WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

How should a Buddhist live? The Buddha gave us the answer long time ago. Being his followers, we should all adopt the kind of life that he had prescribed for both the monastics and laypeople. Doing so will make for a much more meaningful life.

In the Vinaya Pitaka, the Buddha told the monastics that one should avoid duality in life. Duality mentioned in Madhyamaka is the eternalist and nihilist view, whereas in the context of the way of living, duality denotes the impoverished and self-indulgent life.

- Quote from The Right View, "A Buddhist’s Mode of Life"

Some people think because Buddhism propagates “samsara is suffering,” its ideology is passive and pessimistic. This could not be further from the truth. Buddhist doctrine is not passive; it is extremely pro-active, but its goal and direction are different from that of mundane beings. Ordinary people work to make money; Buddhist practitioners work to have money to live on, but their real aspiration is to liberate all living beings.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Contaminated Things are Unsatisfactory"

Presently, there are many empowerments and teachings given on Dzogchen and Vajrayana Buddhism; there are also many people who claim they want to practice Dzogchen and receive empowerments. However, serious practitioners of impermanence and bodhicitta are few and far between. This is why we never see progress. We are true practitioners only if we earnestly undertake basic practices like impermanence and suffering. At that point, our worldview will be entirely different; however difficult or harsh life’s circumstances, there will be nothing we cannot think through and accept.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

Isn’t it kind of fashionable now to talk about ‘going back to the nature’? But the ‘nature’ that worldly people go back to is not the real thing. The true meaning of going back to the natural state is to give up all desires for samsara and take the path leading to ultimate liberation. So the first thing we should do now is to generate renunciation. From now on, the meaning of life for us should never be merely having money, children, family and so forth.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

The so-called “aggregate of feeling” is an overall label for feelings. There are essentially three kinds: pleasant, unpleasant, and a neutral feeling which is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

How are these feelings produced? When the eye perceives matter that is pleasant or unpleasant, this thought is transmitted to the sixth consciousness; our consciousness follows the eye and forms an attachment; desire and anger arise as a result. Anger here implies a lack of acceptance; we do not necessarily get angry at everything that is unpleasant, but when we refuse to accept, try to avert, or bear thoughts of resentment, this is also called anger.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "The Practice of Realizing Emptiness"

Everyone is seeking a happy life, yet all seem to be experiencing unhappiness of one kind or another. More and more people realize that having more money and possessions is no 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.

- Quote from The Right View, "A Buddhist’s Mode of Life"

We have all committed incalculable karma of killing lives since beginningless time. Even so far in this lifetime alone, we have generated enough such karma to send us to the hell realm. And the best way to counteract this karmic effect is to liberate living beings. At the same time, we must also resolve by making a pledge not to intentionally kill or hurt ANY sentient beings ever again. With such determination, all negative karma associated with killing lives will indubitably be purified. In case one’s resolution is not yet as firm, the pledge can be made on account of the selected beings of one’s choice. For example, one can vow never to kill snakes or weather loaches again from now on. When this vow is made and the beings are subsequently freed, one’s specific karma of killing snakes or weather loaches from beginningless time will then be purified, but that of killing other kinds of beings stays.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

Ordinarily, we think the circumstances in a dream are not real while experiences during the day are real. If we perceive the world outside to be truly existent, i.e., real and not illusory, this belief in true existence is called “self.” In the Middle Way doctrine, the “self” is clearly defined as a distinct and permanent entity which exists in its own right and does not depend on other things to come into being.

- Quote from The Four Seals of Dhama, "All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence"

Some people may not think of samsara as suffering because they themselves have not been through too many miseries so far. The seemingly happy life they are having now already makes them feel on top of the world. Any talk of Pure Land or liberation is basically useless stuff for them. But they are wrong. As they are ignorant of the nature of cyclic existence, there is no way they could know that the good life hardly ever lasts long. Without delving into the details here, one should be able to see clearly the nature of cyclic existence through contemplation of impermanence and especially the woes of samsara as specified in the ordinary preliminaries. It is plainly obvious if the same ignorant way of living is continued, what lies ahead in the future could be very dreadful indeed. So we must turn around.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"