Death is an important issue to everyone as it is a reality that everyone is reluctant but has to face. To ordinary people, death represents a dark unknown filled with despair, mysteries, pain and sorrow. In the face of death, almost all of us are panic-stricken and terrified. It is really due to a misunderstanding of death itself. To know correctly what death is can thus eliminate fear of death and help us better prepared for it.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-Understanding Death

The practice of facing suffering can be divided into four stages: understand what suffering is, know the origin of suffering, defeat suffering, and methods for overcoming suffering.

In the Buddhist view, suffering is neither a material thing nor physical motion; it is a special feeling.

Feeling is a specific aspect of the mind. Objects like steel, cement, brick, glass, etc. do not have feeling – they do not feel either suffering or happiness. After we die, the body is just like a stone or brick. When it comes in contact with earth, water, fire, wind or anything on the outside, it does not react. It is no longer conscious and thus cannot feel suffering or happiness.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS -How to Face Suffering and Happiness-How to Face Suffering

Money may have something to do with certain negative mental states, but money is no solution to those mental problems. Although medication is effective to a certain degree in alleviating the symptoms, its side effect should not be underestimated. Then, the safest and the most effective way to overcome difficulties of the mind is spiritual practice.

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

Before meditation, we should first get ready, that is, shut the door, go to the bathroom, turn off the cell phone, etc. We should deal with these chores ahead of time so as not to disrupt the actual meditation practice. Thereafter, go to a shrine room if there is one, and prepare a cushion. This cushion is called a meditation cushion; it should be higher in back than in front to allow the body to sit comfortably. As you sit on the meditation cushion, make the following vow: during this sitting, I will remain in meditation no matter what.

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

There is suffering everywhere in the six realms of rebirth: if not suffering of suffering, it is suffering of change; if not suffering of change, it is all-pervasive suffering.  This is especially so in this degenerate time.  Even if we are unwilling to accept suffering, all of us have to confront it; we cannot ignore it. 

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - How to Face Suffering and Happiness-How to Face Suffering

A lot of people are optimistic and hopeful when they are young, especially when their career or business is successful. However, once difficulties arise, they quickly fall into despair and become very pessimistic, to the point of taking their own lives. That is true pessimism. Many people today have an extremely passive and negative outlook on life, thinking they have only a few decades remaining in their lives, following which they will turn to stone, dirt, etc. Buddhism does not see it this way.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA -The Practice of Suffering

All Buddhist teachings, be they Mahayana or Theravada, exoteric or esoteric, can be summed up by wisdom and compassion. In fact, the union of wisdom and compassion is the essence of Buddhism; it is ultimately what to be learned and practiced in Buddhism.

What about burning incense, performing prostrations, reciting sutras and the like? Do these activities signify the process of learning Buddhism? Yes, they are part of that process, but certainly not the main part.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW- Buddhism—the Definition

At the actual moment of death, it is necessary for the mother and child luminosities to come together. What is the child luminosity? The state of realization attained in one’s lifetime is called the child luminosity.

Highly accomplished practitioners have attained realization of the child luminosity already. At the actual moment of death, when the mother luminosity arises, they instantly merge the child luminosity with the mother luminosity and abide in this state. This is called liberation in the bardo.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Vajrayana Terminology

If you would like to know more about karma, you can read the fourth chapter of the Abhidharma-kosha-shastra, which clearly explains the workings of cause and effect. Not understanding karma correctly will cause many problems even for people with clairvoyance, let alone ordinary folks like us.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - On Cause and Effect