WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

If some people are endowed with the wisdom of the Buddha, and some are not, then am I endowed with the buddha nature or not? It’s difficult to answer. Will I succeed with my diligent practice? Everyone possesses buddha nature; this is definitely so. Everyone has great potential because we possess the wisdom of the Buddha innately. It’s up to us to discover its existence. Once we succeed, all defilements will be gone; it’s that simple.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Even having realizing the emptiness, one needs to be agreeable to sentient beings. As Guru Rinpoche said: “Even my views are as high as the sky, my attention to the law of karma is as fine as barley flour.” In other words, our views need to be open and high, but our conduct needs to be conservative and careful.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Pain and suffering tell us intangibly to face the suffering itself as the repayment of karmic debt. Just as when crops mature, their seeds cease to exist. Similarly, after having experienced suffering, a great deal of negative karma will be purified. Thus to endure suffering is a way to purify karma. One needs to think that it is fortunate that one’s own negative karma doesn’t mature in hell, hungry ghosts, or animal realms, instead it matures in human realm. This is a good thing, I should be happy about it.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

We need to refrain from seeking perfection in our family and work life. There is only relative perfection in this world and there is no ultimate perfection. Even for the relative perfection, the more one seek, the more tired one gets. In this era, what we need most is to simplify, relax and slow down.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

The more socially competitive one is, the less happiness one attains. For instance, someone who has a fancy car but likes comparing with other people. When others surpass him, he cannot remain calm, and tries to exert himself to be competitive. Such pursuits are rather tiring. Being competitive is not a necessity of life. Lots of suffering stems from being competitive.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Strictly speaking, without entering retreat, with a distracting mind one cannot practice dharma. Hence, during practice, one at least has to be solitary for one or two hours a day. Practicing dharma cannot be replaced by money. Doing life release or giving offering can help us accumulate merit, but mind training is not related to money.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

All of us fear suffering and try to avoid it, and we take it as something harmful like flood or ferocious animals. However, if we are able to utilize it skilfully, we can transform misfortune into auspiciousness and favourable conditions of bodhicitta; this is skilful means in the Mahayana.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

In one hundred years, like the pappus of dandelion leaving a calyx receptacle, seven billion people on the earth will leave this world one by one, entering an unknown area. Then, all the fame and gain become worthless, what’s of only use is the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

An accurate understanding of death enables us to be free from fear, dismayed and evasiveness when death is mentioned. This is because we have acknowledged that death is a mere cyclical process of life, it does not signify that everything ends. We need not be negative and pessimistic when facing death. If we can seize the opportunity, we can improve the level of our lives in the process of death.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES