Ignorance leads to attachment, such as clinging to external world, one’s own body, fame and gain. Without satisfying one’s desire, one will suffer. In order to satisfy one’s desire, one will engage in negative acts, such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying, etc. All negative acts stem from attachment and ignorance.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Venerable Atisha stated: if one hundred thoughts arise during the day, then one needs to examine their arising, abiding, and cessation one hundred times. When doing this for each, one will not find the thoughts; this is Dharmadhātu, dharmatā, or buddha nature, referred to as enlightenment.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Practicing impermanence will eradicate our clinging to permanence, which is rather useful. For instance, even we cannot perceive the inner instantaneous impermanence of an object, if we realise that something is unreliable and impermanent, then we’ll overly cling to it, and reminding ourself over and over again: “since it’s unreliable, why bother to care and cling to it?” In this manner, our attachment will gradually decline.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
For many practices, transmission is empathised, especially of the Vajrayana. What do we mean by transmission? It means since the first turning of wheel of dharma of the Buddha, the stream of dharma handed down from one generation to another is called lineage, or transmission, which is non-stop, if it’s broken, then the great blessing of the dharma will not continue. Thus, notwithstanding the existence of scriptures,without oral transmission and transmission of pith instruction, the dharma would be extinct.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
We forsake lots of worldly pleasures and undertake various penance such as staying up to chant mantras, meditate, make offering, and practice generosity, etc. However, Mipham Rinpoche warns us in the shastras: without addressing the fundamental problem, regardless of how many practices we engage in, we won’t attain genuine happiness. Thus we need to give up practicing superficial virtues which lack inner mindfulness, rather, in order to eradicate self-clinging, we need to commit ourself to hearing, contemplating and meditating.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Genuine penance requires patience, diligence, trying best to overcome various difficulties, practicing vigorously despite hardships, this is the meaning of penance. If one misconceives that penance is about not eating, not wearing clothes, or not being hygiene, and that this will lead to liberation, then won’t beggars attain liberation first?
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
There are two ways to realise Dzogchen: one is to listen to dharma extensively, then to accumulate immense merits by engaging in the practice of cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta, the practice of mandala offering and embarking on the path of bodhisattvas. When accumulation of merit rises to a certain level, one can realise emptiness; another way is to rely on the qualified master’s blessing. The premise to receive such blessing is to have devotion. The stronger the devotion, the more blessing one can receive.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Undertaking dharma doesn’t mean that one needs to be a monastic, or become a strange person. A genuine Buddhist is a kind person who can tame one’s mind and remedy one’s defilement such as pride and aggression with dharma, and who will become the best person in society. When doing your best at work and setting examples for others, bear sentient being in your mind, then you’re official bodhisattvas, businessman bodhisattva, worker bodhisattvas or farmer bodhisattva.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
If one regularly engages in killing in this life, then one tends to like killing when one’s old enough to discern right from wrong in the next life. If one likes drinking alcohol in this life, then one will like it as well in the next life; this habit will persist in every life. One’s behavior in this life is similar to that of in the next life, this is referred to as causally concordant behavioural result. The buddha taught this; today, of the people who can recollect their pervious lives, many of them have such inclination, such as liking smoking both in previous life and this life.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
