WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

Those who have aroused contrived bodhicitta in this life will become great bodhisattvas in the next life and be able to deliver as many sentient beings from samsara as there are in Jambudvipa.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Differences"

Therefore, we must carefully examine and ask ourselves, “What is the purpose of my years of participation in animal liberation? Did I do it mainly for my own benefit?” If the intention is to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, then our action is undoubtedly a supramundane practice. If we liberate animals in the hope of attaining our own longevity, or a healthy human rebirth with long life, or a rebirth in Amitabha’s Pure Land for ourselves, the actual intended beneficiary is really just us while it may appear that animals are being helped by our action.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Differences"

People now enjoy a more prosperous material life than at any time in the past, but they are also under greater pressure than ever before. Intense stress and competition have already pushed us toward the brink of collapse. We truly need the Dharma! Only with meditation practice can we help ourselves and others.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "Taming the Mind as in Taming the Elephant"

If one could incorporate bodhicitta into one’s everyday activities, Mahayana practice would not seem so incompatible with the trivial and sometimes inconsequential affairs one has to deal with on a daily basis.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Differences"

At the same time, we should think: although all that is defiled or tainted is the cause of suffering, I enjoy a quiet and relatively happy life now because of the merit I accumulated in past lives; this happiness does not come by easily. The sutras state that true and unparalleled good fortune in the world is to be able to live a relatively good life and have the opportunity to listen, reflect, and practice the Dharma at the same time. It is exceptionally rare to find people in samsara who fulfill both conditions.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "How to Face Happiness"

We often speak of cultivating bodhicitta, of giving happiness and taking suffering; however, when actually faced with problems, we only think of ourselves, and in so doing, suffer the consequences over many lifetimes. This is all due to attachment to self-love. Although ordinary people cannot cut through this attachment right away, it can be gradually reduced with bodhicitta practice.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "How to Face Suffering"

What kind of practice is animal liberation? That also depends on your motivation. Even if the motivation is for a rebirth in the god or human realm or to avoid rebirth in the three lower realms, rather than for health or longevity in this life, liberating animal is still just a mundane activity. To liberate animals for one’s own freedom from samsara is viewed as a supramundane Theravada practice. To do it out of bodhicitta, the wish to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, is a supramundane Mahayana practice. To couple the Mahayana practice with some Vajrayana views essentially makes animal liberation a Vajrayana practice.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Three Differences"

We should know all suffering comes from attachment to self-love. Because of this attachment, we create negative karma for self-interest and suffer painful retributions. When we come upon suffering, we do not understand it is of our own doing; we place the blame on others and develop hatred; with hatred, more bad karma is created. The result of this perpetual cycle of enmity is that we cannot extricate ourselves from samsara. If we want to be free of suffering, we must change our ways. From now on, we should help, love, and support all sentient beings with no ego attached.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "How to Face Suffering"

The underlying concept is firstly, when facing suffering, look for the source of suffering. There are objective factors but they are not the main reason, just auxiliary conditions. The fundamental reason is the negative karma we have created. All ordinary people have greed; when this converges with causes created in the past, karma comes to fruition. Greed is the attachment to self-love; like fertilizer to crops, it feeds karma and brings it to maturity. Highly accomplished masters like the arhats also have karmic seeds which have not been completely purified, but because they have cut through greed, their karma does not bind them to samsara.

- Quote from Are You Ready For Happiness? Don't Let the Paper Tiger Scare You Off, "How to Face Suffering"