The purpose of practicing the Second Dharma Seal is to develop renunciation. This renunciation is the genuine intention to be free from suffering in the six realms of rebirth in samsara, not in pure land. Hence, whether there is suffering or not in Amitabha pure land is irrelevant to the actual practice. We only need to understand this point.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - All Contaminated Things are Unsatisfactory

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. 

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - Liberating Living Beings

Moral conduct does not imply going to the monastery to have vegetarian food, to recite the sutras, or to receive the precepts. It is a set of moral standards built on self-discipline. It is to know clearly what one should and should not do. The current problems that pervade everywhere such as contaminated cooking oil and milk powder are the result of moral decline. Upholding moral conduct is the bottom line for a corporation, with which it will not lose its corporate conscience for a profit.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - Buddhism and the Business World – Six Standards in a Corporate Culture

To know death correctly can help us overcome fear, anxiety and evasion when death is mentioned because we already know that death is only a part of the cyclic process of life, not the end. There is no need to feel disheartened and pessimistic when facing death. On the contrary, we may even be able to elevate our life to a different level when in death if we know how to make use of the opportunity.

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

Buddhism actually means Buddhist studies, a subject taught and transmitted by the Buddha; or, a way through which ordinary people can learn to reach Buddhahood.

In the scriptures, Buddhism is defined by the two words—“doctrine” and “realization.” Doctrine refers to the teachings transmitted by the Buddha himself or the commentaries on canonical texts and other treatises written by the bodhisattvas after the Buddha gave his blessing and approval, such as the Tibetan Buddhist canon of Kangyur (The Translation of the Word) and Tengyur (Translation of Treatises). Realization refers to personal realization gained through practice, which encompasses discipline, meditation and wisdom. In other words, “doctrine” and “realization” stand for the whole of Buddha Dharma. Two other words, even more significant, can also summarize the full meaning of the Dharma, that is, “compassion” and “wisdom”, which will serve as the cornerstone of our discussion on Buddhism here.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - Buddhism—the Definition

In this Age of Dharma Decline, practitioners always tend to have myriad problems. For example, they pay less attention to the foundational elements of achieving accomplishment in Vajrayana practice such as visualization, recitation, cultivation of the right view, mindfulness, etc., but busy themselves instead with just the formalities of practice such as the mandalas, rituals, offerings, vajra dance, and so on. In so doing, the result from practice cannot manifest, nor can the four activities (pacifying, enriching, magnetizing, subjugating) be accomplished.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - The Generation Stage

Someone had asked on the web about how to benefit beings that were about to be killed in a market or some other places if there was not enough money to buy their freedom. The easy way is simply to recite the Buddha’s names to them. If you happen to have some pure nectar pills, feed them those. Otherwise, just recite the Buddha’s names and mantras. The merit of reciting and hearing the Buddha’s names and mantras is beyond imagination, which undoubtedly will benefit the poor beings. For example, as recorded in many sutras, simply by reciting the heart mantra of Shakyamuni Buddha (om muni muni maha muniye svaha) had in the past led many to the attainment of Buddhahood.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW -Liberating Living Beings

People who do not understand Buddhism think it is pessimistic and passive, since the doctrine teaches all is suffering, samsara is suffering, life is filled with suffering, etc. Actually, Buddhist followers are not pessimistic at all; instead, ordinary people are the most pessimistic.

A lot of people are optimistic and hopeful when they are young, especially when their career or business is successful. However, once difficulties arise, they quickly fall into despair and become very pessimistic, to the point of taking their own lives. That is true pessimism. Many people today have an extremely passive and negative outlook on life, thinking they have only a few decades remaining in their lives, following which they will turn to stone, dirt, etc. Buddhism does not see it this way.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - The Practice of Suffering

There is an analogy for this. When ink is poured on the snow, the snow will be turned into ink color. After it melts, the color can still be seen on the ground. Similarly, if karma is born of defilements, the karmic mark will be left in the alaya consciousness after defilements are gone. Karma (or cause) is kind of a unique ability. Although our eyes cannot see how rice seeds germinate, they do have within themselves the capacity to do so. Likewise, when a karmic seed is planted in the alaya consciousness, it will yield fruit when all the right conditions come together. This fruit is also called karmic effect. And this particular capacity of the alaya consciousness to yield karmic fruit is the inherent nature of cause.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - On Cause and Effect