It is common phenomena nowadays to see people keep putting off practicing the Dharam and just idling the days away, as if they are sure of a second chance to be born a human again or to listen to Mahayana teachings and encounter Mahayana teachers once more. But there is no guarantee of that second chance ever coming through. Now in this life, we, the fortune few, have met basically all the necessary conditions required for the journey to enlightenment. We ought to treasure this truly rare opportunity and immediately set about the task of practicing the Dharma. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

Many people who do not understand the views of Madhayamaka tend to find many contradictions when reading the scriptures of Prajanaparamita, such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra, that expound  the idea of emptiness, i.e the five aggregates, the four elements and in fact all phenomena are without distinct self-nature. This is plainly because they do not know the need to separate the two truths in their analysis. Here are some of the usual questions: " Is Buddhahood a fallacy ? If the Buddha is empty of self-nature, what is the point of practicing the Dharma and how is one supposed to attain Buddhahood ? Are causality and rebirth for real? If karma, samsara, Buddhahood, the practice itself and the act of freeing sentient beings from suffering are all real, how can they be empty of self-nature at the same time? To answer these questions, the two truths must be applied separately. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

Money is not omnipotent. This is Buddha had said long ago. But now it has been proven so more and more clearly. The data above evidently show that our sense of happiness did not come from material prosperity. 

Everyone is seeking a happy life, yet all seems to be experiencing unhappiness of one kind or another. More and more people realize that having more money and possessions is not guaranty for more happiness. This truth has been well elucidated in the Buddhist texts, which the economists and psychologists in the West only found out now. 

~Depicted from The Right View 

Longchenpa said that all virtuous actions, great or small, should be performed within the framework of the Three Supreme Methods. If so, whatever actions being undertaken will be leading to the path of liberation. Otherwise, the good deeds will be far removed from the path to liberation, however great or appealing they apprear to be. This is how important the Three Supreme Methods is. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

What we should do is to set out on the path by the way of learning and contemplating the teachings of the Buddha. Otherwise, how is one supposed to practice, knowing neither the theories nor the methods ? Merely keeping the mind calm and thoughtless is not what practice is about. We all know that many animals regularly go into hibernation for months on end or even longer. Would anybody call that a form of practice ? Or, would they thus be enlightened ? Certainly no. So, just keeping the mind blank is not so important. What we really need is forming the correct view, which can only come from learning and contemplating the teachings. This is why the process of learning the Dharma has occupied such a critical position on he path to liberation. 

~Depicted from From Believers to Boddhisattvas

Actually, many people have been making the same mistake. That is, all the efforts that they put into the preliminary practice only go to fulfill the requirement of certain amount of mantra recitations, missing the essential points of the teachings instead. To handle the practice this way is a foolish waste. The saving measure is to carefully examine the motivation for whatever we do, be it undertaking to practice to supreme Vajrayana, the foundational five preliminaries, or just doing daily activities.

~Depicted from The Right View 

Sometimes patients, after being diagnosed and given only one to three months to live, may continue living healthy life three months later with the help of performing virtuous deeds such as liberating animals or undertaking a long life practice. When the patients go for check-up again, doctors find the symptoms all gone.. This has happened in Tibet, China and other parts of the world. It is not hearsay or a fairytale but a fact, which somewhat validates the existence of causality. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

Before one comes to this realization, the way to practice with a mind free of clinging and concepts is to conduct all practices earnestly, faithfully and whole-heartedly with the conviction of renunciation and bodhicitta. Though, for the time being, there is still certain difficulty in truly freeing the mind of attachment and concepts, as long as renunciation and bodhicitta are firmly established, the true nature of phenomena will become fully evident over time. This is because the relationship between bodhicitta and realization emptiness; emptiness shall be realized with relative ease once renunciation and bodhicitta have been generated. 

~Depicted from The Right View

The happy life we are having now is not permanent. There is bound to be suffering in the future. Some people do not see the point of preparing for future lives because they are not feeling any obvious distress right now. Yet worrying about the well-being in their old age, they will do all they can to make money even without concerns for karma and retributions sometimes. This is very foolish. It has never occurred to them that they have already been born human and that no matter how hard this life is, it is nowhere close to the severe suffering born by those in the three lower realms. Where will we be reborn next time? Will we have another human birth like this one ? No one knows. So, to be well prepared for the next life should be the rational thing to do. What does it take to be well prepared ? It certainly is not wealth or fame we need but spiritual practice. Although Theravada practice can solve our own problem, it does not help others. Consequently, we must strive to arouse bodhicitta as it is the only means to help both ourselves and other beings to liberation. 

~Depicted from The Right View