How can we validate the existence of causality? The Buddha once said that it is not so easy for an ordinary person to prove the existence of cause and effect, but it’s not impossible. Buddhism contains the doctrine of the dependent arising of all compounded phenomena. What is dependent arising? It means that cause begets effect. All phenomena are the manifestations of dependent arising, the results of conditioned origination. Suppose a person killed an animal. This caused great harm to that animal. How can there be no consequence for the person who committed such grave karma? Like casually throwing a seed into moist and warm soil, it will germinate on its own with no tending required. By the same token, in the phenomenal world, every cause must bear its own fruit with no exception.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1: On Cause and Effect

The existence of ignorance leads to various attachments, such as attachment to the outer world, our own bodies, fame, wealth, and so forth. When our desires are not fulfilled, we experience afflictions and suffering. To satisfy their desires, people even kill, steal, commit sexual misconduct, lie, or commit other misdeeds. All non-virtue arises from attachment, while attachment itself originates from ignorance.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 10

If you want to attain liberation, it would be better not to be anxious to practice Dzogchen or Kalachakra, and so on, because there would be no use in practicing these teachings before the foundation is laid. The Buddha once said, “People who want to attain liberation or practice Mahayana Buddhism do not need to study and practice many methods. Only one practice is needed, and that is great compassion.” The Buddha did not mean, however, that great compassion alone can solve every problems, and simply possessing great compassion without practicing other methods won’t work, either.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 9: The Principles of Liberation

Practice falls into two categories: one is a meditation retreat, not necessarily for a month or a week, but just keeping a simple retreat for two or three hours a day is very good. Strictly speaking, there is no way to practice any Dharma without doing retreat, or in a distracted, indolent and unfocused state. So, one or two hours retreat is a minimum when you practice. Practice cannot be accomplished with money. Liberating lives and doing good deeds can accumulate merit, but cultivating your mind has nothing to do with money. Practicing austerities, doing prostrations, and so on are parts of practice, but not the most important practice. The genuine practice is to practice with your heart.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 9

Every Tibetan Buddhist tradition contains practices of the chöd sadhana，a very special practice that can be separated into many types. The Words of My Perfect Teacher mentions a preliminary practice called the Kusali Chöd. In this practice, you imagine offering your body as a sacrifice to Kuntuzangpo and giving it to all types of spirits, and so forth. The real practice of chöd is to use the wisdom of realizing emptiness in a special technique to remove stubbornness and troubling thoughts. The premise of this practice is that you must realize emptiness and let this enlightenment experience strengthen. After a certain time, you can meditate in areas where ghosts are rumored to appear. During such times there are usually activities that gather spirits, and you might hear strange sounds or witness odd occurrences. This would make ordinary people very nervous and their self-attachment would be very obvious. At such times, if you can focus on emptiness, you will be able to remove your self-attachment successfully, and at the same time remove fear and other negative emotions.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 10

Once a question was raised in Newsweek magazine: Money or happiness, which is more important? Shakyamuni Buddha answered this question more than 2500 years ago, saying that happiness is the most important. Money alone cannot make people satisfied, nor can one obtain happiness or freedom from it. Nonetheless, most people still think that there can be no happiness without money. To them, money is the key to happiness.

Of course, other than a very few exceptions, people who are destitute generally do not feel much happiness. But does this mean that wealthy people must be very happy? No, it certainly does not. Money really cannot buy everything!

In the past, according to the majority of people’s logic and their innate way of thinking, they may have thought,  “As long as I have money, I must be very happy and there is no reason to be unhappy.” Strongly advocated during the Age of Enlightenment, the West began to accept the idea that happiness does not depend on spirit, but rather on substantial things. Looking for happiness from one’s inner spirit was equated to searching for happiness in a place where it did not reside, in other words asking for the impossible.  Influenced by this culture, people shifted their developmental focus to amassing an abundance of external material wealth and its associated accoutrements.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 8

Buddhism holds that physical suffering and misfortune all have various contributing factors as their causes. Some illnesses, the so-called karma-induced illnesses, originate from previous lives. They are medically incurable, no matter how much money is spent. These may be attributed to karma. If you have a cold, headache, or fever, this may also be karma-related, but not necessarily caused by karma from past lives. Hence, karma is sometimes directly responsible for certain occurrences, but other times may not be so directly involved. The point is, in all matters, Buddhism has always opposed taking a dualistic approach, affirming one side while negating the other. The same applies to karma.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1: On Cause and Effect

With the four ordinary preliminary practices or the Hinayana Buddhist view, we can conclude that all compounded things are impermanent, suffering and contaminated. They are called “contaminated” since various afflictions can be produced. The investigative method of the Madhyamaka teaches us to investigate this life and the next life, as well as various other external phenomena.  The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna has twenty-seven chapters, and most of the content is an investigation of external substance, so as to understand that all phenomena are empty and to discover that the world is fundamentally an illusion that does not exist at all. Our greed and ignorance are thus undermined and will not develop.

~ Luminous Wisdom Book Series 9: The Principles of Liberation