What is nirvana? Liberation is nirvana. From the standpoint of Mahayana Buddhism, the three bodies of an enlightened being – dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya – and the five wisdoms are called nirvana.

What does true peace mean? After liberation, there is genuine freedom from the three types of suffering mentioned before; the seeds of the three types of suffering and their designations also cease to be. This pure and everlasting happiness is true peace. It is not the happiness ordinary people refer to; rather, happiness is just freedom from suffering that arises from contaminated actions. Because it is pure, it is deemed “true peace.”

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - Nirvana Is True Peace

Knowing life is impermanent and human birth is precious, it is most unfortunate that many practitioners have great faith in tantra but know almost nothing about its views and ideas. This is why I have decided to give an overview of the Vajrayana first. As for the actual practice, once genuine renunciation and bodhicitta are generated, we can begin to learn some of the practices of the generation stage and the completion stage without marks, that is, the practices associated with Mahamudra and the Great Perfection. The practice of the completion stage with marks mainly refers to practices known collectively as “winds, channels, and essences”; it is a rather complicated system of practices which we hardly employ nowadays. Naturally, one should not assume the preliminaries are no longer necessary now that one can hear the tantric teachings.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - A Compendium of the Vajrayana

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 THE VAJRAYANA PATH - The Completion Stage —the skillful means to realize emptiness

Many people also mix up the two. Among them, there are non- Buddhists and some lay practitioners of Buddhism. Although increasingly more people are becoming interested in learning Buddhism, some of them seek only the benefit of the celestial beings or the human realm in this life. What will happen in the next life or the question of liberation from samsara are not at all their concerns. They burn incense and read sutras only to get a better treatment from this life. On the surface, it may appear that they are practicing Buddhism, but in fact they view Dharma practice only as a way of living. To non-Buddhists, working is their way of living; for some Buddhists, the way of living means going to the temple to render worship to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The so-called Dharma practice does not touch upon the meaning of life whatsoever. To make clear distinction between the way of living and the meaning of life is the most basic step to entering the path of Dharma.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life

What has to be kept secret? Actually, there is nothing in Vajrayana that is shameful or inappropriate and cannot be told. Rather, it is the profound and uncommon view of Vajrayana, such as the equality of defilement (klesa) and wisdom (bodhi), samsara and nirvana, sentient beings and the enlightened, etc., that needs to be kept confidential. If not, many people may end up with a mistaken view of Vajrayana because they cannot comprehend the concepts.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - A Compendium of the Vajrayana

As we breathe out during meditation, visualize our happiness and the causes of this happiness – the virtuous actions and merits of the past, present, and future – transformed into a white gaseous substance which is then dissolved into the minds and bodies of all sentient beings. Visualize all sentient beings receiving this happiness and its causes, and thus being free from suffering.

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

There is a very convenient example in modern technology. The old motion picture film is actually made up of many reversal films; the first picture film has no connection whatsoever with the second picture film, but due to the speed at which they are rolled out (twenty-four films per second), we do not notice where one picture ends and the next begins. We mistakenly think when a person in an image is walking and talking, it is one continuous motion; we do not expect the connecting images to be formed by many separate films. An illusion is produced because our eye cannot perceive matter of a subtle nature. For scientists and philosophers, this logic should be easy to follow.

Thus, Buddhism believes all phenomena which arise and cease due to causes and conditions are like a dream, like magic, like a water bubble, like shadow. They are all unreal and illusory.

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

To know death correctly can help us overcome fear, anxiety and evasion when death is mentioned because we already know that death is only a part of the cyclic process of life, not the end. There is no need to feel disheartened and pessimistic when facing death. On the contrary, we may even be able to elevate our life to a different level when in death if we know how to make use of the opportunity.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY -On Death And Rebirth-How to Face Death

First of all, we should know that to encounter the teaching on emptiness is not something to be taken for granted. Hearing it plants the seed for realization of emptiness that is not only indestructible but will also come to fruition in the near future. It is stated in the Four Hundred Verse Treatise by Aryadeva: Most sentient beings do not have the chance to hear the profound teaching on emptiness due to insufficient merit. Even if they do, most are unable to generate faith in or have reasonable doubt about the empty nature of phenomena, having little merit and inferior capacity or being negatively influenced by the surrounding environment and their social background. Anyone who can muster even the slightest doubt about the plausibility of all phenomena being empty of self-nature will hence have the means to cease samsara in the end.

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