Next is the cultivation of bodhicitta, a topic we have discussed many times before. If you have been training in bodhicitta, what stage are you at? Have you already developed bodhicitta or are you still in the process? I cannot claim to have bodhicitta but I am doing the practice. Have you started? If you have started but do not see results yet, you need not worry since you can be sure of results at some point. On the other hand, if you don’t practice, you will never see any results!

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - Preparing for the Preliminaries

It is said in the scriptures that because intermediate beings have no physical body, they tend to be very unstable and restless, unable to sit or stand still, just drifting aimlessly, like bodies in a dream. As intermediate beings long for a body of their own, many try to return to their old bodies. However, body and consciousness have separated and the old body is already a past. As the relationship between the body and consciousness has ended, there is no way the intermediate beings can ever go back to their previous bodies. At this point, the deceased who has lost that sense of belonging will feel very sad and distressed. Afterward, the deceased will enter one of the six bardo states, chönyi bardo or the luminous bardo of dharmata.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-How to Take Rebirth

All the practices in Highest Yoga Tantra, without exception, place great emphasis on renunciation and bodhicitta. At the generation stage, for instance, one may have a very clear image of the buddha during visualization, but without compassion and the correct view of emptiness, it is meaningless. Similarly, the sutras say there is nothing special in reciting the deity mantras 100,000,000 times if one does not have renunciation and bodhicitta. Thus, the critical factor in all the practices is renunciation and bodhicitta. Lacking a proper foundation as well as an understanding of the generation and completion stage, many lay followers now blindly recite the liturgy of some yidam practice in the hope of gaining something from the endeavor. It is necessary here to remind everyone this is not very meaningful.

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

The mind is a complex thing -- its continuum, annihilation, basic nature, and development are all governed by special rules. Apart from the Buddha, no one has mastered the way it works. A lot of people have substantial knowledge of the world, but they do not know who they are, what their basic nature is, and where they come from. Perhaps, when science reaches a certain stage of development, it will be able to validate the existence of these rules; until now, it cannot. Only in Buddhism are we able to do so. By way of practice, we can attain this knowledge since our mind is self-knowing. The Ch’an emphasis on knowing the nature of mind is none other than this self-knowing.

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

Our revered master H. H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche chose to go to Amitabha's pure land. Naturally, as followers, we should do likewise. If Pure Land practice has been undertaken on a regular basis, we will know what direction to take when facing death; without any preparation in advance when alive, we are likely to panic and not know what course to follow at the moment of death. Therefore, we should never underestimate the importance of both the practice and the pith instruction in end-of-life teachings.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-Key Points for Practicing Bodhicitta on Deathbed

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

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

It is said in the scriptures that because intermediate beings have no physical body, they tend to be very unstable and restless, unable to sit or stand still, just drifting aimlessly, like bodies in a dream. As intermediate beings long for a body of their own, many try to return to their old bodies. However, body and consciousness have separated and the old body is already a past. As the relationship between the body and consciousness has ended, there is no way the intermediate beings can ever go back to their previous bodies. At this point, the deceased who has lost that sense of belonging will feel very sad and distressed. Afterward, the deceased will enter one of the six bardo states, chönyi bardo or the luminous bardo of dharmata.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-How to Take Rebirth

To chase away darkness, there needs to be light. To eliminate the darkness of ignorance, we need the light of wisdom. Here, wisdom is not common cleverness. Cleverness in real life may actually be a kind of delusion—knowing how to make and spend money may seem very clever, but it is likely to ruin one’s own and others’ chance for liberation and also future life, hence a delusion. The only one who understands the true nature of ignorance and knows how to resolve it is Buddha Sakyamuni. Many people have come to realize the reality of the world through the Buddha’s teachings and attained ultimate freedom and liberation.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On The Three Poisons-How to Refute Ignorance