How can a person who has practiced virtue the entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, although the person may have been virtuous throughout this life, we do not know anything about this person’s previous lives. Maybe the person has been virtuous in this as well as the last two lifetimes, but it may not be so anymore if we could go back even further. Some negative karma might have been committed many lifetimes ago. From the perspective of the three types of immutable karma, virtuous karma that the person has committed in this life happens to ripen not in the current or the next life, but in the yet known future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years later.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - On Cause and Effect

What Buddhism does acknowledge is that sentient beings do not have free will over their cyclic existence, and that it is not without causes that we keep roaming about involuntarily in samsara. Yet causes and conditions can be changed and improved because they are compounded phenomena.

Fatalists think that everything is predestined and under no circumstances can it be changed. Buddhists do not acknowledge this viewpoint. Buddhism holds that even immutable karma can be changed with the attainment of realization of emptiness or true repentance. It is also owing to the view that compounded phenomena are not predestined, but can be improved, transformed and controlled, that we need to learn the Twelve Nidanas. It can be said that not knowing the Twelve Nidanas is in fact not to know ourselves.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Twelve Nidanas¹—the sequence of cyclic existence

People who do not understand cause and effect think it is very mysterious and filled with religious connotation. Actually there is nothing mysterious about it. If we are observant, we will discover all things around us – whether animals, vegetation, or mankind -- are subject to the law of cause and effect. A cause will always produce a result of the same kind. The ancients say: “You reap what you sow.” This is an objective principle of cause and effect. Although we cannot observe the subtle relationship between cause and effect with the eye, we can validate its existence conceptually. A lot of new discoveries in science were also assumed to be non-existent at one time because they could not be perceived by the eye. The law of cause and effect is no exception; it exists even if it cannot be seen.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - Spiritual Equipment for Modern Times

Buddha-dharma is not a philosophy to be appreciated from afar. Its wisdom is directly accessible and relevant to our problems in life. Unfortunately, most followers do not progress beyond an intellectual understanding of the Dharma, even those who have studied the five major treatises – Middle Way, logic, prajnaparamita, and other profound and significant texts. When confronted with life’s unexpected difficulties, they are lost and unable to put the teachings into practice. This is like a soldier who is armed with very sophisticated weapons; when confronted by the enemy, he is caught by surprise and does not know which weapon to use. How regrettable!

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - How to Face Suffering and Happiness-How to Face Suffering

We neither came to nor will leave this world voluntarily. However unwilling, we all have to go when it is time, not by choice and certainly not on our terms. As well, we came in the same fashion. If there were free choices, no being would want to be born as an ox or a horse. But the reality is that we see these poor beings all the time. If free will were possible, all beings would naturally choose to be king in the human realm or someone like Indra, the King of the gods, instead of an ox or a horse. This clearly shows that beings cannot choose the timing or the form of birth. One just has to come when it is time. Why?

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Twelve Nidanas¹—the sequence of cyclic existence

For those who do not normally practice, such visualization would be kind of hard to do. So quickly take up your practice now, starting with the preliminary practices, then the generation stage and yidam practices afterwards. To follow this sequence is very important. Of the five inner preliminary practices, the Vajrasattva and Guru Yoga practices are of the generation stage practice. If the bardo being was proficient in practice when alive, there is a chance that liberation can be attained directly through pure awareness or yidam in the intermediate state, thus taking no rebirth. Even failing this, one can still use this method to choose one’s direction and innate gifts in the next life. However, if this still fails to work and the image of a man and a woman in sexual union continues to appear, and desire and anger cannot be kept under control, the third option should be employed.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-How to Take Rebirth

Fatalists think that everything is predestined and under no circumstances can it be changed. Buddhists do not acknowledge this viewpoint. Buddhism holds that even immutable karma can be changed with the attainment of realization of emptiness or true repentance. It is also owing to the view that compounded phenomena are not predestined, but can be improved, transformed and controlled, that we need to learn the Twelve Nidanas. It can be said that not knowing the Twelve Nidanas is in fact not to know ourselves.

Those who are deemed the greats by the world, such as the respectable Nobel Prize winners, are really only adepts in their respective field that in terms of scope is still somewhat limited. Many of them possibly do not even understand their own nature, much less the mystery of mind. It is simply out of need, not curiosity, to resolve the question of cyclic rebirth that we now proceed to learn the Twelve Nidanas.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Twelve Nidanas¹—the sequence of cyclic existence

This is to sow the seeds of virtue before the moment of death. To be specific, one must first cut attachment to all possessions and then offer them to the Three Jewels. In doing so, one can also choose to give more to certain virtuous deeds which one considers capable of gathering the most merit. For instance, if one believes liberating living beings to be the most excellent act of virtue, one may offer one-third or a quarter of all properties to the Three Jewels and the rest to freeing lives; or, if one believes offering to the Sangha to be the most meritorious, one can offer most of one’s assets to the Sangha, leaving a small portion for other purposes. As exact allocations of assets are not provided in the sutras, the examples here are for reference only.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE JOURNEY- On Death And Rebirth-Key Points for Practicing Bodhicitta on Deathbed

To liberate lives is a common practice frequently performed by many Buddhists. When conducted properly, the resulting merit is boundless. Otherwise, the merit will be greatly diminished. It is therefore very important for us to know the proper way of liberating living beings.

All the activities of a bodhisattva can be put into six different categories, that is, the six paramitas or the six perfections. In other words, the bodhisattva’s view, conduct, practice and activities of benefiting and delivering sentient beings are vast like the ocean, but all can be summed up in the six paramitas.

If it is performed properly every time, liberating lives can have all the remarkable qualities of the six paramitas as well, even to liberate just a single life. Now let us see how this can be done.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW -Liberating Living Beings