The Buddha said, “What do you think, Sariputra? A blind person cannot see the sun or moon, is this the fault of the sun and moon, or the blind person?” Sariputra replied, “No, it is not the fault of the sun and the moon. The fault lies with the blind. The sun and the moon are quite clear. Just the blind cannot see them.”

The Buddha declared, “Likewise, Sariputra, sentient beings do not see the splendor and purity of the buddha field of the Tathagata due to their own afflictions. The Tathagata is not at fault. It is sentient beings who are impure, not the Tathagata. The realm of the Tathagata is very pure, you just don’t see it.”

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO THE VAJRAYANA PATH - A Compendium of the Vajrayana

The first step is to sever the right eye of the enemy from his or her body and put it somewhere. Of course, this is just a visualization since we cannot possibly gouge out the right eye of a person. Next, visualize removing the left eye from the body and putting it in a certain place, then the ear, nose, tongue, skin, bone, muscle, hair, blood, and different organs; remove whatever can be removed and place it in front of yourself.

Then contemplate: normally I have absolutely no control over the deep hatred I feel for this person. But what among these things is the object of my hatred? Is it the eye, ear, nose, muscle, bone, or blood?

The result of this kind of investigation is that the enemy cannot be found. If the person doesn’t even exist, why would we hold feelings of anger toward his muscle, bone, and so forth? These component parts, the muscle, bone, etc., have never hurt me, not in this life nor will they in the next. Why should I bear grudge if they have never bothered me?

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

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

We should never rely too much on our senses because they are imperfect. The eye can only see the most superficial layer of the earth; we see light, but only a minute part of the spectrum. We hear sounds, but only ordinary sounds; we cannot distinguish between sound waves of higher or lower frequencies. Hence, we cannot conclude our sensory perceptions are absolutely real.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - The Significance of Buddhist Philosophy Today

The way is to recognize clearly the cause of one's suffering in countless lifetimes is selfishness. That includes suffering of death in this life as well as innumerable such suffering over previous lifetimes. In the context of relative truth, selfishness is a mistaken concept; in the ultimate truth, there is neither self nor life or death. Therefore, we must resolutely put an end to all those notions born of selfishness, such as "I want", "I hate", "I like", "I ..." and so forth.

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

Our revered master H. H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche chose to go to Amitabha's pure land. Naturally, as followers, we should do likewise. If Pure Land practice has been undertaken on a regular basis, we will know what direction to take when facing death; without any preparation in advance when alive, we are likely to panic and not know what course to follow at the moment of death. Therefore, we should never underestimate the importance of both the practice and the pith instruction in end-of-life teachings. 

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

Anyway, the most important and the key difference between Buddhism and non-Buddhism lie in taking refuge in the Three Jewels. Accordingly, taking refuge is deemed a prerequisite for anyone who wants to learn Buddhism. However, it has never been forced upon anyone. Only those who want to learn the Buddha’s teachings or take up Buddhist practice must comply. Not taking refuge is to remain an outsider, is off the path to liberation and cannot be deemed a Buddhist.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Differences

Relatively speaking, the generation stage is already a great practice, but it is still an indirect path. We know that one cannot enter directly into the enlightened realm of the buddha by way of the generation stage alone; instead, one must first practice visualization with thangkas which, however, are painted by people and hence not quite the ultimate way. Whereas Dzogchen, by skipping these diversions and keeping only the essential point, enables the practitioners to attain the enlightened pure state directly and much faster through the practice of tögal. This is a very important point to note. However, tantric practitioners who do not have the capacity to practice Dzogchen must take the indirect path before reaching the final goal.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Sutra and Tantra: Similarities and Differences--based on the view of Rongzom Pandita

The other extreme is to believe everything ends when one is dead. At the time of birth, one is born with the body; there is no past life to speak of. When the body stops functioning, life ends, leaving no sense of joy or pain any more. As such, those holding this view have little inhibition to do unwholesome things when alive. Although not knowing what death is about, they pretend not to care nor to fear death, making no preparation at all for the imminent end of life. This is simply ignorance.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-Understanding Death