WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

The Buddha said, “Human’s sense of sight, hearing and sense of smell are all inaccurate, neither are that of taste, touch and man’s consciousness.”  If these senses were all correct, how would the path of the enlightened benefit anyone ?   

~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo

We must be aware that, as far as any of the mundane dharmas are concerned—,whether money, fame, status or people—as long as there is attachment, they will give us a great deal of suffering. The bigger the attachment, the greater the pain they will give us; the pain may even go beyond the happiness that thing originally brought us.  This is certain. To stop the suffering in this mundane world, we should, first and foremost, stop our attachment.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 4

The Buddha did say that samsara is suffering, but it doesn’t mean that hr denied the existence of joy and happiness in life, he just wanted to point out the temporary and relative nature of worldly happiness. One should not be so blinded  by such happiness as to forget the future.

~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo

What then are the methods we can use to train our minds? They are the four general preliminary practices, and their importance should not be treated lightly. Centuries ago, Venerable Atisha and many eminent practitioners in Tibet attained supreme achievements with nothing but contemplation of precious human birth and impermanence throughout their lives. They are our role models and we should do likewise. Those unwilling to practice the preliminaries yet hoping to stride far on first try will never be able to reach the final goal of liberation, just as if they were blocked from reaching the end of a journey by the numerous high mountain passes.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 

Many poor people believe that lack of money is the reason for pain, and if one day they get money, there will be no pain. However, if they really become rich one day, they will find out that pain has not disappeared; on the contrary, more suffering is awaiting them.  So, a hard life is not the root cause of suffering since many people with a hard life may enjoy a happier life than rich people.

The Buddha told us that the real origin of suffering is attachment to money, people and things. There are many kinds of attachment: attachment to self is called self-grasping; attachment to external possessions, such as money, fame and fortune, is called clinging to phenomena. There will be no suffering if there is no attachment. The Buddhist sutras often talk about “letting go” as an antidote to attachment.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series  9 

The cardinal doctrine of Buddhism is dependent arising of all phenomena, which encompasses a broad range of subjects. From the perspective of Relative Truth, it means that when there is cause, there is effect.   Life’s sorrows and joys, separations and reunions, in fact, all phenomena come with their own respective causes. Some we can see, some cannot. Only very special kind of persons can grasp the whole picture. But cause and effect always go hand in hand, never alone. No cause, no effect, and vice versa. If one is in pursuit of happiness, one must sow happiness to reap happiness. The seed of happiness is virtuous action.  To avoid suffering and misfortune, one must not give rise to their causes. The cause of suffering is doing evil.

 Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 

Our sense organ with their many flaws are like defective tools. It would be fundamentally wrong to ascertain the truth of life and the world through sense perceptions. What we should trust is the transcendent wisdom of the Buddha, instead of relying totally on our senses.         

~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo

 Mahayana Buddhism teaches that of all the disturbing emotions, the worst of them all is hatred because the basis and starting point of Mahayana Buddhism is compassion. Hatred is the direct opposite of compassion. In Mahayana Buddhism, if you completely abandon your compassion for any being, you will have hatred in your heart. This breaks the Bodhisattva Vow from the root, and makes it impossible to arouse bodhicitta. Of all disturbing emotions, hatred is the worst. Hatred’s faults, and the sufferings it produces, are very numerous.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series  10 

Some say that Buddhism seeks happiness only for next life and none for this life. This is not true. Buddha just asked that we should not ruin our next lives for the pursuit of pleasure of this life, nor should we destroy our future path for the easy comfort of today.    

~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo