Commoners tend to think… if I contribute or give, then I end up with nothing. This is a misconception. In the process of giving, one is bound to attain more, according to Mahayana doctrines. It’s awful not having loving kindness. A person without loving kindness deems wealth and gain paramount, without any restraints, it’s hard to foretell what they will end up with.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Suffering conveys to us intangibly that it’s repaying karmic debt faced with suffering. When crops mature, their seeds dissolve. Likewise, having experienced suffering, a great deal of negative karma will be purified. Thus experiencing suffering is the way of purify obscurations. One needs to think that fortunately one’s own negative karma doesn’t mature in the three lower realms, instead it matures in the realm of human. It’s a positive thing, I should be happy about it.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Practice is to train our mind.Through training and practice the human mind can be transformed. A selfish mind can be transformed into a selfless mind that does everything to benefit all sentient beings. All of this depends on one’s continuous efforts. Without effort, no one can become such a person.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Preliminary practice entails five practices, starting from taking refuge, up to guru yoga. Relying on the capacity of these five practices, one can realise emptiness, which is referred to as realising the nature of mind in the Chan tradition, it means actualising the truth of phenomena. In tantric context, it’s referred to as realising the primordial wisdom. What is it meant by primordial wisdom? Buddha nature is the primordial wisdom.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
In degenerate times, sentient beings suffer from severe obscurations, and practitioners suffer from weak devotion in the Three Jewels and waning diligence compared to that of the Buddha’s time, thus it’s essential to lay a solid foundation of preliminary practice, which leads to the possibility to realise emptiness.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
The reason to practice dharma is to face, to control and to remove the afflictions. This is the mission and goal of Buddhists. To measure whether a Buddhist is good or bad, it is not to see who can recite more mantras or who has accumulated more merits, even it is not to see who is wealthier, healthier or having smooth progress in work. However, it is rather too see how much of afflictions that one has been diminished.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
What does lineage mean? It means a line of transmission of the dharma that is handed down by lineage masters such as Shakyamuni Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, etc. It’s a pure line of transmission of the dharma like the running river without stop. These lineages contain intangible blessings of lineage masters which can only be experienced in the process of practice; this is vital for our practice, thus it’s best to seek a pure lineage before one engages in tantric practice.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
What does “preliminary practice” of Tibetan Buddhism mean? It means preparatory practice. Despite the fact that ultimately we need to attain the wisdom of emptiness, without laying a solid foundation of cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta, we are not able to realise emptiness.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Once the opportunity to practise in this life is missed, no one can say whether we will have the chance to practise in our future lives. I can assure you that once the uncontrived bodhichitta is developed, this person will not degenerate or at least will never degenerate into one of the three lower realms, namely hell, hungry ghost or animal realm.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
