WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

As in any practice, we must first know its underlying concept. It is only after full apprehension of the concept that practice can proceed. Without right understanding, our practice is blind. Without practice, right understanding is also useless. Hence, one complements the other; each is indispensable. We can eradicate our afflictions and attain liberation only with the perfect union of the two. Accordingly, before we discuss the actual practice of the Three Dharma Seals, we must also know its concept.

How did the concept of the Three Dharma Seals originate? According to the sutras, when Sakyamuni Buddha was about to enter parinirvana, a disciple asked the Buddha, “If a non- Buddhist or some other person comes along after you are gone to give teachings and proclaims that to be the Dharma, how should we discern if it is the true Dharma?” The Buddha replied, “After I am gone, any belief or teaching which incorporates the Three Dharma Seals is the true Dharma; any belief or teaching which not only excludes but also refutes the Three Dharma Seals is not the true Dharma.”

Laypeople very rarely have the means nor the will to drop all their worldly attachments to pursue a contemplative life. Nevertheless, if one could incorporate bodhicitta into one’s everyday activities, then Mahayana practice would not seem so incompatible with the trivial and sometimes inconsequential affairs one has to deal with on a daily basis.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 

Life in essence is a book of truth. It tells of many truths through the events happening around us - the varying tastes of life associated with cyclic existence, the illusive and dream-like nature of all nature phenomena. But we never pay much attention to the actual state of things, hence remain ignorant to this day.

  ~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo 

The Zen tradition often talks about letting go, but how to let go? If one tries letting go by living a boring and pessimistic life, and escaping into the mountains to practice, this is not letting go and is just a temporary escape.  The real letting go is knowing from the very foundation that everything is a dream, an illusion, and for this reason there is no attachment and obsession.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 4

What we should repudiate are not view of the non-Buddhists or the atheists but our own attachment. Once attachment is eliminated, no amount of heterodox ideas can affect us anymore. To someone who has attained realization, those ideas, no matter how extravagantly they may sound, make no difference at all. And the way to completely eradicate attachment is by developing renunciation, bodhicitta and, most importantly, the view of emptiness.  

  ~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo

Don’t waste this life in neglect and ignorance, and miss the one chance for seeking freedom from samsara. In order to succeed, we must first begin by cultivating renunciation. Failing that, neither meditation nor mantra chanting can ever be deemed supramundane phenomena through which ultimate liberation can be attained. This is extremely important! Renunciation is the prerequisite to bodhicitta. Without complete renunciation, genuine bodhicitta can never be aroused.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 

Some say that Buddhism seeks happiness only for next life and none for this life. This is not true. Buddha just asked that we should not ruin our next lives for the pursuit of pleasure of this life, nor should we destroy our future path for the easy comfort of today.    

~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo

The Buddha knew very well the relationship between material wealth and man’s desires—how people’s minds change with the rise and fall of their fortune. This is why the Buddha had specifically instructed this mode of life for the 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 the precious lifetime, depleting massive amount of resources and destroying the natural environment. Still, happiness is beyond reach. It shows that to pursue happiness this way only leads to disappointment.

~ Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 6 

For most of us, our belief in science base on a few prominent scientist’s words, not our own experiments. Similarly, with his supreme wisdom, the Buddha realized the truth of causality and revealed to us. Why do we doubt him ? Shouldn’t we use the same reasoning for both ?   

 ~Depicted from the Seasonal Quotations of Khenpo