFTA is being shoved down Congress' throat under
unconstitutional
"fast track" trade-negotiation authority. That way, Congress isn't
allowed to change
even one word it. That means Congress must either accept the Codex
language, or
reject all of CAFTA. The special interests love it -- they are betting
Congress doesn't
have the courage to dump CAFTA.

You see, CAFTA, like NAFTA, isn't really about free trade. It's about
managed trade
where government gets to pick the winners and losers. In this case,
major
pharmaceuticals win, and you, the consumer, lose. The pharmaceutical
companies
want government to "manage" the dietary supplement industry under Codex
in order
to drive out competitors so only they can manufacture and distribute
vitamin C and
other dietary supplements. If that happens, as it already has in
Europe, the
supplements you now take will be available only by prescription and at a

much higher
cost -- if they are available at all.

We will fight CAFTA, NAFTA, WTO and the like because they subjugate our
national
sovereignty to the "rulings" of global institutions and the whims of the

unelected
bureaucrats-for-life who run them. As this web of global governance
grows, our
freedom to choose shrinks -- and health freedom is just one example.

You can't afford to stay out of this fight.

Read "Your dietary supplements: Under attack again" by Henry Lamb, and
"Controversial EU vitamin ban to go ahead" by Sam Knight.

View the powerful documentary "We Become Silent" narrated by British
actress,
Dame Judi Dench. This film features Congressman Ron Paul.

Then, call your U.S. representative. Urge him or her to vote against --

to dump --
CAFTA. The U.S. House will likely vote on CAFTA next week.

This vote will be very close. They are keeping score on Capitol Hill
and your effort
counts.

"Your dietary supplements: Under attack again"
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44713

"Controversial EU vitamin ban to go ahead"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1690686,00.html

"We Become Silent"
http://www.welltv.com/

Congressional Directory
http://capwiz.com/liberty/dbq/officials/

The U.S. House is likely to vote on CAFTA next week. Please, take
action today --
and spread the word.

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee

a Patriot for Truth Who is Being Slandered

The Honorable Pat Roberts J. Rockefeller Dear Senator Roberts and Senator Rockefeller,

Dear Senator Roberts and Senator Rockefeller,

I read with great surprise and consternation the Niger portion of Senators Roberts, Bond and Hatch "additional comments to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee's Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Assessment on Iraq." I am taking this opportunity to clarify some of the issues raised in these comments.

First conclusion: "The plan to send the former ambassador to Niger was suggested by the former ambassador's wife, a CIA employee."

That is not true. The conclusion is apparently based on one anodyne quote from a memo Valerie Plame, my wife sent to her superiors that says "my husband has good relations with the PM (prime minister) and the former Minister of Mines, (not to mention lots of French contacts) both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity." There is no suggestion or recommendation in that statement that I be sent on the trip. Indeed it is little more than a recitation of my contacts and bona fides. The conclusion is reinforced by comments in the body of the report that a CPD reports officer stated the "the former ambassador's wife offered up his name'" (page 39) and a State Department Intelligence and Research officer that the "meeting was apparently convened by [the former ambassador's wife] who had the idea to dispatch him to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger uranium issue."

In fact, Valerie was not in the meeting at which the subject of my trip was raised. Neither was the CPD Reports officer. After having escorted me into the room, she departed the meeting to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest. It was at that meeting where the question of my traveling to Niger was broached with me for the first time and came only after a thorough discussion of what the participants did and did not know about the subject. My bona fides justifying the invitation to the meeting were the trip I had previously taken to Niger to look at other uranium related questions as well as 20 years living and working in Africa, and personal contacts throughout the Niger government. Neither the CPD reports officer nor the State analyst were in the chain of command to know who, or how, the decision was made. The interpretations attributed to them are not the full story. In fact, it is my understanding that the Reports Officer has a different conclusion about Valerie's role than the one offered in the "additional comments". I urge the committee to reinterview the officer and publicly publish his statement.
read more:
http://www.buzzflash.com/index.php?story=Story3

Thursday, July 14, 2005

UPDATE : Following Lies

British authorities finger patsies within days of bombings, country drinks it up, and it’s like Déjà vu all over again Posted Jul 14, 2005 10:17 AM PSTCategory: COVER-UP/DECEPTIONS
I got an email with an interesting rumor going around London that just before the attacks, someone was trying to hire Muslims to play terrorists for a terror drill, to try to sneak onto the trains and buses with fake bombs to test out the security.
We know the terror drill was real. We know they were running the drill at the exact same stations the bombings actually occurred.
We know that the accused bombers don't fit the profile of men ready to die for Allah. Indeed it is reported that some of them were not particularly religious.
And we are faced with the strange claim that these men, one of whom had a new family, carried bombs set on timers yet stood there waiting for the bombs to explode.
This makes sense ONLY if they thought they were carrying fake bombs as part of a terror drill. This also explains the nervousness of the man on the bus who had probably just heard of the real explosions and was starting to suspect that the fake bomb he was carrying might not be fake after all.
"Hey you, Muslim person. Wanna make a hundred pounds? You could use that kind of dough, with a new kid and all. We're running a terror drill, and all you gotta do is take this here harmless backpack with a fake bomb inside to work with you tomorrow, just to see if the subway guards catch you or not. Mum's the word, this is national security and all; you can't tell anyone!"

