..續本文上一頁s compassion. After becoming a buddha, while he abides in the state of no-thought, the great compassion to benefit all sentient beings would still be naturally and effortlessly produced. Although the Buddha has no thoughts, the work of benefiting all beings is unceasingly carried forward.

　　(14) Question: I am a philosophy research student. My question might challenge everyone”s bottom-line, so I hope everyone can be a little tolerant.

　　Looking back into the history of various religions, we can see that all religions stressed conversion. For example, Christianity had the Crusade, Islam also had the spread to the west, there are even ways to attract converts through tax concessions. For Buddhism, is it more important that people take refuge naturally, or does there need to be a sort of guided conversion

　　Answer: Buddhism”s taking refuge or ordination are not forced, but come from inpidual wish. At any occasion that I attend, if someone raises the wish to become monastic, I always advise him to first consider it thoroughly. Taking the monastic path is a serious matter; it cannot be an impulse, but needs to be slowly observed. If someone wishes to take refuge, I also ask him to contemplate why he wishes to take refuge. If his intention is right, then we can proceed.

　　On the other hand, for people who do not believe in Buddhism, we also do not completely neglect them, because many people now need a sort of belief. It is not that we are competing for converts and grabbing market share with Christianity and other religions; but we feel that if a person has no belief, especially in China where there are so many people, their inner world would be very empty. In Western countries like the USA or Canada, over 95% of the people are Christians, Buddhists, or belong to other religions. A life like this would be very rich.

　　Personally speaking, I still wish for everyone to have a kind of belief. Otherwise, a person who has no ethics, no belief, would live very blindly in the world. Especially when one reaches the final years of life, without a sense of belonging, without a sense of security, one”s own future will be at a complete loss. Hence, from the angle of being responsible for others, I hope many people can have their own belief. Only then would life be meaningful and have direction.

　　Question: Yesterday and today you talked a great deal about Buddhist ideas. But for an ordinary person like me who has no roots of wisdom or great insight, these ideas are really quite deep, and our personal experience of these ideas is also very limited. So I wish to ask, should we place more emphasis on the sharing of experiences, or the spreading of ideas

　　Answer: Buddhism is very vast and profound; the study of ideas is necessary, and it cannot be apart from the cultivation of actual practices. Otherwise, mere mastery of theories without any practice would be like some religious research specialists whose talks appear very impressive, but have never even contemplated the idea of “impermanence of the human life”. These are the so-called “wily Dharma birds”. On the other hand, if one has no understanding at all of Buddhist ideas, yet stays in monasteries all the time on closed retreats without comprehension of the most basic Buddhist teachings; this is called blind practice and refinement. It is hardly meaningful.

　　This is why Tibetan Buddhism always emphasized studying, contemplating, and practicing. Not one of these can be missing.

　　(15) Question: I am from Damxung County in Lhasa region. When we Tibetans are doing full prostrations, we chant many different sutras. Which one is better for chanting

　　Another question is: when I was home, the adults said each person has two arithmeticians on their shoulders. One records all your good deeds and one records …

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