What do you think of this quote ?

[floating_abu]

We all want to awaken, but we don't want to stop dreaming.

~ Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

(Source: Signature of Palzang on http://www.newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3228)

[PaulC]

I'd go along with it.

It's a paradox, and a tragedy.

[thornbush]

Totally agreed, a good reflection of today's condition....starting with me of course...

[Ngawang Drolma]

I like that quote a lot

[Luke]

That's a great quote. I think my first love was daydreaming.

Although until we awaken, all our thoughts about awakening are still just dreams. It's hard to dream your way out of a dream. That's why awakened teachers are so helpful: they can yank us out of our deep slumber. It's nice to have some awake people around to throw buckets of ice-cold water at us dreamers.

I still enjoy highly-samsaric teddy bears though...

[Ngawang Drolma]

It's hard to dream your way out of a dream.

[Eternal Spirit]

Dear Forum

After asking the Eternal Spirit, I think the quote means we do not have enough aspiration for ending suffering.

This is because we have not seen clearly enough for ourselves what suffering is.

It is like we have been sold an advertised dream of awakening rather than sought for ourselves a medicine for our self-diagnosed problems.

To find the Eternal Spirit, we must dream of the Eternal Spirit, which is that place of clarity & stillness within us.

To dream of the Eternal Spirit is the best of dreams. The Eternal Spirit is the purist of cleansing medicines.

[Ngawang Drolma]

we do not have enough aspiration for ending suffering.

This is actually pretty appropriate in a Mahayana/Vajrayana forum.

From where did the Buddha suggest we could draw aspiration?

[dumb bonbu]

From where did the Buddha suggest we could draw aspiration?

suffering. i imagine if we manage to realise that others suffering is our suffering also then aspiration shoots through the roof.

just my two cents

[Luke]

From where did the Buddha suggest we could draw aspiration?

suffering. i imagine if we manage to realise that others suffering is our suffering also then aspiration shoots through the roof.

just my two cents

And from death. When we realize our time in this human body is limited, we become motivated not to waste it.

GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA

[genkaku]

From where did the Buddha suggest we could draw aspiration?

My guess is ... from ourselves. As the Dalai Lama once put it, "Everyone wants to be happy." How anyone might go about achieving that state varies, but whatever the means, the self is the motivator. You don't have to shove death or Buddhism or anything else down anyone's throat ... they will figure it out for themselves... if they're lucky.

[Drolma]

If we wanted it bad enough, we would put in the effort.
Many have.
We may be lazy and habits may be hard to break, but we are not stuck.

From where did the Buddha suggest we could draw aspiration?

From investigating our own experiences and lives in cyclic existence.
Buddha taught Suffering and an end to Suffering.
We draw aspiration from the very start in The First Noble Truth and as we practice and
study, meditate and investigate, aspiration flows naturally.

[floating_abu]

Since I like to ask and answer, for my money, what seems to be incomplete in this picture is everyone already has all the tools and inventory necessary to actualise the end of suffering.

And this is not a new search for meaning or inviting distress or hunger - it's just the basic bag of inventory we all have already.

No extras needed.

As to the introductory post that may be true or not - but I think that for students who choose to sit meditation, who choose to exercise some care and attention in their lives, it is enough.