WORDS OF WISDOM

In Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, it said that, according to the Buddha’s advice, being content with fewer desires is the greatest asset that one can have. Those who are able to maintain such disposition are truly rich people even if they do not own a single asset, because only they can attain the ultimate, perfect happiness.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6

The most important and the key difference between Buddhism and non-Buddhism lies 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 Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1

Brownian movement also completely corroborates the Buddhist doctrine of seeing the world from the standpoint of relative truth and absolute truth. When seeing the object with the eyes and through a microscope, two different conclusions can be drawn - the wrong conclusion is to be deemed the relative truth, the right conclusion the absolute truth.

~ Depicted from "The Four Seasonal Quotes from Khenpo"

The Tibetan calendar, according to the Kalachakra Tantra, is the induction from the astrology laws and astronomical calendar algorithm. It has been proven over thousands of years that its determination of solar and lunar eclipses and the full moon and obscurity each month are more accurate than the results produced by other calendar algorithms.

Therefore, it is a better choice to do various good deeds on the auspicious days according to the Tibetan calendar.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3

Sit by the sea, feeling the wind and greeting the waves. Each wave is inseparable from the sea. The waves are the sea; the sea comes to be the waves. Each thought is inseparable from inner radiance. Thoughts are inner radiance; inner radiance comes to be thoughts.

~ Depicted from "The Four Seasonal Quotes from Khenpo"

Very often in our lives, suffering, contrary to normal expectation, motivates people to progress, to feel empathy, to control desires and persevere. But all along we have only  tried not to think about it, not dared to face it and more often than not simple evaded reality. As a result , our minds become weaker and weaker. This is why  the Buddha encouraged us to contemplate what he taught in the Four Seals of Dharma: All contemplated phenomena are of the nature of suffering.

~ Depicted from "The Four Seasonal Quotes from Khenpo"

The practice of the Four Noble Truths begins with the cultivation of renunciation and bodhicitta. Renunciation enables us to transcend samsara while bodhicitta inspires us to remain in samsara without being bound by it.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1

When people are all geared up for some killing actions, whoever kills a person would be called a hero, i.e., one who has rendered outstanding service. When all the people are against killing, whoever kills a person would be deemed as a savage, i.e., one who has committed a brutal crime. It seems that the criterion determining such behaviour as being right or wrong, meritorious or criminal, is only the majority’s collective preference at the time instead of a clear principle based on causality. As a result, the human history has been riddled with brutalities and violence.

~ Depicted from "The Four Seasonal Quotes from Khenpo"

Buddhism holds that all physical phenomena, such as cobblestones, are arising and ceasing  every instant. Our senses perceive differently. But the truth of the physical world seen through a microscope corresponds to the Buddhist view point. Thus, we must acknowledge that physical senses are mistaken.

~ Depicted from "The Four Seasonal Quotes from Khenpo"