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

JOE WILSON: 'The President should fire Rove'!

JOE WILSON: 'The President should fire Rove'!
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2005-07-13 18:04. Evidence
The Ambassador Strikes Back, Answers to the Right Wing Spin Machine*** A BRAD BLOG EXCLUSIVE ***
Ambassador Joseph Wilson fired back today at the Rightwing Spin Machine, which, having been issued marching orders late yesterday in a set of talking points from the RNC , is...
Ambassador Joseph Wilson fired back today at the Rightwing Spin Machine, which, having been issued marching orders late yesterday in a set of talking points from the RNC, is once again hoping to distract from the potentially treasonous crimes that George W. Bush's top political operative and Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove is being alleged to have committed.
In a phone discussion early this afternoon, Wilson told The BRAD BLOG in no uncertain terms that "the President should fire Rove."
He told us that he'd be appearing on NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning and would be repeating that call.
As well, he told The BRAD BLOG that he planned to read a letter on air which he received from Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush shortly after an article of his was printed in the San Jose Weekly News, on October 13, 2002, in which Wilson related his concerns about the pitfalls of the approach to Iraq being taken at the time by both the U.N. and the U.S.
In reply to that article, Wilson said that the former President wrote that he had "read your article and I agree with a lot of it."
Additionally, Wilson explained, Bush 41's own National Security Advisor, Brett Scowcroft had contacted him to ask whether he "could walk on over to the White House with the letter" at the time. Which apparently he did.
Wilson also had sent the article to Bush 41's Secretary of State, James Baker.
"None of them responded saying you’re a Democratic partisan hack and your views suck," said Wilson.
The above points are notable, because armed with those RNC talking point, Rush Limbaugh, Fox "News" and Friends have today kicked into overdrive smearing and lying about Wilson, claiming that he was against the Iraq War from the get-go.
If fact, Wilson, who was in charge of the Embassy in Iraq during the first Gulf War under Bush 41 (he was the last American to speak personally with Saddam Hussein before the war begain, and was responsible for taking care of some 125 Americans who had sought refuge in the American Embassy there when they were not allowed by Saddam to leave the country just prior to the war), says that it was "a full eight months" after he was sent by the CIA to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium there, "before I had said anything publicly about what America should consider in regard to a war with Iraq."
"My real concern was always WMD," he told us, "not Regime Change."
That concern was expressed in the October 2002, San Jose Weekly News editorial which apparently George W. Bush's own father and National Security Advisor tended to agree with. Wilson's trip to Niger occurred a full eight months earlier, in February of that same year.
We asked him if he had heard Fox "News'" John Gibson make his deplorable and irresponsible statement yesterday which said that "Karl Rove should receive a medal," because Wilson's wife, covert CIA asset Valerie Plame, "should have been outted."
"Where I come from," slurred Gibson, "we do not want secret spy masters pulling the puppet strings in the background.
Gibson's "logic", such that he has any, seems to be based on the unsupported claims that Plame -- or Wilson's "little wifey" as Gibson condescendingly referred to her -- was "pulling the puppet strings" of national policy from her covert position in the CIA by sending Wilson, to Niger. That was, in Gibson's false claim, because Wilson, "was opposed to the War in Iraq, opposed to Bush policy, and pointedly and loudly said so."
No, he didn't, Mr. Gibson. Never mind those pesky facts. It's only Fox "News" you work for, so we realize such facts are hardly relevant to you receiving your paycheck there.
"That is something that should be out in the open," blathered Gibson, "And the person doing it should be identified and should own up to it. So Rove should get a medal, if he did do what he says he didn't do."
In response, Wilson simply said, "Well, that's a lie. But no surprise there."
In the meantime, despite such pesky facts, the wingnuts also continue to claim that Plame was, in fact, not even a covert asset at the time of her outting.
The BRAD BLOG has learned from several sources, as also confirmed in Time magazine that Plame was indeed a "NOC", a nonofficial covert agent, the most valuable and secretive of CIA assets.
In regard to whether she was covert or not at the time of her outting by Rove, Bob Novak or whoever his "two senior administration sources" were, Wilson said, "What I can say is, that the CIA looked at the evidence of what had happened and referred the case to the Justice Department. That means that the CIA may think that a crime has been committed."
On Rightwing Hackery hoping to cynically deflect from the seriousness of the potentially treasonous crime committed by claiming that "Wilson lied" about his wife's involvement in sending him to Niger, Wilson says, "In actual fact, all I've done is repeat what the CIA itself has said since July 22nd, 2003 as reported initially in Newsday by Knut Royce and Tim Phelps."
That Newsday article says [emphasis added]:
A senior intelligence official confirmed that Plame was a Directorate of Operations undercover officer who worked "alongside" the operations officers who asked her husband to travel to Niger.
But he said she did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment. "They [the officers who did ask Wilson to check the uranium story] were aware of who she was married to, which is not surprising," he said. "There are people elsewhere in government who are trying to make her look like she was the one who was cooking this up, for some reason," he said. "I can't figure out what it could be."
"The CIA said [my wife] was not the person to have authorized my trip. They've repeated that time and time again."
And the Bush Apologists, who suddenly don't seem to care all that much about National Security after all, keep repeating the opposite. Time and time again.
LINK TO ORIGINAL
Comment viewing options

