When Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Dharma, he preached it to the living, so that we use wisdom to deliver ourselves.

Nonetheless, rituals for the dead can bring them merit, and on hearing the Dharma they may be able to let go and achieve deliverance, attaining rebirth to the Western Pure Land or to a better realm.

Buddhism teaches that birth, aging, sickness, and death are all suffering in that they are changing, false image. Even when there is joy it is transient and not forever. To transcend samsara we should prepare our savings of merit to be born in Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, our final settling place.

If you don’t handle your own or others’ matters in a self-centered way, you won’t cause harm to others and won’t bring trouble on yourself. This is wisdom.

Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom. Wisdom means objectivity and freedom from self-centeredness. We could gain wisdom by reading the sutras and listening to the Buddhadharma.

If there is something in our mind, then it has obstructions; it cannot be broad and vast, open and clear, and therefore it cannot really have wisdom and compassion. A mind free of obstructions is a mind without distracted thoughts and vexations. When we are not affected or afflicted by our environment, that's wisdom; with such wisdom, we will have compassion.

Through adaptation and assimilation, Buddhism gradually became a major part of Chinese culture. Having had its ups and downs in Chinese history, it is now reviving by drawing on Western civilization.

Advocated by various Buddhist organizations and devotees, Buddhism gradually became localized in Taiwan and the number of Buddhists is now growing vigorously.