"One of the facinating things about human beings is this: Believe for long enough you are not as smart as others and this will actually lead to intellectual ineptitude.
          "But, confronted with the same doubts, if you choose to believe your mind is merely dormant for now, lacking in exercise, once you begin to train it, there are no bounds to what you can achieve."

. . .

          "Of two people making comparable efforts, the results will differ greatly if one is motivated by a value transcending self--good, beauty, the well-being of others--while the other is motivated by ego [alone]."

 

Daisaku Ikeda. 2006. Buddhism Day by Day: Wisdom for Modern Life, pp. 269 & 272.

basic principles

question--under construction

principles further developed