An appropriate question to ask a Buddhist is simply, “What is life?”

From our understanding of impermanence, the answer should be obvious: “Life is a big array of assembled phenomena, and thus life is impermanent.” It is a constant shifting, a collection of transitory experiences. And although myriad life-forms exist, one thing we all have in common is that no living being wishes to suffer. We all want to be happy, from presidents and billionaires to hardworking ants, bees, prawns, and butterflies.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist

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Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:

• 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
• A practicing Buddhist
• Beyond nonviolence and meditation
• Relationships
• Emotionally not possible
• What is in the mind of a Buddhist
• Buying into emotions
• The primordial absence of defilements