In any case, the key difference between Buddhism and non-Buddhism lies in taking refuge in the Three Jewels.

Accordingly, taking refuge is deemed a prerequisite for anyone who wants to learn Buddhism. However, it has never been forced upon anyone. Only those who want to learn the Buddha’s teachings or take up Buddhist practice must satisfy this requirement. Not taking refuge is to remain an “outsider,” off the path to liberation, and one cannot be deemed a Buddhist.

[Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 : The Right View ~ The Three Differences]

Many people consider Buddhism as idealism, because everything in this world is a reflection of our mind. It is not true, although most of other religions in the west are idealism but not Buddhism. On the other hand, Buddhism is neither materialism. Although we may find Buddhism may be partial materialism or idealism, but it is neither in general. Materialism and Idealism belongs to a certain category of western philosophy, but it can not include all the human knowledge.

Buddhism believe the world is neither consist of material or immaterial, it is an illusion created by our mind.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

For example, we think that Buddha Shakyamuni and Vajrasattva are two different deities. However, they are actually manifestations of the true nature of mind, or tathagatagarbha (buddha nature). This is like all kinds of images appearing on a screen even though they all come from one negative. The nature of mind is primordially pure. Any image projected from the pure tathagatagarbha is essentially one without any difference. In fact, Vajrasattva is also a manifestation of Buddha Shakyamuni.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Guru Yoga Practice of the Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava]

Our common sensations are sometimes misleading; the result of scientific research is more reliable. If we conduct logical analyses, we come to realize that the world we are living in is only as brief as one ten thousandth of a second; the rest is our own illusion.

As an example on the macro level, consider dozens of lights lined up together. The first light is turned on, then turned off; immediately after that, the second light is turned on and off, then the third, fourth and fifth light, and so on to the end. We could see that each light is an individual with not much relationship to the others, but if we see the lights from a distance, it seems that one light moves from the first spot to the last. This is only an optical illusion in which there is actually no movement of the light. Again, in Buddhist terminology this is called arising and ceasing.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

Apparently, even non-Buddhist practitioners with some spiritual realization may still be confused about the workings of cause and effect, not to mention people without any right view or understanding. The complexity of the cycle of cause and effect and how it passes through the past, present and future makes it possible only for the Buddha to comprehend entirely its causal relationships. Others merely glimpse different parts of the cycle. These non-Buddhist practitioners are usually well learned; some may even have acquired certain clairvoyance into worldly matters. However, they jumped to a conclusion only based upon what they saw—virtuous people who took rebirth in the lower realms—and from this they concluded that cause and effect cannot exist. Then books were written and theories developed based on this conclusion, which gradually formed into a sect after attracting enough followers. This is how nihilism was established.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Right View : On Cause and Effect]

Our life comes to a crossroads when we realize that the world is full of illusion. We can either live in this world endlessly without any further investigation—we call this “samsara”—or, if we are fed up with this illusory world, we need to change the way we see it to the Buddhist view.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

Although non-Buddhist traditions espouse beliefs that also proclaim some notion of emptiness, they fail to elucidate the void nature of all phenomena based on dependent origination. Their idea of emptiness is only some sort of “mere emptiness,” unlike one that is inseparable from phenomena. For example, some non-Buddhists point out that what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears are all illusory. However, most of their ideas about emptiness just amount to nothingness, and ignore phenomena altogether. This is neither the emptiness taught by Nagarjuna and other like-minded masters, nor the one expounded by Asanga and others, which is inseparable from luminous clarity. The emptiness of non-Buddhism simply means non-existence, like human heads being without horns, which is not the true meaning of Buddhist emptiness. The non-Buddhist idea of emptiness, regrettably, is merely this.

[Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 : The Right View ~ The Three Differences]

The Buddhist view of this world brings us loving kindness and wisdom. With compassion and wisdom, we are able to balance our life in terms of money, relationships, marriage and everything else, and with certain kinds of practice and mind training, we can ultimately attain enlightenment.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

We should not think that Buddha Shakyamuni and Padmasambhava are two totally different persons. According to the sutras, Padmasambhava is an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni. Buddha Shakyamuni propagated the sutrayana and guided sentient beings in the form of a buddha. When propagating tantra, he manifested as Padmasambhava. Buddha Shakyamuni is the teacher of all the practitioners of the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. No other buddha or bodhisattva can exceed the qualities of Buddha Shakyamuni. However, due to the different aspirations of each buddha and bodhisattva, they manifest different emanations and function differently.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Guru Yoga Practice of the Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava]