The process of coming out of meditative concentration can also be called “getting up from a sitting.” After completing our practice at a sitting, we should not get up immediately but rather look back and reflect on the practice.

There are two kinds of outcome: in one case, the practice goes well with few thoughts to distract us; it is easy at this time to become arrogant and think if we continue to practice this way, we will attain realization. We must then subdue this pride by telling ourselves: “Although this practice was good, it does not mean I am special. I must still do well next time.” This is how arrogance can be ameliorated.

In the other case, the practice does not go well and is actually filled with a lot of negative emotions – greed, anger, delusion …. , even more so than when we are not meditating. It is easy at this time to be despondent and think if we meditate like this, there is no hope for liberation. We must then encourage ourselves: “Even if I failed at this sitting, there will be another. Although I encountered a lot of discursive thoughts as well as afflictions in this sitting, it is very normal since I am just a beginner; these distractions are to be expected. However, by persevering and making effort one step at a time, I will succeed for sure; there is no reason to lose hope.”Then vow to succeed in the next sitting. When practicing, do not fall into the two extremes – of being arrogant and feeling disappointed too early.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - The Final Review

What does true peace mean? After liberation, there is genuine freedom from the three types of suffering mentioned before; the seeds of the three types of suffering and their designations also cease to be. This pure and everlasting happiness is true peace. It is not the happiness ordinary people refer to; rather, happiness is just freedom from suffering that arises from contaminated actions. Because it is pure, it is deemed “true peace.”

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - Nirvana Is True Peace

How can a person who has practiced virtue the entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, although 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 it may not be so anymore 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 happens to ripen not in the current or the next life, but in the yet known future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years later.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - On Cause and Effect

Some people run into problems when they practice contemplating samsara is suffering. I’ve come across people who go to extremes: before they do the practice, they are confident about life, their work, and the world, and feel good about everything; however, after doing the practice, the world turns grey, they lose interest in everything and become extremely passive and listless — to the point of seeing no meaning in life at all.

Is renunciation the same as passivity and pessimism? No, it would be a mistake to think so.

Just as bodhicitta is more than mere compassion, it is, with compassion as the base, the resolve and courage to attain Buddhahood in order to liberate all sentient beings; renunciation is more than just apprehending samsara is suffering, it is also the determination to seek liberation for oneself.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - All Contaminated Things are Unsatisfactory

Only a small percentage of people are truly concerned with the welfare of others, not their own. One analogy in the sutras is as follows: Sow grains to reap grains, but straws need not be sown as it can be reaped without volition. (Sowing grains is likened to the bodhisattvas’ practice of the six perfections; grains, the welfare of sentient beings; and straws, the welfare of one’s own). Another analogy is: Make a fire to cook rice and have rice to eat, but smoke need not be attended to as it will arise naturally from the fire. (Making a fire to cook rice has the same connotation as sowing grains; rice, the same as grains; and smoke, the same as straws). What these analogies tell us is that although our capability is limited, if we can truly let go or set aside our own concerns—not just those in this life but also liberation in the future—and focus wholeheartedly and unconditionally on benefiting others, our own welfare will take care of itself.

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

The sutra and tantra paths are consistent in expounding all phenomena are a product of our aspiration. In Gateway to Training the Mind by Chengawa Lodrö Gyaltsen (1402–1472), it is said if a person is practicing the Dharma, releasing animals from bondage, and making offerings to the sangha and the buddhas all in the hope of living well in this lifetime, the outcome can be no more than that, even if his expectations are met; if his expectations are not met due to his past negative karma, these virtuous activities cannot in any case lead to supramundane retributions. This is because during the course of practice, he has never considered achieving liberation, benefiting sentient beings, realizing buddhahood or the like, only attaining happiness and prosperity in this lifetime. Since the motivation is so obvious, how can his virtuous actions possibly become the cause of liberation?

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Entering the Vajrayana Path

In other words, a Buddhist practitioner need not necessarily eat poorly and dress poorly, or think he or she must refrain from using the good things in life. This would also be a form of attachment. The main point is not to develop greed for these things.

The whole purpose of bringing this up is to say Buddhism is not pessimistic. Although the Buddha exhorted his followers to be content with few desires, it does not mean one must live a life of austerity. Most importantly, one should seek meaning in life through liberation, not through the pursuit of worldly pleasures.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - The Practice of Suffering

In general, the whole of Buddhadharma can be fully summarized when told from the perspective of wisdom and compassion. If people ask: What is Buddhadharma? Answer: It is wisdom and compassion. What is learning Buddhism about? It is to learn wisdom and compassion.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - Buddhism—the Definition

Happiness, unhappiness, realism, idealism, theism, atheism, etc. are all very superficial phenomena that are not at all on the level of clarity and ignorance. The source of consciousness is clarity. There is no time and space in clarity or clear light; all concepts of time and space arise from ignorance. However, in the brief moment when ignorance is first produced from clarity, there is no concept of time and space either. Just as in the Big Bang, there is no physical matter in the instant following the explosion, only later is energy produced from empty space; when the energy reaches a certain density, a fundamental particle is produced. From this fundamental particle, all kinds of matter are then formed. In the same way, from clarity, fundamental ignorance is produced, that is, consciousness -- which is something undulating and capable of thinking and discriminating between events -- is formed. After that, a fundamental particle is instantly produced; all kinds of matter are then formed, followed by the formation of the earth and celestial bodies. Ignorance is just like energy; how things are formed from energy that is unobstructed by matter and how the world is created from ignorance are astonishingly similar.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - Suffering is just a Paper Tiger