Sunday, July 10, 2005

The Trouble With Normal

So DailyKos has conducted a "mass banning" of those who had been "perpetuating a series of bizarre, off-the-wall, unsupported and frankly embarassing conspiracy theories." I hope no one is terribly surprised by this development. From the darlings of alternative media, purges usually follow their contributors' binges of unproscribed spelunking into the deep politics of a mass event. If someone like Kos doesn't distance himself from inquiries that offend mainstream sensibilities he risks the loss of the honourary privileges extended to the pacified blogosphere, and where is he then? Just another former Republican who has a problem with women. And since inquiry isn't his strong suit - Kos regards the theft of the 2004 election as just another "conspiracy theory" and can write with a Bushian lack of irony that he has a "high tolerance level for material I deem appropriate" - making it a sacrificial offering to the incurious middle couldn't have been a tough call.More than truth, such people crave respectability, which they call "credibility" because it conforms to the conventional wisdom of those whose approval they seek. This becomes the capital they believe they trade for "influence," which is nothing more than their place in punditry's pecking order.
more:
http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/07/trouble-with-normal.html

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Ambassador Joe Wilson

Ambassador Joe Wilson -- Still Fighting the Bush Administration's "Culture of Unaccountability"
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2005-07-09 11:58. Evidence
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
In my judgment, a smear campaign operated out of the White House is unethical, to say the least. The First Amendment specifically says that nothing should be done to abridge a citizen's right to petition his government to redress a grievance. The attack on me, through the compromise of Valerie's identity, is an assault on not just my petition to redress a grievance, but it is also a deterrent to other citizens who might step forward. That is why I have always argued that Rove should be fired, even if no indictments are forthcoming.
* * *
If there's a list of people who have fearlessly stood up for democracy, decency and the truth against the corrupt buzzsaw of the Bush Administration, Ambassador Joe Wilson is certainly at the top of the list.
From the moment that what has become known as "Plamegate" emerged on the horizon (as a result of a David Corn column), BuzzFlash has been at the lead of media outlets demanding accountability from the White House. Although the mainstream corporate media is now focusing on the legal issue of whether Karl Rove or other White House staffers will be indicted, the more preeminent issue is that the Bush White House committed treason by betraying the national security of the United States of America. This is a fact that doesn't need to be legally adjudicated to be recognized.
Yet the mainstream corporate media will claim that the White House has been vindicated, if no legal charges are forthcoming. Likewise, Rove and the "Iraq Group" responsible for pulling the rug out from under our covert tracking of Weapons of Mass Destruction will be declared "vindicated" if the Bush-dominated Washington, D.C., Appeals Court overturns any convictions that might be obtained (as Judges Sentelle and Silberman, GOP activist/partisan federal jurists, did with Oliver North and John Poindexter).
A crime against a nation does not need to be legally identified when it is staring us in the face. All Bush had to do was root out the traitors to the nation on his staff and fire them. But if he fired Karl Rove, it would be like lobotomizing his own brain. So the individuals who sold out America in an effort to bully and intimidate truth tellers are still running the United States.
In this context, BuzzFlash is proud to have conducted an e-mail interview with Ambassador Joe Wilson on Friday, July 8.
read more:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/696

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Saudis warn of shortfalls as oil hits $61

Saudis warn of shortfalls as oil hits $61By Carola Hoyos and Neil Dennis in LondonPublished: July 6 2005 22:02 Last updated: July 6 2005 22:02

Oil prices hit new record highs above $61 a barrel on Thursday, driven by short-term supply fears as the first hurricane of the season threatened crude production and refinery operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
//
But private warnings also point to a worsening long-term outllook, with Saudi officials saying that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will be unable to meet projected western demand in 10 to 15 years.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e0cdc282-ee47-11d9-98e5-00000e2511c8.html

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

A lot of talking

A lot of talking just brings quarrels; act as if you were dumb.

