WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

What does “preliminary practice” of Tibetan Buddhism mean? It means preparatory practice. Despite the fact that ultimately we need to attain the wisdom of emptiness, without laying a solid foundation of cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta, we are not able to realise emptiness.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Before realising the truth of reality, in the process of undertaking the preliminary practice, it’s indispensable for one to cultivate devotion to the dharma, the lineage masters and the Great Perfection doctrine. The preliminary practice can be tedious, without sufficient motivation, one tends to give up prematurely. This is the reason why some people cannot be persistent in their preliminary practice.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

There are two ways to realise Dzogchen: one is to listen to dharma extensively, then to accumulate immense merits by engaging in the practice of cultivating renunciation and bodhicitta, the practice of mandala offering and embarking on the path of bodhisattvas. When accumulation of merit rises to a certain level, one can realise emptiness; another way is to rely on the qualified master’s blessing. The premise to receive such blessing is to have devotion. The stronger the devotion, the more blessing one can receive.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Some Buddhists and some followers of other religions like going on about supernatural powers or spiritual attainments, this is not the focus of Buddhism. Despite the fact that Buddhism doesn’t refute supernatural power, neither does Buddhism pursuit it. What Buddhism promotes most is how to cultivate loving kindness, how to develop wisdom and how to learn to contribute, etc.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

From the perspective of material life, our era has the most abundance of material wealth in human history. We possess advanced devices and products such as airplanes, wireless, computers, etc. However, compared with ancient people, we lost freedom, which is the most precious thing in the world. We need to contemplate on this problem and make some proper choices, endeavoring to give ourself more freedom.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Buddhists never believe in destined fate; rather, we believe all phenomena is the product of causes and conditions and subject to change. If everything is destined and changeless, then why do we bother to undertake dharma study and practice? Is it the goal of studying dharma to change fate? Therefore, in order to dismantle these preconceptions and transcend these causes and conditions, we must practice dharma.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

It’s stressed in shastras that we need to rely on the dharma, rather than the person. Which means in the course of dharma study and research, we need to have conviction and rely on the authentic dharma or truth, rather than rely on the person’s fame, status, or power. We need to analyze if this person’s words are in accordance with the dharma and the truth, if the answer is yes, then we can trust this person’s words. Otherwise, regardless how famed a person is, we should not follow this person’s words blindly.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

There are two ways to purify one’s negative karma. The first is to confess before the karma matures, thus purifying the negative karma without suffering the consequences. The second is to suffer the consequences of the negative karma thus eliminating the karma.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES

Countless buddhas in the past, including Shakyamuni Buddha, vowed to liberate all sentient beings when giving rise to bodhicitta, vowing to attain buddhahood after all sentient beings attain buddhahood. We haven’t attained buddhahood yet, but they have. Why? Buddhas make such aspirations out of vast compassion. Due to the greatest and sublimity of their aspirations, they attained buddhahood swiftly. Whereas we are preoccupied with our own interest, thus we are still struggling in the samsara.

~Depicted from LUMINOUS WISDOM BOOK SERIES