conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice about THINLEY, NORBU, Nyingma with the genre: Christian Books & Bibles, Christian Living.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: THINLEY NORBU (1931-2011) was a prominent master of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, revered as an emanation of Longchenpa, a great scholar-saint of the fourteenth century. Among Kyabje the author's numerous books are A Cascading Waterfall of Nectar, The Sole Panacea, and A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first five paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice
  I would like philosophy if I could learn the many different philosophical systems through deductive reasoning without mixing them and with open vision like an ocean frog. But I am afraid that if I learn through my rigid intellectual mind, pride will arise and I will never believe the vastness of other systems. I will only constantly make judgments, trying to criticize and reject with a narrow mind like a frog in a well. I'm afraid that my natural mind will be distorted into a conceited mind. So I'd better try to stay in ordinary mind without judgment.
  I would like to be a scholar if I could analyze all of the different systems of knowledge through clear discriminating wisdom, without anxiety about rank. But I'm afraid I would be an ordinary scholar, swelling his limited knowledge and holding his chin high with no respect toward other experts or toward wise men. So maybe I'd better try to stay in ordinary mind without thinking of onstage lectures and other scholarly activities.
  I would like to be powerful if I could have absolute trust in wisdom mind, which is never overcome by ordinary spiritual or technical power. This means I would constantly practice with bad and good circumstances.
  When bad circumstances such as poverty, sickness, suffering, bad reputation, or insult arose, I would see that poverty came from stinginess, sickness and suffering from violence toward others, bad reputation from jealousy, and insults from conceit. And I would not want to blame others for these circumstances, but rather would realize that they arose from previous karma and that they are just illusions created by my dualistic mind. I would acknowledge their karmic cause and try to purify them through skillful means.
  When good circumstances arose, such as wealth, health, good reputation, and praise, I would see my wealth to have come from previous generosity, my health from love and kindness toward other beings, and my good reputation from praise toward others. As these good circumstances arose, I would dedicate them for the benefit of all sentient beings, and, once more recognizing them to be illusions from my dualistic mind, I would try not to make them real by grasping or boasting about them.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gypsy Gossip and Other Advice
  I would like philosophy if I could learn the many different philosophical systems through deductive reasoning without mixing them and with open vision like an ocean frog. But I am afraid that if I learn through my rigid intellectual mind, pride will arise and I will never believe the vastness of other systems. I will only constantly make judgments, trying to criticize and reject with a narrow mind like a frog in a well. I'm afraid that my natural mind will be distorted into a conceited mind. So I'd better try to stay in ordinary mind without judgment.
  I would like to be a scholar if I could analyze all of the different systems of knowledge through clear discriminating wisdom, without anxiety about rank. But I'm afraid I would be an ordinary scholar, swelling his limited knowledge and holding his chin high with no respect toward other experts or toward wise men. So maybe I'd better try to stay in ordinary mind without thinking of onstage lectures and other scholarly activities.
  I would like to be powerful if I could have absolute trust in wisdom mind, which is never overcome by ordinary spiritual or technical power. This means I would constantly practice with bad and good circumstances.
  When bad circumstances such as poverty, sickness, suffering, bad reputation, or insult arose, I would see that poverty came from stinginess, sickness and suffering from violence toward others, bad reputation from jealousy, and insults from conceit. And I would not want to blame others for these circumstances, but rather would realize that they arose from previous karma and that they are just illusions created by my dualistic mind. I would acknowledge their karmic cause and try to purify them through skillful means.
  When good circumstances arose, such as wealth, health, good reputation, and praise, I would see my wealth to have come from previous generosity, my health from love and kindness toward other beings, and my good reputation from praise toward others.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me three more paragraphs.. Start with the sentence 'Previously in Tibet, since positive Dharma habits had existed for many generations, children grew up with faith blossoming toward positive objects naturally'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Previously in Tibet, since positive Dharma habits had existed for many generations, children grew up with faith blossoming toward positive objects naturally. Faith itself was called one of the seven jewels and considered most precious, along with morality, the positive habit of generosity, liberating the nature of mind through hearing Dharma, being ethical oneself, being embarrassed to do anything wrong in relation to others, and being wise. From early childhood, when the senses began to connect with objects, parents would teach their children that there are sublime beings who are to be worshiped and praised. They would show their children statues and tangkas of Buddhas, altars, holy teachers, and texts of the writings of sublime beings, and with good intentions they would influence them or even impose on them to respect these objects of worship, to hold their clasped hands in the gesture of prayer, and to do prostrations before them with humility about oneself, which causes spiritual qualities. Toddlers starting to mumble their first words were taught the names of the Triple Gems, the names of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and the mantras of deities, and they would start to repeat them. Of course, they may not have known the meaning of the Triple Gems, but they were raised so that the rekindling of Buddha nature was started through establishing the positive habit of beginning to believe at an early age. Later, as children's minds developed and they were able to understand teachings about Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, they began to learn Dharma their parents had received from teachers.
  Children naturally had to act in accord with the attitudes of others, so they could not be against Dharma, temples, statues, teachers, and those who were elder, respectable, or wise, including their own parents, because it would be against Buddhist beliefs and they would become outcasts. Because everyone, from laypeople up to learned scholars, was influenced by Buddha's speech and believed in the Buddhist karmic system, they paid attention to cause and result, which prevented them from doing what was wrong. Whether or not young children understood the karmic system thoroughly, at least they would consider what their parents and others would think, and they would not immediately act on negative thoughts. Even if they were naughty and wanted to do something wrong or did not want to do something right, they thought about the consequences of their actions as they had been taught to do. Therefore, in my time, Buddhist children generally were not wild, because they were in Dharma and they would naturally behave in a disciplined manner unless there was someone who had especially bad karma. Even if children had a bad thought, a second thought would come because of their belief in karma. From the beginning of life, people's attitudes were formed within this Buddhist atmosphere, and the entire culture was influenced by the spiritual basis of Buddhism.
  The upbringing of Western children and the general attitudes of Westerners have a different basis. Westerners are not taught in the same way about sublime objects or about humility, because there is a fear of losing selfhood, or "I," to anyone else. Even when children are taught about religion, the main cultural view is still conveyed, which is to construct a self and to make that self powerful. Instead of cultivating humility, children are taught to have self-confidence without a point of view, that self-determination is positive, and to build enormous self-righteousness.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last three paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: All fortunate beings including myself cannot find any other guide such as you, the essence of all Buddhas.
  So, for me, could you give a prayer, unelaborate and essential, with profound meaning and great blessings to attain enlightenment swiftly,
  These Dharma dances are made for invocation and offering. Whoever sees them is supposed to believe positively in the activities of wisdom deities. They are only positive and auspicious, for immeasurable accumulation. By this virtue, may all beings, including whoever is connected with these dance offerings, obtain a wholesome precious human body up to attaining the flawless ecstasy of fully enlightened wisdom body.