We cannot say because I have to work and build a career, I cannot practice. Although Sakyamuni Buddha did not require all practitioners to take monastic vows, we must make time for practice at the same time we work for a living. How to reach a balance between work and practice depends on our individual situation.

If not having time is an excuse for not practicing today, and similarly tomorrow, we will never have time to practice. In general, lay people have difficulty forgoing their activities in everyday life and their family. If they delay their plans for practice until late in their seventies or eighties, they may not have the physical or mental capacity to practice even if the aspiration is present. Thus, we cannot keep putting it off; we should do it now.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

There are some people now that are really pitiful. Shortsighted and simpleminded, they are contented with their current lot, think they have everything they deserve, and do not feel it is necessary to practice.

This is a deluded way of thinking since such a person cannot look beyond the present. Although they have everything they want now – good health, a successful career, and a happy family, who can guarantee these things will last? No one can give this assurance, not in this life, let alone the next. Thus, even with power and wealth, we need to practice.

Conversely, some people from low-income families will question how they can find time to practice and study the teachings when their livelihood is still an issue that has to be resolved. For them, it’s wait and see!

This viewpoint is also incorrect. If we lack for food, we can borrow money or even beg to get something to eat; whatever the situation, there is always a way. However, on a major issue such as birth, aging, illness, and death, we cannot borrow money or beg for help; without prior practice, there is nothing that can be done. Thus, even the poor have to practice.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

Before the practice, we must first have the corresponding view. Without right understanding, how do we practice? If we are not even clear about the direction, there is no point in talking about the practice. A lot of people will say “we want practice, not listening and contemplation.” Although practice is imperative in the end, so too are listening and contemplation up front. We can practice only after we have given sufficient time to listening and contemplation, that is, after these activities have reached a certain level.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

Without practice or mind training, we cannot be sure of attaining liberation. For instance, over the several decades in our lifetime, we do not in general have to worry about our livelihood; as long as we are willing to work, it is more or less guaranteed. However, death, this uninvited guest, comes when we least expect it. At the critical moment, we are not at all prepared to confront death or transform it into the path. Invariably, we are helpless when death arrives, so the question of birth, aging, illness, and death is a more important one than existence. If we cannot address this problem properly, it is more frightening than the struggle to stay alive; if we can come to terms with the problem in the correct way, it will be more meaningful than solving our livelihood. Therefore, practice is extremely important.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

To every practitioner, actual methods are extremely important. One must truly practice in order to achieve liberation. By reciting the name of the Buddha one-pointedly, we can go to Western Pure Land; by practicing renunciation, bodhicitta, and emptiness, we can gradually eradicate our afflictions and attain liberation in the end.

We should all recite the Buddha’s name on a regular basis, but to be fully prepared, we should also undertake a concurrent practice. That is to say, we should choose one of the Middle Way practices in either Vajrayana or exoteric Buddhism to ensure all grounds are covered. If we can realize emptiness, that certainly is best; if not, we can still go to Western Pure Land if we are sincere in chanting the Buddha’s name. The two should be practiced together, this is also His Holiness Jigme Phunstok Rinpoche’s advice. At the same time, listening and contemplating the Dharma are both helpful to the practice and to chanting the Buddha’s name, so these activities are complementary. An integrated practice like this is definitely beyond error.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

What is nirvana? Liberation is nirvana. From the standpoint of Mahayana Buddhism, the three bodies of an enlightened being – dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya – and the five wisdoms are called nirvana.

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.”

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "Nirvana Is True Peace"

At the outset, our practice should not be very long; moreover, it cannot be forced. We should not feel compelled to practice when we are not up to it, otherwise rejection sets in. Some practitioners put pressure on themselves to practice and eventually become very resentful when they see their own place of meditation. This is not helpful to the practice. Therefore, if we are unwilling to continue with the contemplation, we should stop; if we are tired, we should allow the body to relax completely and dismiss all thoughts of good and bad, past and future, etc. Leaving the mind to rest in this way is also a kind of practice. When we train in relaxation, there is no element of realization or wisdom of any kind; however, this state of mind contributes to realization, so it also constitutes practice.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

Mind training is essential to everyone, including me. Like all of you, I still have afflictions and continue to wander in samsara. Since we have obtained precious human birth in this lifetime, we should cherish the opportunity to practice; if we forgo this chance, I fear that we are giving up on an opportunity that comes just once in many kalpas.

Of course, I cannot say we will not get another opportunity. But just when this opportunity will arrive is difficult to say — perhaps one lifetime, perhaps one hundred lifetimes, possibly even one or ten thousand lifetimes, which is a very distant matter. Not only that, can we be clear-headed enough by then to seize the opportunity? We may, as in this lifetime, idle away our time in ignorance, waste our precious birth, and once again miss a great chance. That would be the same as having no opportunity at all.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Importance of Practice"

By way of meditation, let the mind rest first, since all realizations and positive feelings are attained when the mind is in a state of equanimity. We cannot experience realization of any depth if we are preoccupied with thoughts. Although renunciation and bodhicitta can be maintained and cultivated by contemplation, realization of emptiness can only be experienced when the mind is calm.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"