How can a person who has practiced virtue their entire life be reborn in the lower realms? Well, even though the person may have been virtuous throughout this life, we do not know anything about this person’s previous lives. Maybe the person has been virtuous in this as well as the last two lifetimes, but such might not be the case if we could go back even further. Some negative karma might have been committed many lifetimes ago. From the perspective of the three types of immutable karma, virtuous karma that the person has committed in this life might not happen to ripen in the current or the next life, but in some indeterminate future lives. That is, it may not come to fruition until perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years have gone by.

~ Luminous Wisdom 1: On Cause and Effect

For most people, it is essential to understand these points. Whether to continue chasing material prosperity or to choose a more meaningful way of living is pivotal to where this life will lead us.

As a matter of fact, it is an extremely rare opportunity that we were born human, that we have encountered the teachings of the Buddha, and that we have had some time to practice. Nothing else in this world are is as extraordinary as such an opportunity.

We should know that the purpose of a car is not to burn fuel, but to provide transportation. Burning fuel is just a car’s way of living—it moves things while consuming gasoline. Likewise, the purpose of being human is not just eating, drinking and having fun. Eating and drinking are how people sustain their lives, but this is hardly their ultimate goal.

~ Luminous Wisdom 6: A Buddhist’s Way of Life

Buddhism in general, and certainly Tibetan Buddhism, places great importance on happiness. The emphasis in Mahayana Buddhism, though, is not on one’s own happiness, but rather that of all sentient beings. When we strive for the welfare of all beings, at the same time we attain even greater happiness for ourselves. This well-being ultimately surpasses any that material enjoyments can bring. Such is the Tibetan Buddhist view of happiness.

~ Luminous Wisdom 9: The Tibetan Buddhist View of Happiness

Actually, sharing is the greatest source of happiness. If we know how to share, no matter how trifling it is, we feel joy and happiness in the act of sharing. In this way, relationships between people become more intimate. If everyone throughout society had learned to share, most of the tragedies in human history could have been averted. Unfortunately, we believe that all good things should only be ours alone and should not belong to others.

~ Luminous Wisdom 8

Ignorance can also be regarded as fatuousness or imbecility. Due to not knowing the truth of the world and ourselves, many issues cannot be resolved and this leads to the emergence of various afflictions. If the truth, the actual facts, or the true essence were understood, afflictions would not arise. So, all afflictions derive from ignorance.

~ Luminous Wisdom: 10

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to directly prove the existence of causality because our eyes cannot look beyond this present life for causes from previous lives and the effects in future lives. Nonetheless, through indirect means it is possible to prove the link between cause and effect. Not only is samsara conditioned by causality, but also nirvana and liberation. Therefore, if it is liberation that we seek, we must plant the seed of liberation, which will then yield the fruit. Such is the view of Buddhism.

~ Luminous Wisdom 1: On Cause and Effect 

Usually, we are beholden to the concept that things emerge from non-existence into existence. When planting flowers, for instance, there are certainly no flowers on the seeds and that is why we need to plant them. If there were flowers there already, then there would be no need to plant the seed. This is how we view reality. If there is no analysis, there is no problem with such a view at all, and this has been true from the beginning of time till now. Even after another 10,000 or 100,000 years of evolution of humankind, still there would be no problem. However, if we took another step in our analysis, we would discover another world altogether. 

~ Luminous Wisdom 10

How to we let go? There is a difference between “letting go” and “giving up” being pessimistic, cynical, prejudiced, and thinking that life can’t go on, so one feels forced to temporarily give up. But if one day temptation appears, we resume the former habits of our personality.  In Buddhism, this is giving up, not letting go. For instance, if one day we get a better watch, our greed for our old watch disappears. This is not letting go; this is just transferring our attachment to the new watch. In Buddhism, “letting go” means to have no greed for anything. It is impossible to give up all worldly things. People in the world need to survive and feed their families and they should not just throw away their jobs and families, or give up earning money, once they start to study Buddhism.

~ Luminous Wisdom 9: The Principles of Liberation

For us ordinary people, it is very difficult to consider matters like renunciation, bodhicitta and liberation if we must struggle constantly to eke out a living. Harsh living conditions may be helpful for some to generate renunciation, but renunciation developed under such circumstances is not authentic, as genuine renunciation must include the aspiration to seek liberation. Poverty alone may not be enough reason for people to forsake samsara. It is only those who have grasped the essence of the Dharma who might possibly generate true renunciation. Therefore,  Buddhists in general need not and should not deliberately live too poorly.

~ Luminous Wisdom: 6