The key for a doctor to be effective in treating a patient lies in whether the doctor knows the cause of the illness so that he or she can prescribe the right treatment. By the same token, the root of our samsaric existence and not being free is not a coincidence or without cause and condition. It is certainly not ruled by the Omnipotent but by attachment.

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

As for the rest of the practitioners, some seek their own liberation. Although we all like to claim to be Mahayana practitioners, in reality, many of us only practice to liberate ourselves. Things like practicing the preliminaries, liberating animals, burning incense, and performing prostrations are all done for the purpose of accumulating merit for ourselves. These activities are not much different from working or handling family affairs: working is for our own living, not others’; practicing the five preliminaries and listening to teachings are for our own liberation, not others’ either. Everything is done for our own sake.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO THE VAJRAYANA PATH -Vajra Master and Empowerment

We may not believe in the existence of God, a creator of all things, but we must believe in the existence of something profound and mysterious. The world is not what we see and think. The information we receive from the five sense faculties is incorrect; what we get is merely sets of illusion. Nevertheless, we still cling to our perceptions and believe they exist. In Buddhism, the term we use is attachment.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS -Suffering is just a Paper Tiger

It is best that busy people today take up the practice of Dzogchen. Even though Dzogchen is for people of superior capacity, we can still try to elevate ourselves to that level, and the way to do that is by practicing the preliminaries. Through hearing and contemplating the Dharma, and the practice of the preliminaries, an ordinary person who knows nothing about karma, let alone renunciation and bodhicitta, can also turn into someone of superior capacity. A person who has cultivated renunciation and bodhicitta after completing the preliminaries and developed great faith in tantra is said to have superior capacity. Such a person has a chance of succeeding in the Dzogchen practice. Whether we can be someone of superior capacity is all up to us. However, to practice Dzogchen prematurely would not only fail to bring any benefit but also run the risk of losing one’s faith in the practice. Therefore, make effort to practice the preliminaries first.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - The Completion Stage —the skillful means to realize emptiness

The Buddha once said, “I do not argue with worldly people, yet they argue with me.” The first part of this sentence was spoken from the perspective of the relative truth. In this context, “worldly people” refers to the viewpoints formed on the basis of the five sense consciousnesses. From the standpoint of the relative truth, are the objects that worldly people see considered physical matter? Yes. And more than being physical, all the objects including mountains, rivers, land, etc. and our thoughts and feelings are also deemed to be existing. So do samsara and nirvana, good and evil. That is, everything that people can see, hear, smell, taste and touch exists. However, the sensations that people gain in this fashion only manifest a world of illusions, a world created by the five consciousnesses. Even if tentatively, the Buddha still affirmed the dream-like existence of this world. And whatever the five consciousnesses do not acknowledge, the Buddha considered them non- existent as well. Thus, the Buddha maintained his position of not arguing with worldly people. The view that he acquiesced to is the relative truth.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Two Truths—the Key to Unlocking Madhyamaka

The World Bank and World Health Organization expect depression to be the biggest public health problem worldwide in the not too distant future. In 2006 alone, the annual expenditure on anti-depressants in the United States was estimated at seventy-six billion US dollars. However, the effectiveness of these drugs has been less than ideal, since the drugs cause damage to that part of the brain that controls the subtle thought processes. Thus, the long term use of anti-depressants will affect our emotional state.

How can we solve this problem?

To treat mental problems we must work with the mind. Nothing could be more appropriate for the treatment of mental conditions than methods that work with the mind. Especially in our present business-oriented society, it is imperative that we look immediately for methods and answers within the Buddhist culture to address concrete problems in our life, and ameliorate the stress and anxiety we feel.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS - The Significance of Buddhist Philosophy Today

If one day we lose possession of our luxury car and cannot afford to buy expensive clothing, or if we discover that our neighbor has a better house and car, we will begin to suffer. Even though we still have clothes to wear and do not lack for food or shelter, and even though our non-discriminating consciousness is contented, our discriminating consciousness feels ashamed and inferior to others. It’s obvious that this feeling is entirely created by the sixth consciousness.

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

Presently, on all the continents except Antarctica, there are children who can remember their past lives. When these children first began to talk, they would say who they were, where they came from; they would give their parents’ names and details of their past lives. Their parents in this life would then check and validate the actual existence and subsequent death of the persons mentioned. Often enough these children inherited very strong habitual tendencies from their past lives—one who loved to smoke in past life would steal his father’s cigarettes to smoke in this life; one who died of a car accident in past life would be too frightened to go near cars in this life, and so forth. Some of them don’t feel close to their parents of this life but take the parents and relatives in the past life as their real parents and family instead. Many parents are unwilling to make this public lest others should think their children are mentally unstable, out of embarrassment, or because it violates their own religious beliefs. Nevertheless, the secret gets out eventually.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY- On Death And Rebirth-What Life Truly Is

We should all recite the Buddha’s name on a regular basis, but to be fully prepared, we should also undertake a concurrent practice. That is to say, we should choose one of the Middle Way practices in either Vajrayana or exoteric Buddhism to ensure all grounds are covered. If we can realize emptiness, that certainly is best; if not, we can still go to Western Pure Land if we are sincere in chanting the Buddha’s name. The two should be practiced together, this is also His Holiness Jigme Phunstok Rinpoche’s advice. At the same time, listening and contemplating the Dharma are both helpful to the practice and to chanting the Buddha’s name, so these activities are complementary. An integrated practice like this is definitely beyond error.

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