Sakyamuni Buddha also indicated: If a monastic does not have greed and can easily, without much effort, come into ownership of a lavish piece of clothing worth 100,000 Kārshāpanas (the ancient Indian coin, about 8.8 grams of silver in weight, roughly 30 RMB in current value), the Buddha would also allow the monastic to wear the apparel. Can you imagine what kind of clothing it is?

In other words, a Buddhist practitioner need not necessarily eat poorly and dress poorly, or think he or she must refrain from using the good things in life. This would also be a form of attachment. The main point is not to develop greed for these things.

The whole purpose of bringing this up is to say Buddhism is not pessimistic. Although the Buddha exhorted his followers to be content with few desires, it does not mean one must live a life of austerity. Most importantly, one should seek meaning in life through liberation, not through the pursuit of worldly pleasures.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - The Practice of Suffering

Presently, on all the continents except Antarctica, there are children who can remember their past lives. When these children first began to talk, they would say who they were, where they came from; they would give their parents’ names and details of their past lives. Their parents in this life would then check and validate the actual existence and subsequent death of the persons mentioned. Often enough these children inherited very strong habitual tendencies from their past lives—one who loved to smoke in past life would steal his father’s cigarettes to smoke in this life; one who died of a car accident in past life would be too frightened to go near cars in this life, and so forth. Some of them don’t feel close to their parents of this life but take the parents and relatives in the past life as their real parents and family instead. Many parents are unwilling to make this public lest others should think their children are mentally unstable, out of embarrassment, or because it violates their own religious beliefs. Nevertheless, the secret gets out eventually.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK'S FOR LIFE JOURNEY - On Death And Rebirth-What Life Truly Is

The other tantras also say when someone uses the finger to point at the moon, we should look at the moon, not the finger. Similarly, we should not obsess with the appearance of the yab-yum deities or how they are depicted, but rather focus on the underlying significance—the inseparability of clear light and emptiness that is the core and essential view in tantra. The yab-yum image is like a language, sign, or illustrated dictionary that uncovers the real meaning of the union of clear light and emptiness.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Vajrayana Terminology

In the other case, the practice does not go well and is actually filled with a lot of negative emotions – greed, anger, delusion …. , even more so than when we are not meditating. It is easy at this time to be despondent and think if we meditate like this, there is no hope for liberation. We must then encourage ourselves: “Even if I failed at this sitting, there will be another. Although I encountered a lot of discursive thoughts as well as afflictions in this sitting, it is very normal since I am just a beginner; these distractions are to be expected. However, by persevering and making effort one step at a time, I will succeed for sure; there is no reason to lose hope.”Then vow to succeed in the next sitting. When practicing, do not fall into the two extremes – of being arrogant and feeling disappointed too early.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - The Final Review

First, let me introduce an ancient Tibetan text which has been praised by scholars as a must-read for the study of life and death, Bardo Tödröl (the Tibetan Book of the Dead).

1. Bardo Tödröl– a guide for the deceased

A book, titled Impressions of Heaven – 100 orally recorded stories of near-death experience (NDE), published by the Foreign Language Press in Beijing, China made the following comment: Bardo Tödröl has been around for more than 1000 years, but now it is the oldest reference for modern research on death. In the West, scholars who specialize in the study of death all recognize Bardo Tödröl and the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the two most important texts in their field. And by coincidence the description of the intermediate state given in Bardo Tödröl also agrees with the various phenomena found in the study of NDE. Therefore, it can be said that Bardo Tödröl is one of the most valuable contributions from the Tibetan people to the modern world.

People usually believe an “enemy” is someone outside, a certain animal, a particular organization, etc. Buddhism asserts our real enemy is not outside; the most fearsome enemy is inside – it is our self-attachment.

The ancients say: “Fortune and misfortune do not come through the door; only we ourselves invite them.” The happiness and suffering we experience are entirely of our own choosing. If not for one’s innate attributes, nothing can harm us – not the raging fire in hell, the hunger and thirst in the hungry ghost realm, or the evil spirits and wild beasts in this world. Our foremost enemy is self-attachment. It is this attachment that gives rise to greed, anger, delusion, and arrogance.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - All Phenomena Lack Self-Existence

We have mentioned many times before that renunciation and bodhicitta are the basis of Vajrayana practice. Why is it necessary to reiterate this point here? Because they are the prerequisite a practitioner must have; without renunciation and bodhicitta, no benefit is to be derived from undertaking even the very sacred Vajrayana tantras such as Dzogchen—the Great Perfection. Only with renunciation and bodhicitta as a foundation can one formally enter Vajrayana practice.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH - Entering the Vajrayana Path

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.”

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - SUMMATION

To learn Buddhism is to learn wisdom and compassion. To attain Buddhahood means the manifestation of the inherent wisdom and compassion of Buddha-nature after all the obscurations have been purified. That is all it means.

Rongzom Pandita, one of the greatest scholars of the Nyingma lineage, once said, “The invariable definition of Buddhism is wisdom and compassion. No other explanation can fully express the core of Buddhism.”

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - Buddhism—the Definition