Shakyamuni Buddha taught us: birth, old age, illness and death are the natural law and nobody can escape from it. Attachment is the culprit to confront these suffering. Having attachment is bound to lead to suffering. How to face up with suffering is the most important task of life. Buddhism teaches us that the best way to confront this suffering is to let go of it.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
The hell realm doesn't exist underground, nor does it exist in some corner of the universe. Rather, like a dream, it exists in sentient beings' mind. For example, a dreamer dreams about warfare or an earthquake. For a person who is awake, these fearful phenomena don't exist in the dreamer's room. However, from the dreamer's point of view, the terror is real. Who or what produces the phenomena that the dreamer perceives in the dream? The phenomena are not produced by a creator, nor do they arise due to causes and conditions. The fleeting phenomena merely arise in the mind that is dreaming. (HK)
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Certain religions like to stress the mysterious power of ghosts and spirits. Although Buddhism does not deny their existence, it believes the biggest demon in the world is the deeply embedded tendency to cling to the self. Outer demons can only affect our daily life in small ways, such as causing illness or obstacles. They cannot bind us in samsara, not even if the ghosts of the entire universe combine their forces. Only clinging to the self has such power. Yet, we have never realized that this fellow, Self, who abides in our mind at all times and whom we are very fond of, is really a demon. If we are tired of taking the same route back to samsara again, we must first eliminate this demon. Only then can we be completely free of its interference.
~Depicted from From Believers to Boddhisattvas
If mastering the mystery of mind, when encountering suffering, one is able, not only to face up with suffering courageously and calmly, but also give rise to joy due to one understanding that it’s a rare opportunity to practice when experiencing suffering and happiness. There is a mundane saying: Transforming sorrow into strength, which means transforming negative emotions such as sadness and sorrow into the progressing impetus on the path.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
From the perspective of material life, our era has the most abundance of material wealth in human history. We possess advanced devices and products such as airplanes, wireless, computers, etc. However, compared with ancient people, we lost freedom, which is the most precious thing in the world. We need to contemplate on this problem and make some proper choices, endeavoring to give ourself more freedom.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
What is bodhicitta ? The answer is simple and known to everyone, at least in words : bodhicitta is the wish to attain Buddhahood so as to be able to liberate all sentient beings. But in practice, it is not so easy at all. Even some senior monks and people who claim to be yogis of the Great Perfection school or Vajrayana practitioners have yet developed genuine renunciation and boddhicitta.
~Depicted from From Believers to Boddhicittvas
In our everyday life, when getting irritated and anxious, we need to stop to investigate what exactly make us upset? Our body is void of thinking, being free from the concept of happiness and unhappiness. It’s the consciousness which give rise to defilements. Then what exactly is consciousness? By reflecting as such, we might reach a state of realisation.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
What then is the most important thing to do now? It is to reform our mind, i.e, to adopt a different mindset. For this, we should begin by giving up two things. First, we need to stop the hankering for things of this world, in other words, the attachment to samsara and the yearning for human or celestial rebirths in all future lives. Why ? For if we don't, no matter what practices we take up, they will all be deemed mundane which inevitably will turn out to be a huge obstacle to our progress on the spiritual path. So we must.
~Depicted from From Believers to Boddhisattvas
Longchenpa said that all virtuous actions, great or small, should be performed within the framework of the Three Supreme Methods. If so , whatever actions being undertaken will be leading to the path of liberation. Otherwise, the good deeds will be far removed from the path to liberation, however great or appealing they appear to be. This is how important the Three Supreme Methods is.
~Depicted from From Believers to Boddhisattvas
