Many people consider Buddhism as idealism, because everything in this world is a reflection of our mind. It is not true, although most of other religions in the west are idealism but not Buddhism. On the other hand, Buddhism is neither materialism. Although we may find Buddhism may be partial materialism or idealism, but it is neither in general. Materialism and Idealism belongs to a certain category of western philosophy, but it can not include all the human knowledge.

Buddhism believe the world is neither consist of material or immaterial, it is an illusion created by our mind.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

For example, we think that Buddha Shakyamuni and Vajrasattva are two different deities. However, they are actually manifestations of the true nature of mind, or tathagatagarbha (buddha nature). This is like all kinds of images appearing on a screen even though they all come from one negative. The nature of mind is primordially pure. Any image projected from the pure tathagatagarbha is essentially one without any difference. In fact, Vajrasattva is also a manifestation of Buddha Shakyamuni.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Guru Yoga Practice of the Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava]

How does human suffering arise?

Without thorough investigation, many people instinctively think suffering arises from not having money, not having enough to eat, not having warm clothing, etc. Actually, these are only some of the reasons why we suffer; they are not the main reason.

[Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series "Do not be frightened off by the Paper Tiger" ~ Suffering is just a Paper Tiger]

Apparently, even non-Buddhist practitioners with some spiritual realization may still be confused about the workings of cause and effect, not to mention people without any right view or understanding. The complexity of the cycle of cause and effect and how it passes through the past, present and future makes it possible only for the Buddha to comprehend entirely its causal relationships. Others merely glimpse different parts of the cycle. These non-Buddhist practitioners are usually well learned; some may even have acquired certain clairvoyance into worldly matters. However, they jumped to a conclusion only based upon what they saw—virtuous people who took rebirth in the lower realms—and from this they concluded that cause and effect cannot exist. Then books were written and theories developed based on this conclusion, which gradually formed into a sect after attracting enough followers. This is how nihilism was established.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Right View : On Cause and Effect]

Our life comes to a crossroads when we realize that the world is full of illusion. We can either live in this world endlessly without any further investigation—we call this “samsara”—or, if we are fed up with this illusory world, we need to change the way we see it to the Buddhist view.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

In our innumerable past lives, had we ever committed this type of immutable karma? The answer is yes. Therefore, we can be as virtuous as we like in this life, but retribution may still await us if we cannot purify all our negative karma from the past. Once this type of karma matures, there is no escape from bearing its effect, albeit temporarily. Does this mean that virtuous karma we have accumulated in this lifetime will go to waste? Certainly not. It will also bear its own fruit. However, if virtuous karma is not powerful enough and ripens slowly, it is possible that we may have to suffer first before enjoying any reward.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Right View : On Cause and Effect]

The Buddhist view of this world brings us loving kindness and wisdom. With compassion and wisdom, we are able to balance our life in terms of money, relationships, marriage and everything else, and with certain kinds of practice and mind training, we can ultimately attain enlightenment.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]

We should not think that Buddha Shakyamuni and Padmasambhava are two totally different persons. According to the sutras, Padmasambhava is an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni. Buddha Shakyamuni propagated the sutrayana and guided sentient beings in the form of a buddha. When propagating tantra, he manifested as Padmasambhava. Buddha Shakyamuni is the teacher of all the practitioners of the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. No other buddha or bodhisattva can exceed the qualities of Buddha Shakyamuni. However, due to the different aspirations of each buddha and bodhisattva, they manifest different emanations and function differently.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Guru Yoga Practice of the Seven-Line Prayer to Padmasambhava]

We never believe, however, that this world is arising and ceasing momentarily but assume time runs through the past and future. We consider that getting off work and going home are two different things. We never think that the only time we have is one ten thousandth of a second, and neither do we believe that this world is only one ten thousandth of a second. The reason we are not able to observe this with our naked eyes is because the arising and ceasing of objects is extremely fast.

We also cannot gather the past, present and future into the same time and the same place. If that happened, our concept of time would be mistaken. So we live in a dream-like world.

And so, Buddhism believes the whole world is a dream-like bubble. This is a very sound, reasonable, and scientific view toward the world and really has nothing to do with religion or faith.

[Excerpt from Luminous Wisdom Book Series ~ The Illusory World]