WORDS OF WISDOM

The Nirmanakaya is for the Buddha to communicate with ordinary people. Although Buddha-nature exists within the mind of every sentient being, the Dharmakaya (Truth Body) of the Buddha is rendered powerless to those who have not attained realization and thus must rely on the Nirmanakaya and the Sambhogakaya of the Buddha for guidance to enlightenment. However, neither the Nirmanakaya nor the Sambhogakaya is the true Buddha, only the Dharmakaya, the union of wisdom and compassion, is.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

The first teaching of the dharma is concerned with the precious human body. The Buddha taught us, from the point of view of the six realms of samsara, humans are significantly lucky and fortunate. If cherishing our life, we can attain supreme happiness and tranquility.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

From the perspective of material life, our era has the most abundance of material wealth in human history. We possess advanced devices and products such as airplanes, wireless, computers, etc. However, compared with ancient people, we lost freedom, which is the most precious thing in the world. We need to contemplate on this problem and make some proper choices, endeavoring to give ourself more freedom.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Buddhism holds that a glass of water seen by sentient beings of the six realms will manifest six different phenomena, respectively. By the same token, beings of the six realms will see six different worlds, somewhat like the idea of the multiverse.

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

Stress makes our life painful; desires evolve the pressures of life; hallucinations lead to various desires in space and time; and the wisdom of enlightenment can eliminate all illusions.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

What does “preliminary practice” of Tibetan Buddhism mean? It means preparatory practice. Despite the fact that ultimately we need to attain the wisdom of emptiness, without laying a solid foundation of cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta, we are not able to realise emptiness.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Some regard Buddhism as a kind of belief. Belief also means faith. Of course faith is needed in Buddhism, but it would be oversimplified to regard Buddhism as a belief since keeping faith is only one of the aspects of Buddhism.  The foundation and the priority of Buddhism are not about belief, but wisdom and compassion.  

- Quote from The Right View, "Buddhism—the Definition"

When seeing the happiness of other people, two types of emotions might occur: jealousy and rejoicing. Jealousy makes us unsatisfied, while rejoicing brings us happiness and allowing our merits to increase.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Everyone of us needs to practice dharma, including me. Because as ordinary beings, we haven’t dispelled defilements and are not free from cyclic existence. Having attained precious human life in this lifetime, we need to cherish it. If missing this opportunity, I’m afraid we’ll miss the only opportunity in many lifetimes and eons henceforth.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES