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

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

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

• Relationships
• Emotionally not possible
• What is in the mind of a Buddhist
• Buying into emotions
• The primordial absence of defilements
• Four seals
• Acts of Generosity
• Living fully
• Not paranoid but prepared
• Primordial purity
• Buddhist renunciation
• The impossible is possible
• The real source of fear is not knowing
• Driven by ambitions
• Shielding ourselves and others from the truth
• Pride and pity
• Not a buddha yet
• Bound by practicality
• Understanding the nature of enlightenment
• Corrosion begins as soon as creation begins