Buddhism can be said to be a special kind of culture since it encompasses many rich academic disciplines, among them philosophy, astronomy, geography, and science. Not only that Buddhism also has its own view on life, on right values, and on the world. In this chapter, we will introduce the Buddhist view on the world.

The worldview is firstly a specific knowledge; but more importantly, it is one of formulating this knowledge into ways and methods which can be used in our daily life. One aspect deals with regulating our own mind; the other aspect deals with benefiting sentient beings, bringing happiness, a healthy life, and joy to more people — this is also the basic tenet of Buddhism.

~ Depicted from ARE U READY FOR HAPPINESS : The Significance of Buddhist Philosophy Today

When we arouse bodhicitta, we must try to strike our greatest attachment—self-cherishing. From beginningless time until now, we have not practiced bodhicitta—self-cherishing has been the commander-in-chief and the conqueror in our hearts. It destroyed bodhicitta and the altruistic mind completely. This is also called egoism. In the area of consciousness, "self" is the decisive factor for everything. If we can practice bodhicitta, for a certain time, the bodhicitta will definitely defeat self-cherishing or desire, and emerge as the winner. Of course, at the beginning, when we start practicing, if we are not careful, we can relapse into desire at any time, because the self-cherishing are so high and its power is so strong—but, gradually, it will beat a retreat. And the final attachment can be eliminated through the realization of emptiness.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 9

What is the usage of the Buddhist Worldview? The Buddhist view of this world brings us compassion and wisdom. With compassion and wisdom, we are able to balance our life in terms of money, relationships, marriage and everything else, and with certain kinds of practice and mind training, we can ultimately attain enlightenment.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3

I. The urgent need to extinguish anger

Greed, anger and delusion are prevalent in our daily life and in the work environment. We the beginners of Mahayana Buddhism oftentimes act like some of the uninitiated who cannot keep emotions contained. This not only makes the motto of delivering all sentient beings something tenuous but may also discredit Buddhism as a whole. Among the so-called three poisons, anger is the most harmful. It not only destroys one’s own virtuous roots but also invites negative opinions on Buddhists or even Buddhism in general.

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

Please don’t always blame others for your suffering. There is no suffering in the world that is purely caused by other people and that has nothing to do with our own doing. We are also responsible to a certain extent. Even if it is not due to the mistakes made in this life, those committed in previous lives may also be the culprit. So learn to accept one’s own responsibility, practice Dharma diligently, transform suffering and help sentient beings to liberation from samsara. This should be the best route for us.

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

The Buddha understood us and knew early on that we would oppose him. That’s why he said in the scripture, “Whatever people uphold to be true, I do too. I won’t argue with them, but they will argue with me.” It means we ordinary people indulge ourselves in illusions and hence mistake illusion for reality. We suffer tremendously as a result but stubbornly hold on to our mistakes, thinking instead that Buddhism is wrong and not proactive. This is why we remain far from liberation.

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

The second requisite is having the determination to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. This is because the attainment of Buddhahood is the ultimate way of freeing all sentient beings from suffering. Though we need various skillful means to achieve this goal, the most needed is not merely to offer others money, good reputation, enviable position or to establish charities to feed or treat the poor.

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

Actually, it might not be that difficult to think occasionally, “I want to deliver sentient beings from the suffering of samsara.” This thought may come up when we are not enduring any pain or hardship and our livelihood is not threatened. However, when facing with a life or death situation, say, if we were to choose between our own and other’s death, we might be too embarrassed to say, “I want that person to die.” But we would certainly say, “I don’t want to die.” This would be an indication of weak bodhicitta.

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

Shakyamuni Buddha also began his path as an ordinary person and eventually attained enlightenment. He was not born a Buddha. In the biography of Milarepa, one disciple said to Milarepa, “Master, you must be an emanation of Vajrapani or some Buddha.” Milarepa immediately retorted, “I know you want to show your respect to me by saying that. Yet it is a serious defamation to the Dharma because it indicates that you don’t believe that the Dharma can transform an ordinary person into someone like me.” Therefore, the issue is not whether one has the capability but the determination to set about obtaining that capability from now on.

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