Desire can be good or bad. Good desire is a driving force for Dharma practice and gaining enlightenment. Worldly desire, if unrestrained, can ruin a person.

Since ancient times, the one thing human beings have always longed for is happiness. Yet, with all the progress in society, what we believe to be happiness has eluded us. The rapid decline in the index on global well-being has compelled all of us to rethink: What is happiness? How do we find it? In recent years, this topic has generated even greater interest.

~ Depicted from THE PAPER TIGER - The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness

People can never be fully satisfied with their lives if they do not know how to control their desires, as desires can grow and expand endlessly. No matter who you are, there will always be someone who is better than you. If your aim is to get to the top social stratum, your whole life will be spent in the pursuit of such vanity until the end. The consequence of chasing endless desires is never to be happy. Many such cases can be found in our daily life either from our own experience or that of other people. It is therefore important to be content with fewer desires in life.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6

We must realize that if we fail to take the first step in this life, we may not have another chance, as being reborn in the human realm is not guaranteed and the opportunity to continue our spiritual practice in the next life even less secured. So, we must begin now. Even if we do not advance very far with this first step, a very good foundation should have been laid for the next life. And the inherent blessing of bodhicitta will ensure the necessary conditions for practice to be continued then. Thus, no matter where and what the next life will take us, we will undoubtedly be reborn with unique qualities, that is, with compassion and bodhicitta. This first step is, therefore, very crucial.

~ Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Supreme Methods—the ultimate methods of cultivating virtue and training the mind

People think that desire motivates growth and development of mankind, a point that is not rejected by Buddhism either. It is said in the Mahayana scriptures that there must be self-grasping as great as Mount Sumeru in order to attain Buddhahood. Normally, self-grasping is condemned in Buddhism because it can cause greed, anger and delusion to arise. But here, it becomes the impetus to seek liberation; to certain extent, this is also a kind of desire. When desire to attain Buddhahood is absent, aspiration to learn Buddhadharm, to achieve enlightenment and to benefit sentient beings will not happen either. Genuine Dharma practice is a big, demanding and time consuming project that needs sufficient courage and drive to achieve its goal, and the source of this courage is the desire to attain Buddhahood. Arhats, lacking such desire, do not have the motivation to reach Buddhahood and hence seek only liberation for themselves.

~ Depicted from "THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE"S JOURNEY : On The Three Poisons - How to Handle Desire"

Perhaps many people believe that applying Buddhism in their daily life means to regularly perform volunteer work, or to donate property, blood, organs, etc., as well as the various acts advocated by the “Buddhist Vehicle of gods and men”.

Although we cannot deny this is also applying Dharma in daily life, such love and compassion are also possessed by heretics, and even by the ordinary kind-hearted people in society.  However, if one does not have compassion, altruism and renunciation mind, this can only be considered to be the specific behavior which a Buddhist should have.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 7

People can never be fully satisfied with their lives if they do not know how to control their desires, as desires can grow and expand endlessly. No matter who you are, there will always be someone who is better than you. If your aim is to get to the top social stratum, your whole life will be spent in the pursuit of such vanity until the end. The consequence of chasing endless desires is never to be happy. Many such cases can be found in our daily life either from our own experience or that of other people. It is therefore important to be content with fewer desires in life.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6

The minimum goal we should set for ourselves of this life is to enter the bodhisattva’s path of accumulation, which is the first step, a must, to start the journey of dharma practice. What then is the primary factor leading to the path of accumulation? It is genuine bodhicitta. Surely you all know the definition of bodhicitta. Many may even be able to expound methodically its actual practice. However, it would be hard to say how many of you can actually arouse genuine bodhicitta.

~ Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Supreme Methods—the ultimate methods of cultivating virtue and training the mind

According to the sutras, great merit and virtue may be obtained by doing good deeds on ordinary auspicious days, and this is especially so during the four festivals; doing any good deeds such as chanting, prostrations, making offerings, offering vegetarian meals for the ordained sangha, keeping precepts, and practicing compassion and bodhicitta can ensure a billion times more merit and virtue. That is to say, only chanting a mantra once on such days can help you receive the merit of chanting it a billion times on other days, and so on.

Therefore, be sure not to miss such great opportunities to do your best in doing good deeds such as eating vegetarian food, stopping killing, and releasing lives, which are all very important.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3