WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

This is a kind of intention and aspiration as well. For instance, if one wants to get up at five o'clock in the next morning, one must make resolute decision to wake up at that time when going to bed. Once the decision is made, one will naturally wake up on time even without the help of an alarm clock. Similarly, Arhats also rely on the power of induction when getting ready to enter into the state of cessation of feelings and perceptions (nirodha-samāpatti). For example, if planning to stay in the state of cessation for five days and emerge on the sixth day, one must make firm this intention before sitting down to meditate. Otherwise, as no thought will arise once entering the state of cessation, it will be impossible to emerge from samadhi on the sixth day without invoking the power of induction in advance. This is a very important point to note.

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

It is said in the scripture that ten persons cannot move a heavy log on the ground, but one person can easily pull the log if it’s thrown in the water. Similarly, it is very difficult for sentient beings to go to Sukhāvatī when alive, but much easier while in the intermediate state. It is because beings in the intermediate state, the bardo beings, have no actual body, only mental body—body created by consciousness. Just like in the outer space where there is zero gravity, a little push can point a body to a different direction; mental body can be led to Sukhāvatī with just a little guidance. Of course, one can also choose to be reborn in the pure realms of Maitreya or Padmasambhava, but Sukhāvatī is the most ideal and the easiest to go to, and one will never go back to samsara again from Sukhāvatī. At the same time, we must also take note that if there is any negative condition at this point such as the arising of an evil thought, it will be equally easy to fall into the lower realms.

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

However, when people do become wealthier, their level of happiness has not grown with the improvement of their living conditions. For instance, many well-developed countries in the West, such as those in Scandinavia, have instituted very extensive social welfare systems for their citizens. Almost everything they need in life is provided, but the suicide rates in those countries were surprisingly high at one point. According to the data from the World Health Organization in 1994, the suicide rates of the Scandinavian countries all ranked in the top 10 on their list. Apparently, to the Scandinavians, material wealth was not as important as we thought. Although the standard of living in general is much higher in the West, many people there are not happy. This is but one indication of material wealth not being in direct proportion to happiness.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - A Buddhist’s Mode of Life

We can ask ourselves: How do I find happiness? What is it that I would have to lose to be unhappy? If we contemplate in this way, we will find the answer — desire, if left unchecked, is boundless. Excessive desire ultimately drowns us and leads to a state of great suffering.

The happiness that material enjoyment brings is limited. Yet what we want is unlimited. How is it possible to fill an infinite space with something which has a limit? Certainly not in this lifetime! Our lifespan is no more than several decades, but even if we lived billions of years, we would still fall short of satisfying ever-growing greed. In fact, the longer we live, the greater our desire and the suffering that follows. Thus, the Buddha admonished us to keep our desire in check in order to gain true happiness; if we are always chasing after material things, we will never find real happiness.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness

At the same time, we should also find out what samsara means, what the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, death and, in fact, the world as a whole signify. But all these questions can simply be summed up in the first Noble Truth—the nature of suffering. Once understanding the nature of suffering, we will have a better grasp on how to deal with the cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death, of which the root cause is the origin of suffering. How then can this cause be uprooted? As physical illness needs the right medication to be cured, cyclic existence can only be stopped with practice of the Dharma. To counteract defilements and attachment, one must exert a sharply opposing force in order to be effective. The process of exerting this counteracting force is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. In other words, the purpose of undertaking Dharma practice is to cease the endless cycle of rebirth and death, not unlike what the right medicine is to a patient.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Four Noble Truths—the Path Out of Samsara

First of all, we should know that to encounter the teaching on emptiness is not something to be taken for granted. Hearing it plants the seed for realization of emptiness that is not only indestructible but will also come to fruition in the near future. It is stated in the Four Hundred Verse Treatise by Aryadeva: Most sentient beings do not have the chance to hear the profound teaching on emptiness due to insufficient merit. Even if they do, most are unable to generate faith in or have reasonable doubt about the empty nature of phenomena, having little merit and inferior capacity or being negatively influenced by the surrounding environment and their social background. Anyone who can muster even the slightest doubt about the plausibility of all phenomena being empty of self-nature will hence have the means to cease samsara in the end.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Two Truths—the Key to Unlocking Madhyamaka

We all know Steve Jobs made many major decisions which were critical to the success of Apple products worldwide. In reading his biography, we understand these decisions were connected with and inseparable from his meditation practice. Through meditative concentration, the mind can be trained to reach a state of crisp clarity. When decisions are made with this state of mind, they can have a greater and better impact on the operation and the development of a product.

Meditative concentration is not only important to the management and strategic direction of a company, but also invaluable in promoting the mental well-being of corporate leaders and the employees. Without mental concentration or focus, how do business executives cope with all their social obligations? How do they dissolve the stress they are under? What about suffering from feeling empty and restless, trouble with insomnia and depression, and inefficiency? One can imagine how difficult it is to make accurate decisions under these circumstances. Meditation practice can help ameliorate, even eliminate, these problems. Money, which we normally place such importance on, is of no use to us at this time.

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

Buddhism is like a supermarket with plenty to offer. The Guhyagarbha Tantra of the Nyingma tradition states that Buddhism can be divided into five vehicles (yanas): Human and Celestial Beings (vehicle of seekers of fortune and bliss in the human and god realm respectively), Sravakayana, Pratyekabuddhayana, Bodhisattvayana, and Vajrayana. Whatever and however one seeks to practice the Dharma, various modes of practice can be found in Buddhism to suit each one’s aspiration. As in a supermarket where one can pick and choose freely, there are different levels of practice in Buddhism, from the worldly to the sublime, up to the incomparable Great Perfection, available for selection at one’s own discretion. Although the wish of the buddhas and bodhisattvas is for everyone to practice for the attainment of liberation instead of worldly benefit, it is only a wish on their part. They will not force everyone to practice Vajrayana, nor Mahayana or Theravada for that matter, because sentient beings differ in their capacity. Is one method sufficient to bring all out of samsara? Apparently not. It is precisely for this reason that the Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma three times, and transmitted eighty-four thousand teachings. There would be no need for all of these if one method alone could work its magic.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Vajra Master and Empowerment

Three years ago, I asked everyone in the class to write me a note telling me how and what each one would arrange for daily practice. Now I would like to know what, if any, progress you have made in these three years. In other words, have you learned anything concrete from your practice? The Buddhist logic holds that regardless of what phenomenon, if it does not move in as short a time as one-ten-thousandth of a second, it will not move in the subsequent one-ten-thousandth of a second either even until the final one-ten-thousandth. If no progress has been made in all these time, I am afraid that none ever will, even in another six, nine or twelve years!

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life