The Main 4 Types of Giving

The 4 Main Kinds Of Giving:
1. Giving material things: giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to those who haven't any, and things to the poor and needy.
2. Giving protection: offering refuge to those who are frightened, medicine to the sick, and so forth.
3. Giving love: comforting the unhappy. With great love we can give away our things and even our body.
4. Giving Dharma: whispering into the ears of sentient beings the names of Buddha, holy syllables, and mantras, or giving Dharma teachings and instructions to those who desire them, and so on.
--H.E. Kalu Rinpoche Dorje Chang, from: Luminous Mind - The Way Of The Buddha, Wisdom Publishing

Dreams, Sleep and the Inner Landscape

An Interview with Dr. Yeshe Dhonden (circa 1985) on Dreams, Sleep, and the Inner Landscape From The Point of View of Tibetan Medicine
http://jcrows.com/drd.html

Saraha

To leave aside your own nature and search elsewhere is extremely deluded. --Saraha, Three Cycles of Dohas

Make Friends with fear

MAKE FRIENDS WITH FEAR

In order to understand the notion of fearlessness, one has to understand fear itself. Fear is a trembling, shaky feeling of being afraid of nonexistence....Such fear is not necessarily regarded as problematic. It is like an attack of sneezing. But you have to study your fear, definitely: how it arises, how it manifests, and how it is actualized. When you begin to understand such fear, then you begin to find that it is almost a big joke. But you shouldn't try to cast fear out. Fear should be regarded as the kindling you use to build a big fire of fearlessness. So you have to understand fear as the starting point of fearlessness. Fear is not regarded as black, and fearlessness is not regarded as white. You have to make friends with fear.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo

Sacredness and Society

SACREDNESS AND SOCIETY Sacredness is like putting on a fur coat in the biting cold of winter. Sacredness fulfills its purposes, and it also brings cheerfulness and goodness into our system so that we don't pollute the world. Sacredness is what allows us to say that the Shambhala principles can create an enlightened society. For instance, before we came into this room and before the banners were put up, this room was quite different. Now the banners have been put up and we are here, and that changes the atmosphere, the general dignity of the space all together. That is the notion of sacredness, at least in a superficial sense. rom "The Warrior's Way," a sourcebook for Shambhala Training, page 11. [Monday's quote, Making Friends with Fear, was also from this sourcebook.] All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo

SACREDNESS AND SUPERSTITION

SACREDNESS AND SUPERSTITION

There is a great deal of difference between sacredness and superstition. Superstition is believing something that you've been told, such as that, if somebody drops a rotten egg on your head, it is bad luck. Superstition has no foundation in basic practice. Sacredness, however, is like the experience when you look at pure gold: you get some transmission of pure goldness because gold IS pure and good. Similarly, when you converse with a person of great wisdom, the conversation doesn't necessarily have to be profound per se -- it could just be "hello" and "good-bye" -- but you experience the basic nature of goodness coming out of that person.

From "The Warrior's Way," a sourcebook for Shambhala Training, page 11.

All material by Chogyam Trungpa is copyright Diana J. Mukpo

Action Alert!->Proposed DEA Change in the regulation of Lugol's Solution of Iodine

There is a propsed DEA change in the regulation of products containing iodine and the corresponding thresholds that would be exempt and not exempt if the propsed Listing changes are put into effect.
It is neccessary to comment professionally and scientifically to the DEA and have them refrain from implementing the proposal as outlined.
There is a comment window open until Oct 10 2006. This may be done online. dea.diversion.policy@usdoj.gov or http://www.regulations.gov
The DEA's own statistics, in the proposal, show a decrease in seizures of iodine for illegal purposes.
The exisiting law, cited in the proposal, seems responsible and thorough as stated. I would like to see the industry and individuals defend the exisiting thresholds or suggest a slight modification to regulate only those thresholds above the original formulation for Lugol's Solution i.e.5% Iodine and 10% Potassium Iodide. The original Lugol's Solution of Iodine formula should remain available as the law now allows. It has been used for many worthwhile purposes for over 120 years. Please utilize whatever professional and legal channels may be available to you, for those of us interested in keeping the product and its legitimate use in science, education, and industry in continued use.
the proposal:
http://www.jcrows.com/iodinealert.html

Gently Whispered

One does not have to feel totally at the mercy of one's emotion. It is only when acquiescing to the emotion, or investing the emotion with the falsehood of reality, that one is forced to play out the consequences. --Kalu Rinpoche, Gently Whispered

Personally speaking I have never been put off

"Personally speaking I have never been put off. I never give up at all. I am not going to give up the cause of peace that might occur in this world. And I am looking forward to it in some sense. The more chaos happens, I feel more possibility of creating greater peace, and when I see more aggression, more chaos, I feel more encouraged. That is, my smile is never diminished. I always smile." -- Chogyam Trungpa (speaking to a Nova Scotia audience in 1982)

You can appreciate your life, even if it is an imperfect situation.

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

War, sadly, has remained a part of human history up to the present,

War, sadly, has remained a part of human history up to the present, but I think the time has come to change the concepts that lead to war. Some people consider war to be something glorious; they think that through war they can become heroes. This attitude toward war is very wrong. Recently an interviewer remarked to me, "Westerners have a great fear of death, but Easterners seem to have very little fear of death." To that I half-jokingly responded, "It seems to me that, to the Western mind, war and the military establishment are extremely important. War means death--by killing, not by natural causes. So it seems that, in fact, you are the ones who do not fear death, because you are so fond of war. We Easterners, particularly Tibetans, cannot even begin to consider war; we cannot conceive of fighting, because the inevitable result of war is disaster: death, injuries, and misery. Therefore, the concept of war, in our minds, is extremely negative. That would seem to mean we actually have more fear of death than you. Don't you think?" --from The Compassionate Life by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

APPRECIATE THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF YOUR ANCESTORS

APPRECIATE THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF YOUR ANCESTORS

We should not ignore the contributions of the past. The failure to appreciate the resourcefulness of human existence -- which we call basic goodness --has become one of the world's biggest problems. However, we need to find the link between tradition and the present experience of life. NOWNESS, or the magic of the present moment, is what joins the wisdom of the past with the present. When you appreciate a painting, a piece of music, or a work of literature, no matter when it was created, you appreciate it NOW. You experience the same nowness in which is was created. It is always NOW.

Slogan 34, in SHAMBHALA THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR BOOK AND CARD SET. Available at a 20% discount at Shambhala.com: http://shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/1-59030-177-3.cfm