We never believe, however, that this world is arising and ceasing moment to moment, but assume that time runs through the past and the future. We always consider getting off work and going home to be two different things. We never think that the only time we have is one ten thousandth of a second, and neither do we believe that this world is only one ten thousandth of a second. The reason we are unable to observe this with our naked eyes is because objects arise and cease extremely quickly.

We also cannot gather the past, present and future into the same point in time and space. If the past, present and future happened in that way, our concept of time would be mistaken. Then yesterday, today and tomorrow could also be gathered into the same point in time and space.  If such were to happen, our concept of time again would be in error.  Therefore，we live in a dream-like world.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3: The Illusory World

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 then such as chanting, accumulating prostrations, making offerings, offering vegetarian meals to 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 us obtain the merit we would gain by chanting it a billion times on other days, and so on.

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

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3

Actually, sharing is the greatest source of happiness. If we know how to share, no matter how trifling it is, we feel joy and happiness in the act of sharing. In this way, relationships between people become more intimate. If everyone throughout society had learned to share, most of the tragedies in human history could have been averted. Unfortunately, we believe that all good things should only be ours alone and should not belong to others.

~ Luminous Wisdom 8

People can never be fully satisfied with their lives if they do not know how to control their desires, since 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 climb to the top social stratum, your whole life will be spent in the pursuit of such vanity. The consequence of chasing endless desires is never being happy. We can observe many such cases in daily life, either in our own experience or that of other people. It is therefore important to be content in our lives, harboring fewer desires.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6

Je Tsongkhapa mentioned in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment that bodhicitta and the mind of renunciation are very important, but that depending on these alone would not overcome ignorance. In the end, we still need the view of emptiness. This is like going to the doctor to be treated for an illness—the key to curing the illness depends on whether or not its root cause is understood. If not, it is impossible to give the right prescription. Similarly, the reason that we are not liberated (from samsara), not at ease and not free, is not mere coincidence, nor an occurrence without any cause. Neither is it due to the will of an omnipotent God. The root cause indeed originates from attachment. 

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 10

Usually, we are beholden to the concept that things emerge from non-existence into existence. When planting flowers, for instance, there are certainly no flowers on the seeds and that is why we need to plant them. If there were flowers there already, then there would be no need to plant the seed. This is how we view reality. If there is no analysis, there is no problem with such a view at all, and this has been true from the beginning of time till now. Even after another 10,000 or 100,000 years of evolution of humankind, still there would be no problem. However, if we took another step in our analysis, we would discover another world altogether. 

~ Luminous Wisdom 10

It may be that many people believe that applying Buddhism in their daily lives means to regularly perform volunteer work, or to donate property, blood, organs, and so forth, as well as to engage in the various acts advocated by the “Buddhist Vehicle of gods and men”.

Although we cannot deny that this is also applying Dharma in daily life, that type of love and compassion is also possessed by other religious believers, and even by ordinary kind-hearted people in society.  However, if one does not have compassion, altruism and the mind of renunciation, this can only be considered to be the most basic conduct that a Buddhist should have.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 7

How can a person who has practiced virtue their entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, even though the person may have been virtuous throughout this life, we do not know anything about this person’s previous lives. Maybe the person has been virtuous in this as well as the last two lifetimes, but such might not be the case if we could go back even further. Some negative karma might have been committed many lifetimes ago. From the perspective of the three types of immutable karma, virtuous karma that the person has committed in this life might not happen to ripen in the current or the next life, but in some indeterminate future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years have gone by.

~ Luminous Wisdom 1: On Cause and Effect

For most people, it is essential to understand these points. Whether to continue chasing material prosperity or to choose a more meaningful way of living is pivotal to where this life will lead us.

As a matter of fact, it is an extremely rare opportunity that we were born human, that we have encountered the teachings of the Buddha, and that we have had some time to practice. Nothing else in this world are is as extraordinary as such an opportunity.

We should know that the purpose of a car is not to burn fuel, but to provide transportation. Burning fuel is just a car’s way of living—it moves things while consuming gasoline. Likewise, the purpose of being human is not just eating, drinking and having fun. Eating and drinking are how people sustain their lives, but this is hardly their ultimate goal.

~ Luminous Wisdom 6: A Buddhist’s Way of Life