Depending on each person’s own condition and capacity, all of us should at least try to be vegetarian from now on. The length of time to stay vegetarian is a personal decision, but the longer the better. Our motivation though should be different from that of the non- Buddhists whose primary concerns are mostly health related rather than considerations for the future life or compassion for other sentient beings. We will not only stop eating meat but should also vow not to eat meat ever again. Absent the vow, simply stop eating meat would not be deemed a virtuous deed on its own.

The vow should go like this, “By the merit of quitting meat now, may I never eat meat again in all future lives. If I were to be reborn as an animal, I would hope to be an herbivore, never a carnivore.” With this, even if we should end up in the animal realm, we would not eat meat and not hurt any beings, including ourselves.

~ Depicted from THE RICHT VIEW : Why Vegetarian?

Buddha-dharma is not a philosophy to be appreciated from afar.  Its wisdom is directly accessible and relevant to our problems in life. 

Unfortunately, most followers do not progress beyond an intellectual understanding of the Dharma, even those who have studied the five major treatises — Middle Way, logic, prajnaparamita, and other profound and significant texts.  When confronted with life’s unexpected difficulties, they are lost and unable to put the teachings into practice.  This is like a soldier who is armed with very sophisticated weapons; when confronted by the enemy, he is caught by surprise and does not know which weapon to use.  How regrettable! Thus, it is important to learn how to utilize the teachings and develop the right way to face both suffering and happiness in life.

Naturally, we cannot hope to give up all desires right from the outset, which is impractical and also unnecessary. Mahayana Buddhism is a system of ideas very much in tune with human nature. It does not demand all practitioners to become ascetics; rather, it advocates a middle way approach in the way of living, meaning not overly extreme.

For example, due to a mistaken belief that hardship can lead to liberation, one deliberately endures hunger and wears shabby clothing when in fact one can easily afford a comfortable life. Rather than being helpful, such behavior may even become an obstacle to one’s practice sometimes. Conversely, choosing to live extravagantly and be unappreciative of anything in hand is another extreme. The right way, that is, the middle way, is to keep our desire properly under control.

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

After completing the four preliminaries, visualize a lotus seat an elbow length in front and also above our head; Sakyamuni Buddha is seated on the lotus; the Mahayana bodhisattvas and Theravada sangha revolve around in the four directions; the Buddha and all the bodhisattvas and sangha are facing us.

Then, in front of Sakyamuni Buddha, offer the seven-branch prayer of The Aspiration of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Visualize as you recite the verses, which is the proper way to conduct all practices that contain recitation. This is to remind us to reflect on the meaning of the verses. If we recite the verses without connecting with their meaning, it is not very helpful to our practice, just a virtuous deed.

Following this, generate strong faith in the Buddha and bodhisattvas, and supplicate to them with genuine devotion: please grant me blessings to complete the practice of the Four Dharma Seals in this sitting.

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

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.

~ Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA : The Importance of Practice

Human birth is hard to come by. Having acquired human birth, we should cherish this opportunity. Although spiritual practice is difficult, we should also welcome the challenge, since it is only by way of practice that we can transcend samsara.

~ Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA : Summation

When anger just arises, the first thing is to be aware of the anger. Very often, we don’t realize we are angry and are unable to monitor our emotions, thinking only that other people have mistreated us. When awareness is lacking, the chance to counter this is also missing. Unfortunately, when we are angry, we are hardly willing to calm down and examine ourselves; we won’t be satisfied until we give vent to our anger. Even if we try to make amends later on, the damage is already done.

If we know that we are angry, the next step is to calmly look inward: What part of me is being angry? Is it my body, blood, brain, bones or consciousness? What exactly is this thing called anger? As we go through these examinations, the more moderate anger will stop and disappear immediately. Does the disappearance of anger mean we have gained realization of emptiness? No. In fact, any thought that we watch attentively will cease to continue. It has nothing to do with gaining realization or not.

~ Depicted from THE HANDBOOK OF LIFE'S JOURNEY : On the Three Poisons - How to Confront Anger

Virtue also has the possibility to turn into mutable karma. It is therefore important for us to preserve all our virtuous karma as best we can. There are two ways to do that. One is dedication. The other, a better way, is to understand fully the meaning of emptiness, that is, knowing that virtuous karma is, like dreams, intrinsically illusory.

If we can contemplate in this way, even if anger arises, it cannot destroy the root of virtue. Because anger is a defilement, a mental affliction rooted in attachment, it is incompatible with the view that all phenomena are illusory. But the virtuous actions we perform are directly associated with attaining realization of that view. Since something mired in attachment is inferior to the virtuous root planted with wisdom, anger cannot destroy this root of virtue. If we have neither attained any realization nor dedicated merit, but are constantly filled with anger, virtuous karma will be destroyed very easily. For ordinary people, the best way to preserve accumulated good karma is dedication of merit.

~ Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW : On Cause and Effect

American scientists once conducted an experiment in which the participants were Tibetan Buddhist practitioners of meditative concentration. The researchers utilized, on one side, brainwave patterns to measure changes in brainwaves, and on the other, magnetic resonance imaging to locate brain activity. In the end, they concluded meditation can not only change brain activity in the short term, it can, with great likelihood, change brain activity permanently. In other words, with meditation, one can completely eliminate anxiety, sadness, and other negative feelings, create a sense of happiness, even restructure the brain.

~ Depicted from THE PAPER TIGER : The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness