WORDS OF WISDOM

To meditate regularly on the impurity of the body and impermanence can be very helpful. At the least these practices are effective in preventing desperate measures being taken in times of distress, as even Buddhists who are not trained in meditation practice may likely hurt themselves when in despair; burning incense and making offering to the deities alone won’t help very much in this kind of situation. In fact, there are some who know the importance of doing meditation practice but just cannot muster sufficient resolve to go ahead. It is a sign that their overall effort in Dharma practice is still somewhat lacking.

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

Undoubtedly, the result of the practice will be different for people with religious belief and those without. However, this is not a problem. We can achieve our goals with these mind practices — whether we want to attain Buddhahood and benefit all sentient beings, realize self-liberation, or simply alleviate stress, improve the quality of our life, and live a happier and more meaningful life.

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

Why do we have to start with the smallest bit of hatred? Everything is accomplished sequentially—first the easy levels then the difficult ones. When we confront small amounts of hatred successfully, we gain confidence and are really satisfied. As the power we gather from our practices grows stronger, when we have to face more substantial degrees of hatred it will be easier to handle. On the other hand, if we tried to conquer a whole mass of hatred from the beginning, it would be easy to fail, and if we utterly failed the first time, we would then lose confidence and our interest in practicing would dwindle.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 10

One may question, “Many accomplished masters have attained extraordinary realization. Why would they still encounter obstacles or become ill?”

There are two possibilities. One of them can be explained by way of the Twelve Nidanas. Accomplished practitioners may have eradicated all defilements in this life, but they were once ordinary beings in the past. Even Shakyamuni Buddha was an ordinary being before attaining Buddhahood, not to mention the lesser known practitioners. As an ordinary being, one cannot but commit karma and karma is infallible. Consequently, even accomplished masters must still go through suffering in this life due to some distant causes not yet resolved. Nonetheless, this will be the last time they would ever experience suffering again in their cyclic existence since primordial time.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1

The specifics on how to meditate on impermanence according to Miphom Rinpoche’s teaching can be found in the discourse on the Four Dharma Seals in the book series Wisdom Light. There is also a clear explanation in the Theravada teachings on how to meditate on the impurity of the body. At the beginning, you may be unwilling and tend to resist these practices. But you must convince yourself to undertake these practices in order to take control of your own mind.

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

The Buddha gave us many methods for cultivating the mind. Whether we believe in the Buddha or not, the mind practices are important to all of us. They can also be practiced by anyone.

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

Some of you here started your Buddhist practice earlier, some just a couple of years ago. No matter how long it has been, we should all look back to see what motivated us to perform virtuous actions. If our motivation is that of the inferior disciples, albeit some good karma may ensue, it will not lead to enlightenment. If we come to realize this might be a problem, something can still be done to transform our good karma into means for attaining enlightenment. The most effective way is to generate bodhicitta. Why? From the perspective of all things being incessantly arising and ceasing every instance, it is true that what we did before no longer exists, but the continuum of awareness of the karmic seeds has already been planted in our alaya consciousness. Once we have generated renunciation and bodhicitta, the continuum in the alaya consciousness will be transformed immediately. Virtuous karma of the past may thus become the cause of enlightenment. If we do not improve the inferior motivation, it will forever remain just mundane phenomenon and never become the cause of liberation. What a pity that must be!

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

The law of cause and effect works on infallible principles. For example, seeds of rice will yield only rice, not barley. Similarly, if a practice is not what leads to enlightenment, how can it yield the fruit of such? Many people think that if they regularly read scriptures such as the Diamond Sutra, the Thirty-Five Buddhas Repentance Ritual, the Practices and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, the Heart Sutra, etc., they are no doubt Buddhist practitioners. Actually, that may not necessarily be the case. While recitation of sutras is definitely a good thing to do, and the Buddha also praised its merit, motivation still matters greatly. If the motivation is not right, all will be wrong, and vice versa. That is, one can never do wrong with the right kind of motivation.

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

The master of happiness and suffering is not god but our mind. Once you think this through, you can be happy all the time. By then, a broken love affair or divorce won’t matter so much anymore; some may even feel more carefree and relaxed as a result.

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