How can we start practicing Buddhism in our daily life? Monastery life seems so far away.

First of all, we should understand that the Buddha Dharma, especially Mahayana Buddhism, is to be applied to any situation. Its profound wisdom can be very enlightening to people in any situation, helping them create a better life and then obtain ultimate liberation. However, monastery life is only suitable for monks and some lay people (non-ordained Buddhists) .

In daily life, we must thoroughly grasp two principles to live a happy life. One is the ‘causal view’, the other is the ‘illusionary view’ or ‘dream view’. Causal view tells us that if a cause exists, the relative effect must follow; if the effect comes up, there must be a relative cause.

All things in the world, no matter whether they seem to be reasonable or unreasonable, are inevitable. Since they are inevitable, there is no reasonable or unreasonable at all. It’s just a variety of causes that a person created in the past (past or present life), mature and produce a kind of retribution. For example, when we plant seeds, if we plant watermelon seeds, then watermelon grows. If we plant peach seeds, then peaches grow. That’s all. It’s just a natural state of things, not concerned with good or evil or any moral value. We do not need to be surprised by anything as it is only the reality of life.

If you know what you are feeling is good, you should know that it is the result of practicing good karma. For example, if I am good to you, you are good to me, if I am not good to you, you are bad to me. Thus if you want to maintain feeling good, you should continue to do good deeds so as to continuously create happiness. If you feel suffering, it is necessary to know that you have created bad karma. If you want to change, it is necessary to understand the real ‘cause and effect’ of this world that bring us feelings of pain and happiness. After we adjust our state of mind and behaviour according to the Law of Cause and Effect, we can completely change our current situation and even create a beautiful future for ourselves.

Of course, there are definite rules and standards for how to change our ego, physical and mental status, and how to create the cause of happiness. However, we can not just assume that if I do this, the result will be good, if I do that, the result will happen according my will, right? We should know that the Law of Cause and Effect in the world is determined neither by personal will nor any god. This is the universal truth and natural law discovered by the Buddha after he realized enlightenment. It is not controlled by any god or divine force. Therefore we can only realize and follow this law. Just as we realize that water can quench our thirst, so we drink it, in the same way we can become happy. After understanding this law, we do not need god nor anyone else to give us happiness. Only by following this law can we maintain happiness. Science is a type of a law of the world. So in science, we learn many rules and laws of physics and so on. Buddhism also speaks of the laws of the world.

Therefore, only by understanding the true Law of Cause and Effect can we create a better life. So the concept of cause and effect is the most important teaching for secular people ( a secular person means a person who is not living in a temple or taken monastic precepts), that must be properly grasped so that their mind and body can be completely at peace, completely free from complaints, anger, depression, etc. But the principle of cause and effect is very profound. It is by no means a simple mechanical theory of causality that if you do a good deed today, you have a good reward tomorrow, or that if you make effort to do a good deed, you immediately feel happiness in this life.

Concerning the real truth of causality, only the Buddha can clearly understand it. Maybe without professional study, you may not be able to understand the real meaning of what I said, but you can first remember this teaching, because it involves good and bad karma done in past and present lives. So it is related to the accumulation of karma over time, caused by multiple contributing factors. Those who create good and evil karma in this life will also have different results, according to their thinking when they created the karma, the people they created the karma with, and the preparation they put in before creating the karma. For example, when they killed someone, what means did they use? Did they use a knife to kill them directly or torture them to death? Their thoughts afterwards are also included. Whether they did good deeds, if they were really happy about it, reluctant or regretful,- all these lead to a huge difference in results. To fully understand this aspect of the truth requires deeper study.

So Buddhist beginners need to understand this issue first. Thus in the future, we can develop new concepts to help us understand the laws of the world in a new way. Because this issue is very complex, many Buddhist learners’ understanding of the Law of Cause and Effect is far from enough and their mind is not calm, sometimes  blaming others, even blaming Buddhism’s Three Jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. This is all because they do not yet have a real and deep understanding of the truth of cause and effect.

In life, there are many methods to regulate and ease emotional problems using psychology and the ancient Chinese sages have also taught a lot of wisdom that can be helpful to everyone, but these truths are just like trying to stop water from boiling by scooping it up and pouring it back. It’s an expedient measure, although useful, it can not solve the problem completely. So what I want to share with everyone is what I think is a comparatively more profound wisdom.

Just now I shared with everyone the Law of Cause and Effect, the next principle I want to share is that the world is illusionary, also called a ‘dream view’. In answer to your question, this world is actually a dream. If last night we had a beautiful dream or a nightmare, when we wake up in the morning, although we might feel either happy or sad, we know that the dream is not real at all, thus we would not feel happy or sad all day. For example, if you dreamed about winning a lottery ticket and having a lot of money, when you woke up,，you would feel happy. “Oh, I had a dream last night that I had a lot of money,” that’s all. If we dream that we were hit by a car, we would feel relieved, “Ah, fortunately it was a dream,” because we definitely know it was a dream, so we have the ability stop all emotions transmitted from our dream. In the same way, when we understand the nature of the illusionary view (dream view), we can truly resolve all suffering. The Law of Cause and Effect is how we can look at the problem with reason, while ‘dream view’ helps us understand that the essence of the world is like a dream- nothing can be really obtained.

The most important thing is for us to understand how to develop the faith in the fact that life is an illusion and how to use it as a method to wake up from this dream. Let me give you a very simple example. We know that dreams are false so we are not influenced by any emotions arising from them, but when you are inside the dream, are you aware that the dream is false? Definitely not, because if you are aware, you naturally wouldn’t have any emotions during the dream. 

Thinking in the same way, although we do not know in the middle of a dream that it’s false, but the dream already passed, it belongs to yesterday. All the things we experienced yesterday are not available, just like this dream. They seemingly existed, yet in fact they were just like a dream. So we can also really regard what happened yesterday as a dream, then you won’t be influenced by yesterday’s emotions. Although it feels so real, it is just an illusionary feeling, just like in a dream. As long as you can understand this truth of the matter, in waking up from the dream, you will realize that all this is false.

So Buddhism teaches us that we need to constantly wake up and deeply understand the essence of the world.

Finally, to summarize, the view of causality is to let us look upon the world and the occurrence of everything with reason, according to the cause and effect view, and that the illusionary view is to let us understand the essence of the world. Only by understanding the reality of these two views, can one obtain permanent happiness.

This article is a simple and straightforward introduction to causal and illusionary views for beginners. Specific cultivation methods need to be continuously refined and studied. Only in this way can one better master the rules and skills, to better apply them to daily life, and to be truly effective.