“Contemplation about death is very beneficial. If you contemplate more about death, you’ll cherish more life. A monk is supposed to remember every morning that he’s going to die… so that he would have more energy to practice, and if he practices well, he’ll overcome the fear of death.” These are words of wisdom Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offered in 2010, and they make us pause because the issue of death is an uncomfortable subject for so many. But in Buddhism, death is considered an issue that warrants our direct attention and regular contemplating. As a master of humanist Buddhism, local Hong Kong monk Venerable Hin Hung (衍空法師) is also intimately familiar with issues of death and impermanence.

Marriage forms an integral part of our lives. Thus, before we enter this union, we need to analyse carefully the reason why we marry. If we cannot find a good reason, it means that we are probably not ready to marry. Love alone is not reliable, because it is likely we may change our minds later. There should be something greater, something that makes a marriage worthwhile, a binding of two lives.

The Buddha has condemned godlessness by which He meant the denial of worship and renunciation, the denial of moral and social obligations, and the denial of a religious life. He recognized most emphatically the existence of moral and spiritual values. He acclaimed the supremacy of the moral law. Only in one sense can Buddhism be described as atheistic, namely, in so far as it denies the existence of an eternal omnipotent God or God-head who is the creator and ordainer of the world. The word ‘atheism’, however, frequently carries a number of disparaging overtones or implications which are in no way applicable to the Buddha’s Teaching.

Wisdom is the power of seeing things as they truly are, and how to act rightly when the problems of come before us. The seeds of wisdom lie latent in us, and when our hearts are warm with love they grow into their powers.

For this we must forget ourselves and substitute the world for ourselves. There is no evil in wanting universal happiness and peace, the evil arises when our desire are only for ourselves and not for others, or not in the sacred interests of truth. When we desire such things as we can share with others, our desires become wiser and more unselfish.

Hatred, ill will or anger is that tendency within us which resents an action of another which challenges our right to what we desire. Our general tendency is to try and dominate others, and we want others to obey our will while suppressing their own; so when someone opposes his will against ours, our action is like that of a gog with a bone when another dog approaches.

Since we are subject to birth, old age, sickness, death, and we suffer from dissatisfaction and unhappiness, we are sick people. The Buddha is compared to an experienced and skilful physician, and the Dhamma is compared with the proper medicine; but however efficient the physician may be, and however wonderful the medicine may be, we cannot be cured unless and until we ourselves actually take the medicine. It would seem that many of us are in need of some medicine to cure us of our misunderstanding of one another, our impatience, irritability, lack of sympathy and metta.

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch is a Buddhist scripture that was composed in China during the 8th to 13th century. The text centers around teachings and stories ascribed to the sixth Chan patriarch Huineng. It contains the well-known story of the contest for the succession of Hongren, and discourses and dialogues attributed to Huineng. The text attributes its recollection to Fa-hai, but was probably written within the so-called Oxhead School, which existed along with the East Mountain School and Shenhui's Southern School. The text attempts to reconcile the so-called Northern School with its alleged gradual enlightenment teachings, and the so-called Southern School with its alleged sudden enlightenment teachings. In effect, the text incorporates the "rhetorical purity" which originated with Shenhui's attack on Shenxiu, while effectively "writing him out of the story". The key topics of the discourse are the direct perception of one's true nature, and the unity in essence of śīla, dhyāna and prajñā.

In Buddhism, the ideal of practice is to selflessly act to alleviate suffering wherever it appears. You may argue it is impossible to elminate suffering, and maybe it is, yet we’re to respond anyway.