James Clear on Opportunity Cost for Greatness

vutran | May 24, 2020, 2:17 p.m.

"A practical definition of opportunity cost:

If you spend too much time working on good things, then you don’t have much time left to work on great things.

Understanding opportunity cost means eliminating good uses of time. And that's what makes it hard." 

— James Clear

James Clear on Curiosity

vutran | May 24, 2020, 2:16 p.m.

"Knowledge is the compound interest of curiosity." 

— James Clear

Ralph Waldo Emerson on foolish consistency

vutran | May 22, 2020, 10:52 a.m.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Sutra on aspirations of sentient beings

vutran | May 22, 2020, 10:51 a.m.

If one is unable to manage such a great deed as fulfilling the aspirations of sentient beings, and always holding them to be dear and precious, even though he may seek the Dharma everywhere, his practice will definitely not be rewarded with success. 

There is a story that illustrates this in the sutra:  Once upon a time, there were a father and a son who were in possession of a wish- fulfilling gem. One day, while they were on a journey, the father became tired and wanted to take a short nap. Before laying down, he said to his son: “Take good care of the wish-granting gem, and during my nap, be sure not to give it to anyone.” Soon after, the father closed his eyes and fell asleep. A short while later, a band of thieves came walking up the road. Seeing the child sitting there holding the wish-fulfilling gem, they demanded that he give it to them. The child replied: “I cannot give it to you because just before my father fell asleep, he told me not to give the wish-fulfilling gem to anyone.” One of the thieves reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of candy and held one of the sweet morsels out to the boy. “The shiny stone that you are holding is useless to you, but these candies are sweet and you can eat as many as you like right now. Come on, let’s make a trade.” The child looked longingly at the bag of candy in the thieves’ hand and after only a moment of hesitation, handed over the wish- fulfilling gem in exchange for the bag of candy. When the father woke up, and heard that the son had traded the wish-fulfilling gem of all the magical properties for a simple bag of candy, he was very upset and disappointed. 

Dharma practice is the same: once you have abandoned its essential principal, even if you receive some minor sense of happiness, you will never realize its greatest benefits. For example, if you judge one sentient being as inferior and another as unattractive, if you feel anger or resentment towards them, then you have abandoned the Bodhicitta mind and your so- called spiritual practice will bring very little, if any, true merit.

— Kenpo Sodargye

Garry Keller on expertise

vutran | May 22, 2020, 10:48 a.m.

"Elite performers actively seek out teachers, coaches and engage in supervised trainings. The trainings that help moving from "E" to "P", amateurs do not have that practice."  

— Garry Keller

Shantideva on Transcendent

vutran | May 22, 2020, 10:46 a.m.

“Transcendent patience does not come to be, when harm is absent.” 

— Shantideva 

Garry Keller on the choice of between author and victim

vutran | May 22, 2020, 10:45 a.m.

"When life happens, you can be either the author of your life or the victim of it. Those are your only two choices— accountable or unaccountable. This may sound harsh, but it’s true. Every day we choose one approach or the other, and the consequences follow us forever."

— Garry Keller