With the four ordinary preliminary practices or the Hinayana Buddhist view, we can conclude that all compounded things are impermanent, suffering and contaminated. It is called “contaminated” since various afflictions can be produced. The investigative method of the Madhyamaka teaches us to investigate this life and next life, as well as other various external stuffs.  The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna has twenty-seven chapters, and most of the content is the investigation on the external spiritual’s substance, so to understand that all phenomena are empty and discover that the world is fundamentally an illusion that does not exist at all. Thus, our greed and ignorance are undermined and will not grow.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series  9

3. Dedication Upon completion of a virtuous deed or spiritual practice, a proper dedication of the merit should be done according to the text. Since very good karma has already been effected during meditation or animal release, how to apply this good karma thus becomes a pivotal question. Should it be used to attain liberation, health, longevity or rebirth in the god or human realm? We can choose. In essence, dedication is to make a purposeful choice.

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

Once there is an external cause and condition, all kinds of defilement may arise.

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

For ordinary people, the mind follows a natural pattern. This pattern always takes the same direction. To start with, material things can bring us a feeling of happiness. This feeling of happiness is based on a sense of satisfaction; in turn this sense of satisfaction comes from having a new or fresh experience. When we examine the feeling of happiness, we see that all things lose their luster once the novelty wears off. Being new and fresh is not a quality that can last forever; it is only a matter of time before it dissipates. When the new sensation disappears, the feeling of satisfaction loses its base and disappears with it. The feeling of happiness then disappears as well.

~ Depicted from THE PAPER TIGER - The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness

Nagarjuna used the following analogy to describe man’s desire in the treatise entitled Letter to a Friend (Suhrlekha). People who suffered leprosy, a disease caused by bacteria, would feel extremely itchy and painful when the symptoms flared up. This analogy actually hints at man’s desire. We have always thought that money can buy us happiness and so we strive all the time to make more money. But the truth is that being rich often makes us even more miserable.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series  6

2. Practice with a mind free of clinging and concepts It refers to a certain state achieved in practice. Once succeeded in reaching this state, all the good deeds that one does, be it meditation or animal release, will naturally become something supremely excellent.

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

3. Irrational idea. Defilement or negative emotions generated due to external cause is termed irrational or illogical idea, a Buddhist terminology. This is also the most crucial cause.

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

In Buddhism, we are known as ordinary people if we have never received any training of the mind. From the standpoint of the mind, it does not matter how wealthy, socially prominent, or knowledgeable we are; without mind practice, we are still ordinary people. This term is not meant to be disparaging; it simply denotes a person who lacks spiritual training.

~ Depicted from THE PAPER TIGER - The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness

Also stated in the Abhidharma-kosha-shastra is that some children may suffer the effect of seriously negative karma that their parents accumulated. If children can suffer the consequences of their parents’ negative karma, is it not contradictory to the Buddhist teaching that one reaps what one sows and that no one can assume other’s karma?

The Abhidharma-kosha-shastra explains that these children themselves already have certain negative karma. Due to the close relationship between the parents and their children, the ripening of the children’s negative karma may be expedited when the parents committed extremely evil karma.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1