What is the difference between the Four Noble Truths and the Two Truths (relative and absolute truth)? The Two Truths delineate the doctrinal view on phenomena whereas the Four Noble Truths, though also contain some elements of that view, focus mainly on the practicable ways to attain liberation. Therefore, both are very important Buddhist doctrines that can lend certain help to one’s practice if understood well. Of course, one may choose to learn only the theories necessary for undertaking specific practice rather than the more extensive knowledge of various Buddhist doctrines such as the Two Truths or the Four Noble Truths. But the chances are one may be prone to mistakes more easily this way except for those with the sharpest faculties.

[Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 : The Right View ~ The Four Noble Trulths]

In present-day India, such highest tantra can no longer be found. During the sarma or the New Translation period after Atisha (982–1054) had entered Tibet, some Tibetan translators arrived in India and realized that they could hardly find any Sanskrit texts on the Great Perfection. Even if they occasionally found one or two short paragraphs of sadhana in the private collection of some elder adepts, when they requested the elders for instructions, the elders would superficially answer, “This was collected by my predecessors. I know nothing about it.” Actually these elders were practicing in secret. They just didn't want to reveal anything.

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

Padmasambhava accepted their request and displayed his miraculous power at that critical point. Only after he had subdued all the demons and dispelled all adverse conditions, the most profound tantra from India was propagated in Tibet. Although more than one thousand years of turbulence have passed, the tantric transmissions, empowerments and so on are still being preserved in their entirety in Tibet.

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

Some regard Buddhism as a kind of belief. Belief also means faith. Of course faith is needed in Buddhism, but it would be oversimplified to regard Buddhism as a belief since keeping faith is only one of many Buddhist ideas. The foundation and the priority of Buddhism are not about belief, but wisdom and compassion.

Although Buddhism does advocate the importance of faith, it is not unique to Buddhism; science also calls for faith. For example, people today all want to promote faith in science. If one does not trust science, one probably would not even dare to take airplane. People take plane because they believe in the technology that allows airplane to transport people to their destination. It takes faith to accomplish anything in this world, the same kind of faith as in Buddhism. Therefore, it is incorrect to equate Buddhism with belief.

[Depicted from Luminous Wisdom Book Series 1 : The Right View ~ The Definition]

The Sarvastivada School and the Yogacara (Mind-Only) School hold many different viewpoints on the interpretation of causality, but the ones elucidated by the Mind-Only School are the more comprehensive within the context of the relative truth. The Yogacara School asserts that everyone has a mental continuum from beginningless time until the attainment of enlightenment. This mental continuum sometimes has the five consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, but sometimes not. No matter how it manifests itself, a permanent existence called the substrate consciousness is present at all times. Whenever karma is committed, a karmic seed is planted in the alaya consciousness.

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

All our concepts are transmitted to and analysed by our consciousness. What we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel with our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body provides information and evidence for our consciousness to judge and make decisions. If our senses are reliable and accurate, then the information they transmit to us will not be wrong; if our senses are limited, the information they transfer to us cannot be trusted. Our five senses are not ultimately reliable, though, which can be discerned from the example of the pebble. (The pebble seems to be motionless to our naked eye, but the microscope tells us it is continuously moving.

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

We need to be really careful with the words we use here. The words Buddhists use to describe the world are very accurate. In the micro-world, nothing is really moving, moving is only illusion of our senses.

An example is when an electron moves around the nucleus from one location to another. On the conceptual level, there is movement. However, there is not a single electron that is moving because when the electron shifts to a different location, at the same time this particular electron diminishes from its original location. This also means that the previous electron vanishes once the present one is generated. After the electron moves to another location, at that spot another new electron appears, then disappears. If we look with our naked eyes, what we see is one electron moving from one location to a second, then to a third and fourth location, and so on. The first electron actually has no correlation to the second or the third one, but is separate from them. On the micro level, we see the illusion of a moving electron, but nothing is truly moving. Although the individual electrons have some certain similarities, they are not the same. Buddhism calls this “arising and ceasing”.

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

We need to be aware that everything in this world is illusory and insubstantial. What really exists and the nature of this world is “one ten thousandth of a second”. A “moment” can be one hundred thousandth of a second or even shorter, but let’s not make it complicated—we can just take one ten thousandth of a second as the present moment. If we can seize the present moment, then the past and future world do not exist because the past has gone, and the future has not yet been born. What really exists is the “one ten thousandth of a second”; that is our world. How can we prove this? Physicists believe that electrons rotate by circling the nucleus. In Buddhism, we call this “arising and ceasing” instead of “rotating”.

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

Buddhism holds that physical suffering and misfortune have various contributing factors as their causes. Some illnesses, the so-called karma-induced illnesses, originated from a previous life. They are medically incurable, no matter how much money is spent. These may be attributed to karma. If you have a cold, headache, or fever, it may also be karma related, but not necessarily caused by karma from past lives. Hence, karma is sometimes directly responsible for certain things taking place, but other times may not be so directly involved. The point is, in all matters, Buddhism has always opposed taking the dualistic approach, affirming one thing while negating the other. The same applies to karma.

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