The purpose for practicing the Dharma is not to gain health and wealth or be trouble-free in life but to attain liberation. In order to reach that final goal, all defilements must be eradicated first. Although it is somewhat impractical aiming to accomplish that in three to five years, one can still check if defilements have been reduced or at least have tended downward over time. This is what we should be concerned with, not what it would be like in the realm of the Buddha or the great bodhisattvas. There is simply not enough time for us to explore and argue all the points presented in, say, Ornament of Clear Realization or Madhyamaka. In other words, we cannot hope to reach the same height as Nagarjuna or Chandrakirti by way of discussion only.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

Now that we have learned the teachings of the Buddha, we should do our best to follow his advices as much as we can, if not one hundred percent. We would be Buddhas ourselves if we can comply one hundred percent! And the first step is to begin with distinguishing the meaning of life and the way of living. 

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

I have seen that someone who owns three or four villas but hardly ever lives in any of them. Very often this person just spends the night on the office sofa. Others own three or four cars but only use one; the rest just lay idle in the garage. This kind of lifestyle does not comply with the Buddha’s request for a life filled with fewer desires. From the standpoint of the world as a whole, over-consumption of either fossil fuels or trees is also a wrong way of living, which does not meet the Buddha’s request either.

In today’s world, one is basically unable to survive without money and the Buddha also deemed reasonable means for living justified. What he requested is that under normal circumstances one should live a simpler and modest life. There is really no need for fancy stuff as long as one stays in a livable condition.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

Lay practitioners like you should be even more careful not to repeat the kind of mistake I made as you have limited free time to begin with. If all your time was spent on learning different teachings while little on actual practice, you would not be able to retain any in the end, just like someone who has to throw up due to over-eating and indigestion. It is all so pointless!

In the last few years, most of the teachings I gave were relatively short on theory and logic, except for a few easily confusing questions laypeople had that required further explanations. The emphasis was primarily on the way of actual practice. But did you do as taught?

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

Isn’t it kind of fashionable now to talk about ‘going back to the nature’? But the ‘nature’ that worldly people go back to is not the real thing. The true meaning of going back to the natural state is to give up all desires for samsara and take the path leading to ultimate liberation. So the first thing we should do now is to generate renunciation. From now on, the meaning of life for us should never be merely having money, children, family and so forth.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

The Buddha particularly wanted to avoid taking a dualistic stance toward any issues. To lead a poverty-stricken life is an extreme. Most people cannot maintain a contemplative life under such harsh condition except for someone like Milarepa. On the other hand, a life of indulgence may cause all kinds of physical problems. For instance, many doctors suggest that over-consumption of meat could be the cause for heart disease. Therefore, the proper way of living set by the Buddha is one of simplicity and modesty.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

Many lay practitioners often told me that they pray for the Buddha’s or the bodhisattvas’ blessing to help them succeed in their jobs or business so that they can afford to offer more money to the Three Jewels. This is good motivation, but in fact we need not offer money to the Three Jewels. Real Buddhas and bodhisattvas would not care for us to have more money. Rather, they would very much like us to have developed renunciation and bodhicitta. As long as we can manage to live a reasonably decent life, they wish we should concentrate on the practice of Dharma and do our best to take control of our own cyclic existence. This is really what we should be doing now.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

Some people may not think of samsara as suffering because they themselves have not been through too many miseries so far. The seemingly happy life they are having now already makes them feel on top of the world. Any talk of Pure Land or liberation is basically useless stuff for them. But they are wrong. As they are ignorant of the nature of cyclic existence, there is no way they could know that the good life hardly ever lasts long. Without delving into the details here, one should be able to see clearly the nature of cyclic existence through contemplation of impermanence and especially the woes of samsara as specified in the ordinary preliminaries. It is plainly obvious if the same ignorant way of living is continued, what lies ahead in the future could be very dreadful indeed. So we must turn around.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

From now on, we should direct our thoughts and actions toward the ultimate liberation. Through contemplation of impermanence and the woes of samsara, we can begin to cultivate renunciation and gradually move forward on the path to liberation. This is the meaning of life for us Buddhists. The path to liberation, once taken wholeheartedly, can fundamentally resolve the issue of cyclic death and rebirth. Moreover, taking the path of Mahayana can not only help oneself but also all other sentient beings to liberation from samsara over time. Therefore, we ought to be forward-looking and strive to set higher goals. Otherwise, we may fail this life miserably perhaps not in material terms but in essence, like so many others who have died with great sorrow and anger because they did not know to distinguish the way of living and the meaning of life when still alive.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"