-- The Words of My Perfect Teacher, by Patrul Rinpoche, Shambhala

Friday, July 01, 2005

Phenomena

Padampa Sangye says:

Phenomena arise as enemies; stay in hermitages or in the mountains.

-- The Words of My Perfect Teacher, by Patrul Rinpoche, Shambhala

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Saudi Oil Bombshell

"There is only a small probability that Saudi Arabia will ever deliver the quantities of petroleum that are assigned to it in all the major forecasts of world oil production and consumption," Simmons writes in Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. "Saudi Arabian production," he adds, italicizing his claims to drive home his point, "is at or very near its peak sustainable volume ... and it is likely to go into decline in the very foreseeable future."

First, a few words about the author of Twilight in the Desert. Matthew ("Matt") Simmons is not a militant environmentalist or anti-oil partisan; he is chairman and chief executive officer of one of the nation's leading oil-industry investment banks, Simmons & Company International. For decades, Simmons has been pouring billions of dollars into the energy business, financing the exploration and development of new oil reservoirs. In the process, he has become a friend and associate of many of the top figures in the oil industry, including Bush and Cheney. He has also accumulated a vast storehouse of information about the world's major oilfields, the prospects for new discoveries, and the techniques for extracting and marketing petroleum. There is virtually no figure better equipped than Simmons to assess the state of the world's oil supply. And this is why his assessment of Saudi Arabia's oil production capacity is so devastating.

"The 'twilight' of Saudi Arabian oil envisioned in this book is not a remote fantasy. Ninety percent of all the oil that Saudi Arabia has ever produced has come from seven giant fields. All have now matured and grown old, but they still continue to provide around 90 percent of current Saudi oil output ... High-volume production at these key fields ... has been maintained for decades by injecting massive amounts of water that serves to keep pressures high in the huge underground reservoirs ... When these water projection programs end in each field, steep production declines are almost inevitable."
More here:
http://www.jcrows.com/saudioil.html

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Material Objects

Padampa Sangye says:

Material objects are like clouds and mist; never think they might last.

-- The Words of My Perfect Teacher, by Patrul Rinpoche, Shambhala

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Original Sin

ORIGINAL SIN

Coming from a tradition that stresses human goodness, it was something of ashock for me to encounter the Western tradition of original sin....It seemsthat this notion of original sin does not just pervade Western religiousideas; it actually seems to run throughout Western thought as well,especially psychological thought. Among patients, theoreticians, andtherapists alike, there seems to be great concern with the idea of someoriginal mistake which causes later suffering -- a kind of punishment forthat mistake. One finds that a sense of guilt or being wounded is quitepervasive. Whether or not such people actually believe in the idea oforiginal sin, or in God for that matter, they seem to feel that they havedone something wrong in the past and are now being punished for it..... The problem with this notion of original sin or mistake is that itacts very much as a hindrance to people. At some point, of course it isnecessary to realize one's shortcomings. But if one goes too far with that,it kills any inspiration and can destroy one's vision as well. So in thatway, it really is not helpful, and in fact it seems unnecessary. As Imentioned, in Buddhism we do not have any comparable ideas of sin andguilt. Obviously there is the idea that one should avoid mistakes. Butthere is not anything comparable to the heaviness and inescapability oforiginal sin.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, From "The Meeting of Buddhist and Western Psychology" in THE SANITY WE ARE BORN WITH: A BUDDHIST APPROACH TO PSYCHOLOGY

Friday, June 24, 2005

A vague and convenient concept

The self is simply a vague and convenient concept that we project now here and now there onto a stream of experiences, and it is nothing in or of itself.

--Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Summer Solstice

Intention is the karma of the mind.

­ Gunaprabha, The Treasury of Abhidharma

Nagarjuna writes:

Amassing wealth, watching over it and making it grow will wear you out.Understand that riches bring unending ruin and destruction.

--The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche, Shambhala

Through the force of its habitual tendencies, the confused mind manifests as the illusory appearance of a variety of colors, shapes, forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, and sensations.

--The IX Gyalwa Karmapa, The Ocean of Definitive Meaning

Saturday, June 18, 2005

pun intended

I sent ten puns to all my friends hoping that at least one
would make them laugh.
Sadly, no pun in ten did.

June 18 2005

I am re reading Tsultrim Allione's Women of Wisdom lately. The energy leaps. Ringing, is her elaboration on the twilight and condensed languages of the dakini.Carry on everyone.