As a Mahayanist, we should refrain from giving rise to thoughts of conquest: conquering nature, countries, nations or people; rather we should be grateful to nature and all sentient beings. Due to the existence of nature and sentient beings, we can achieve noble goals, which are engendering bodhicitta and realising emptiness.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Although from the meditative concentration’s point of view, the heavenly beings in the form and formless realm are endowed with great capacity, the meditative concentration they abide in is mere tranquility, which is devoid of the wisdom of realisation, thus their meditative concentration has nothing to do with liberation. Among sentient beings in the three worlds and the six realms, only humans have the best chance to attain liberation. Thus being a human is fairly significant, we need to cherish our human body.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
There is an interesting secret to confronting suffering: the more receptive and welcoming we are, the less it dares to approach us; the more hostilely we refuse it, the easier it can intrude our mind. For this reason, if not desiring suffering, one needs to embrace it courageously.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
It’s been analysed and inferred in sutras and shastras over and over again that suffering stems from self-clinging or attachment; this is expounded from another perspective. Here we come to a conclusion that suffering and happiness don’t come from external things, rather they’re closely related to our views, habitual pattern or habit. All suffering comes form our attachments.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Preliminary practice entails five practices, starting from taking refuge, up to guru yoga. Relying on the capacity of these five practices, one can realise emptiness, which is referred to as realising the nature of mind in the Chan tradition, it means actualising the truth of phenomena. In tantric context, it’s referred to as realising the primordial wisdom. What is it meant by primordial wisdom? Buddha nature is the primordial wisdom.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Before attaining buddhahood, Vajrasattva made an aspiration: I vow not to attain buddhahood if I cannot enable anyone to chant my name, and supplicate to me for confessing to purify their obscurations. Given Vajrasattva had attained buddhahood, if supplicating to Vajrasattva by chanting the Vajrasattva Mantra or the Hundred-Syllable Mantra of Vajrasattva, one is bound to purify all obscurations.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
Once one has realized emptiness, then one can solve the final problem. The final problem is not how to have a better life, or make more money. It is resolving the problem of birth, old age and death. It is to be liberated from cyclic existence. It is not just for one’s own liberation. It is to return and liberate more sentient beings. To have more people be freed from life and death. This is the ultimate goal of our practice.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
The Buddha told us not to fall into extremes when engaging in any activities. We don’t need to have aversions towards this world and be pessimistic, neither do we need to idealised our life; we need to take a middle way approach. Money and relationships are neither good nor evil in nature, it’s our mind which engender good or evil elements to them. If dealing with money and relationship with a neutral mind, then we can live a happy life.
~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES
