The happy life we are having now is not permanent. There is bound to be suffering in the future. Some people do not see the point of preparing for future lives because they are not feeling any obvious distress right now. Yet worrying about the well-being in their old age, they will do all they can to make money even without concerns for karma and retributions sometimes. This is very foolish. It has never occurred to them that they have already been born human and that no matter how hard this life is, it is nowhere close to the severe suffering born by those in the three lower realms. Where will we be reborn next time ? Will we have another human birth like this one? No one knows. So, to be well prepared for the next life should be the rational thing to do. What does it take to be well prepared? It certainly is not wealth of fame we need but spiritual practice. Although Hinayana practice can solve our own problems, it does not help others. Consequently, we must strive to arouse bodhicitta as it is the only means to help both ourselves and other beings to liberation. 

~Depicted from BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

What are the three supreme methods ? They are : 1. Motivation; 2. actual practice with a mind of free of clinging and concepts; 3. dedication. 

1. Motivation 

Normally, purpose should always precede action. Very rarely a good deed or spiritual practice is undertaken without a purpose. If virtuous actions are accompanied with supreme motivations, twice the result can be achieved with half the effort. 

2. Practice with a mind of 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 liberation, will naturally become something supremely excellent. 

3. Dedication 

Upon completion of a virtuous deed or spiritual practice, a proper dedication of the merits should be done according to the text. Since very good karma has already been effected during meditation or animal liberation, 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 FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

We need to come to a clear understanding of what do we need? Is it money or happiness? Desiring both is difficult to achieve. Even endowed with some merit, one can make some profit through exertion, yet one might not be able to live an easeful life. Other than attaining a high level of spiritual achievement, how can one maintain a calm mind while being preoccupied with various engagements? Thus as an ordinary being, we have to choose one between these two.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

We have all watched on Animal World (film series) how many lives some carnivores need to eat within a 24-hour period. For example, the Blue Whale, the largest known animal species in the world, can eat up to four tons of krill each day during the feeding season. And these are just one day's provisions. A life eaten is a life taken and a negative karma fully committed. In its entire life, the Blue Whale never once would chant the Buddha's name or practice virtue. If it lives to be a hundred, it will have committed such negative karma for one hundred years. Can you imagine what will happen to it in its next life? The Buddha told us in the Vinaya that life proceeds in four separate directions: from light to light; from light to darkness, from darkness to light and from darkness to darkness. If keeping on eating meat, one's life will be going from light to darkness. Of course, if one can avoid darkness through the practice of the Dharma, it will not be a cause of concern. But how sure are we of our practice ? 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVER TO BODHISATTVAS

The cultivation of renunciation begins with the four general preliminaries : contemplating the rarity and preciousness of human birth, the impermanence of all phenomena, the law of infallible karma and the suffering of samsara. Upon successfully completing the general preliminary practice, renunciation will arise spontaneously. As for relative bodhicitta, it has two stages, i.e, aspiring and engaging. The practice of aspiring bodhicitta is to cultivate the Four Immeasurables: loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy and equanimity through which unbiased, unlimited compassion for all sentient beings will arise. Once that has been developed, generation of bodhicitta will be just steps away. It is only when practice progresses in an orderly fashion, step-by-step, that we can hope to reap any results. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISATTVAS

Someone endowed with relative bodhicitta has embarked on the path of accumulation. Without bodhicitta, one is a mere Buddhist, not having entered the path of accumulation. Thus the key element to enter the path of accumulation hinges on whether or not one has generated bodhicitta.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

In the modern word, people also have similar questions. There are some who have never stolen things, killed or hurt anyone; rather, they have kept their vows and practiced virtue. Yet, they often seems to be less fortune than others in many aspects. Such cases tend to make people wonder, " If karma was true, why should good people run into bad luck?". Lay practitioners who do not have in-depth knowledge of karma or fully understand the viewpoints of Abhidharma-kosha-shastra may ask the same question. Some would even say, " I have attended many pujas and read some many scriptures. I should not have to suffer this or that illness or misfortune." This is wrong view. The fact is that all the virtuous actions committed have been store in our alaya consciousness. It is due to the relevant conditions not yet matured that karma derived from those actions has not come to fruition. 

~Depicted from FROM BELIEVERS TO BODHISSATTVAS

Compared with people in past eras, modern people enjoy abundant material wealth. Yet, from the spiritual perspective, people often feel hollow inside, poor, and are tormented by suffering. The suffering of poverty in material can lead to one’s suicide; spiritual hollowness and suffering can lead to one’s suicide as well.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Why the negative karma of having the wrong view is so severe? According to Chittamatra school, various virtuous and unvirtuous seeds are stored in the alaya consciousness of sentient beings. Once we engender wrong views, which will vanquish all the power of virtuous seeds, from then on, the virtuous seeds or the root of virtue in our mind stream will discontinue.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES