As long as you accept and practice these four truths (all compounded things are impermanent, all emotions are pain, all things have no inherent existence, nirvana is beyond concepts) you are a “practicing Buddhist.” You might read about these four truths for the sake of entertainment or mental exercise, but if you don’t practice them, you are like a sick person reading the label on a medicine bottle but never taking the medicine. On the other hand, if you are practicing, there is no need to exhibit that you are Buddhist. As a matter of fact, if it helps you to get invited to some social functions, it is totally fine to hide that you are a Buddhist. But keep in mind that as a Buddhist, you have a mission to refrain as much as possible from harming others, and to help others as much as possible. This is not a huge responsibility, because if you genuinely accept and contemplate the truths, all these deeds flow naturally.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist
Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:
- The cup that holds the teachings
- Enlightened beings may seem insane
- Happily ever after
- The habit of self
- Clinging to our hopes and fears
- Today is the death of yesterday
- Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
- The real enemy
- Nonviolence
- Like moths to the flame
- A simple, scientific fact
- Enjoying the bliss of ignorance
- The Self
- Like medicines
- Products and parts
- I don’t give a damn
- Your own ignorance betrays you
- Like monkeys
- The spiritual path is a temporary solution
- Emptiness