People think that desire motivates growth and development of mankind, a point that is not rejected by Buddhism either. It is said in the Mahayana scriptures that there must be self-grasping as great as Mount Sumeru in order to attain Buddhahood. Normally, self-grasping is condemned in Buddhism because it can cause greed, anger and delusion to arise. But here, it becomes the impetus to seek liberation; to certain extent, this is also a kind of desire. When desire to attain Buddhahood is absent, aspiration to learn Buddhadharm, to achieve enlightenment and to benefit sentient beings will not happen either. Genuine Dharma practice is a big, demanding and time consuming project that needs sufficient courage and drive to achieve its goal, and the source of this courage is the desire to attain Buddhahood. Arhats, lacking such desire, do not have the motivation to reach Buddhahood and hence seek only liberation for themselves.

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

Perhaps many people believe that applying Buddhism in their daily life means to regularly perform volunteer work, or to donate property, blood, organs, etc., as well as the various acts advocated by the “Buddhist Vehicle of gods and men”.

Although we cannot deny this is also applying Dharma in daily life, such love and compassion are also possessed by heretics, and even by the ordinary kind-hearted people in society.  However, if one does not have compassion, altruism and renunciation mind, this can only be considered to be the specific behavior which a Buddhist should have.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 7

Je Tsongkhapa mentioned in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment that bodhicitta and the mind of renunciation are very important, but that depending on these alone would not overcome ignorance. In the end, we still need the view of emptiness. This is like going to the doctor for treatment of an illness—the key to curing the illness depends on whether or not its root cause is understood. If not, it is not possible to give the right prescription. Similarly, the reason why we are not liberated (from samsara), not at ease and not free, is not mere coincidence or something that has happened without any cause. It is also not due to the will of an omnipotent God. The root cause indeed originates from attachment. 

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 10

The minimum goal we should set for ourselves of this life is to enter the bodhisattva’s path of accumulation, which is the first step, a must, to start the journey of dharma practice. What then is the primary factor leading to the path of accumulation? It is genuine bodhicitta. Surely you all know the definition of bodhicitta. Many may even be able to expound methodically its actual practice. However, it would be hard to say how many of you can actually arouse genuine bodhicitta.

~ Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Supreme Methods—the ultimate methods of cultivating virtue and training the mind

According to the sutras, great merit and virtue may be obtained by doing good deeds on ordinary auspicious days, and this is especially so during the four festivals; doing any good deeds such as chanting, prostrations, making offerings, offering vegetarian meals for the ordained sangha, keeping precepts, and practicing compassion and bodhicitta can ensure a billion times more merit and virtue. That is to say, only chanting a mantra once on such days can help you receive the merit of chanting it a billion times on other days, and so on.

Therefore, be sure not to miss such great opportunities to do your best in doing good deeds such as eating vegetarian food, stopping killing, and releasing lives, which are all very important.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 3

How can a person who has practiced virtue the entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, although the person may have been virtuous throughout this life, we do not know anything about this person’s previous lives. Maybe the person has been virtuous in this as well as the last two lifetimes, but it may not be so anymore if we could go back even further. Some negative karma might have been committed many lifetimes ago. From the perspective of the three types of immutable karma, virtuous karma that the person has committed in this life happens to ripen not in the current or the next life, but in the yet known future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years later.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1

People can never be fully satisfied with their lives if they do not know how to control their desires, as desires can grow and expand endlessly. No matter who you are, there will always be someone who is better than you. If your aim is to get to the top social stratum, your whole life will be spent in the pursuit of such vanity until the end. The consequence of chasing endless desires is never to be happy. Many such cases can be found in our daily life either from our own experience or that of other people. It is therefore important to be content with fewer desires in life.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6

As stated in the sutras, “Existence in the human realm is rare, and all is impermanent.” Most of you here are already in your 30s and 40s. The remaining days, a few more decades at the most, are really not that long and will soon pass by before you know it. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee the opportunity to practice will present itself again in the next life if you fail to seize it this time. So the point is to lay the necessary foundation now as the stepping-stones leading to a better start for the next life.

~ Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Supreme Methods—the ultimate methods of cultivating virtue and training the mind

The Buddha said that the nature of samsara is suffering, but he did not repudiate totally the idea that there is relative happiness in samsara either. The Buddha often said that one can enjoy the karmic reward of celestial beings and humans if one refrains from killing, stealing, cheating, etc. and engages in virtuous actions as much as possible. The blessed reward of celestial beings and humans signify relative happiness, not suffering, in samsara. However, such happiness is only on the surface, temporary and relative; it’s neither lasting nor ultimate happiness. This is why the Buddha exhorted us on many occasions to be mentally prepared so that we can garner enough courage to face every phase of life.

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