The happiness that material enjoyment brings is limited. Yet what we want is unlimited. How is it possible to fill an infinite space with something which has a limit? Certainly not in this lifetime! Our lifespan is no more than several decades, but even if we lived billions of years, we would still fall short of satisfying ever-growing greed. In fact, the longer we live, the greater our desire and the suffering that follows. Thus, the Buddha admonished us to keep our desire in check in order to gain true happiness; if we are always chasing after material things, we will never find real happiness.

Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series: The Paper Tiger ~ The Tibetan Buddhist View on Happiness

The primary doctrine of Buddhism is the dependent arising of all phenomena, which encompasses a broad range of subjects. From the perspective of relative truth, this means that when there is a cause, there is an effect. Life’s sorrows and joys, separations and reunions — in fact, all phenomena — arise from their own respective causes. Some we can see, some we cannot. Only very special kinds of persons can comprehend the whole picture. But cause and effect always go hand in hand; they are never apart — no cause, no effect, and vice versa. If we are in pursuit of happiness, we must sow happiness to reap happiness. The seed of happiness is virtuous action. To avoid suffering and misfortune, we must not give rise to their causes. The cause of suffering is doing evil.

 ~ Luminous Wisdom 1: On Cause and Effect

The establishment of the Buddhist point of view

In Buddhist thought, the origin of samsara may be summed up accurately in one sentence: “It is seemingly far away, but it is actually right in front of you.” Why do we say that “it is seemingly far away, but it is actually right in front of you”? As to the first part, it is because all of us have experienced birth and death endlessly and, except for the Buddha, there is nobody else who could calculate the number of times we have transmigrated within samsara. Due to the length and distance of samsara’s cycle, it is therefore stated that “it is seemingly far away”. On the other hand, every living being has experienced the beginning and end of samsara with the appearance and disappearance of birth and death, deep sleep, and thought. Therefore, it could be said that the origin of samsara “is actually right in front of you”.

～ Luminous Wisdom : The Buddhist Theory of the Origin of Species

Many poor people believe that lack of money is the reason for their pain, and if one day they were to get money, there would be no pain. However, if they really became rich one day, they would find out that their pain has not disappeared; on the contrary, more suffering is awaiting them. So, a hard life is not the root cause of suffering since many people with a hard life enjoy more happiness than rich people.

The Buddha taught us that the real origin of suffering is attachment to money, people and things. There are many kinds of attachment: attachment to the self is called self-grasping, and attachment to external possessions, such as money, fame, and fortune, is called clinging to phenomena. If there is no attachment, there will be no suffering if there is no attachment. The Buddhist sutras often talk about “letting go” as an antidote to attachment.

~ Luminous Wisdom 9 : The Principles of Liberation

Lay people very rarely have the means or the will to drop all their worldly attachments to pursue a contemplative life. Nevertheless, if we could incorporate bodhicitta into our everyday activities, then Mahayana practice would not seem so incompatible with the trivial and sometimes inconsequential affairs we have to deal with on a daily basis.

~ Luminous Wisdom, 1 : The Three Differences

As the saying goes, “It takes more than one cold day for the river to freeze three feet deep.” We are, after all, ordinary people, unable to just give up our insatiable worldly desires overnight. But as mentioned before, it does not matter what we practice, Mahayana or Hinayana;, as long as the aim is to attain ultimate liberation, genuine renunciation will gradually arise over time.

~ Luminous Wisdom 1 : The Three Differences

Mahayana Buddhism teaches that of all the disturbing emotions, the very worst is hatred because the basis and starting point of the Mahayana is compassion. Hatred is the direct opposite of compassion. In the Mahayana, if we completely abandon our compassion for any being, we will have hatred in our heart. This breaks the bodhisattva vow from the root, and makes it impossible to arouse bodhicitta. Hatred’s faults, and the sufferings it produces, are numerous.

~ Luminous Wisdom, 10

The Buddha knew very well the relationship between material wealth and human desires—how people’s minds change with the rise and fall of their fortune. This is why the Buddha specifically taught this way of life for Buddhists.

Other worldly disciplines such as philosophy have so far failed to answer this question fully. The general view is that nothing remains after death, so the meaning of life is to enjoy life to the fullest while it lasts, even at the cost of squandering our precious lifetime, depleting massive amounts of resources and destroying the natural environment. Even then, happiness is still beyond reach. This shows that to pursue happiness this way only leads to disappointment.

~ Luminous Wisdom, 6

Taking refuge in a guru is not only prescribed in Tibetan Buddhism but also in Han Chinese Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism. It is clearly stated in the precepts of Theravada Buddhism that, after receiving precepts, only after following a master for at least ten years can a disciple be qualified to live on his own. Before that, free activities are disallowed.

～ Luminous Wisdom 3 ：The Guru Yoga Practice of The Seven Line Prayer