Todayand#8217;s Dharmabyte, Benefits of our Human Life is the opening track from the talk and#8220;This Precious Human Lifeand#8221; by Kulaprabha.
Given at Taraloka Retreat Center, February 2008, this series of talks on the Four Reminders or Four Mind-Turnings are inspired by Gampopaand#8217;s and#8216;Jewel Ornament of Liberationand#8217;.
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for real life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, come and join us at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] So this pressures human life then. So from the Tibetan tradition, one thing to say with this, it's not just, it doesn't refer to just someone or anyone with a human form. It's not just about having a human form. It is about having a human form. It's a human being or human birth with the eight freedoms and the ten endowments in present, and often as well with three kinds of faith. So that's the precious human birth. So it's a human birth that has with it the eight freedoms and the ten endowments. So I'll say what those freedoms and endowments are later on. They've also got hand out for you, so you don't have to write all the, you don't have to write the details of what they are doing and take that away with you. So it's being human and it's having the eight freedoms, ten endowments, and also some measure of faith. That's the precious human birth. And also traditionally then, we're looking at a precious human birth in comparison with beings in other five realms in this Tibetan tradition. It's in comparison to the other five realms. The human realm is so precious. So again, within that way of thinking about life, you can see that the universe teems with consciousness in this way of looking at it. But there is a difference of degree between what's possible in a human realm as compared to the others. So all beings have Buddha nature. I mentioned it this morning, but to repeat it again from the dual ornament of liberation. All beings have Buddha nature, but the precious human body with the right juncture, that's the unique occasion of the eight freedoms and ten endowments and with faith, that is the most conducive set of circumstances to realise the potential that's inherent in Buddha nature. So humanness has distinctive features, has the capacity to choose and change. It throws up the question is that if that's the statement about there's something very so precious about being human within a certain set of conditions, why is it that comes from that, that therefore it's so valuable? Well, one is that we, as soon as in comparison with the other realms, we have the capacity to choose and change. We've got, that's based on our capacity of our consciousness, our self-reflexive consciousness. We can reflect on our self, we can reflect on our actions, we can reflect on how our actions impinge and impact on other people. And that capacity to choose and change, change and capacity for reflection, those in particular are the sort of priceless privileges of human life. They're hard to win and they bring a responsibility. They also bring the possibility of enlightenment, hence the preciousness. So traditionally then we're told our advice for our spiritual friends is meditate on this rare opportunity. We hope you enjoyed the talk. Please come and help us keep this free at freebuddhistaudio.com/community. And thank you. [Music] [Music] [Music]
