Merle, Edgar,<br/><br/>Do yourselves a favour and educate yourselves on
Buddhism before you make personal attacks and show yourselves to be
ignoramuses. This is from dharma net.org and recounts Buddha's parable on being
born human.<br/><br/>1<br/>The Preciousness of Human Life Endowed with Freedom
and Opportunity<br/><br/>Preciousness of human life<br/><br/>Buddha told a
wonderful parable:<br/><br/>Imagine, he said, an old blind turtle who lives in
the bottom of the seven oceans and who surfaces once every century for air.
Floating randomly around the seas there's a golden yoke. As often as the blind
turtle at the bottom of the ocean happens to raise his head through the neck
hole of the yoke when he comes up for his centenary breath, that's the
likelihood of being born in the human life-form.
<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Reflect on how rare your human birth is — for every
human, how many billions of other life forms there on this earth. You weren't
born
an insect, a sardine.<br/><br/>With such a rare opportunity, you really should
appreciate what you have right now!<br/><br/>You should reflect how wonderful
our life form is of the human embodiment, our person. How lucky we are to have
it endowed liberty and opportunity.<br/><br/> <br/><br/><br/><br/>What might
this mean – “liberty”? What freedoms do you have — just by being a human — that
you should cherish and take advantage of?<br/><br/><br/><br/>Imagine you were
born a rabbit, a life in which is continual reaction to the predator chasing
you. Imagine a life as a tiger, running for your own food.<br/><br/>If you have
trouble with this, ask yourself: "If I were born a canary, I would not be able
to..."<br/><br/>As a human, you can pause and reflect on what your situation is
and then use your intelligence to choose a path of
action.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Beyond the freedom which comes from being a human,
what other liberties are you blessed
with?<br/><br/>Chances are if you are taking this lesson, contemplating
practicing this path, you enjoy freedoms many other humans do
not.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Do you think “I have no time to develop my practice, I
have no time to reflect, to meditate, to be mindful…?"<br/><br/>Think about all
the humans on this earth whose circumstances do not allow them to study the
Dharma, develop a path of emancipation. Chances are if you are studying the
four thoughts that turn the mind, you have the opportunity to practice
them.<br/><br/>Think of all the humans who lack this opportunity, people who
are destitute, people enslaved economically, people enslaved politically,
people who spend every moment of their lives and all their energies on
survival. Spend some time and really appreciate the freedom and opportunity you
are blessed with. Do you have enough to eat each day? Are you free from the
fear of being displaced at any moment? Do you spend every moment of
your life surviving, or do you have time read, meditate, take an Ashoka
course?<br/><br/>Now reflect on the rarity of being in a place and time where
teachings and teachers are available to you from which you can choose a path
that's right for you, that you can follow in the "free" time you
have.<br/><br/>Your precious opportunity also includes access to the teaching
of freedom and enlightenment.<br/><br/> <br/><br/><br/><br/>Even with a
precious human life, and even with a life that allows the opportunity of time
to practice and reflect, reflect on how precious it is to have access to the
teachings on personal transformation. Only a generation ago think how rare the
opportunity to be exposed to the Dharma was, how few teachers were accessible,
how few resources like Ashoka were available.<br/><br/>Reflect on the rarity of
being in a place and time where teachings and teachers are available to you
from which you can choose a path that's right for you,
that you can follow in the "free" time you
have.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Reflect on the preciousness of the qualities
within you because you are a human:<br/><br/>You have a mind that is capable of
developing wisdom and compassion. You have a mind that that can distinguish
right from wrong, a mind that can distinguish between that which causes
suffering and should be abandoned and that which brings happiness and should be
nourished.<br/><br/>True freedom<br/>In many societies there's no notion of
liberation or self-illumination or education, merely training for life as a
hunter or a warrior or a computer programmer. The real teaching of freedom is
very rare. While materialistic cultures have ideas like the pursuit of
happiness, the fight for freedom, and the land of liberty, real liberty is
completely inconceivable to us.<br/><br/>The most important of the famous noble
truths taught by the Buddha is the noble truth of freedom, which is the truth of
nirvana. Contemplation of this noble truth of nirvana opens you up to the very
idea that there is such a thing as freedom. Once you can imagine it, you feel a
different sense about the meaning of your life. That you could be reliably,
calmly, blissfully free, with absolutely nothing to compel you. No problems or
suffering. This is unimaginable at first. Coming from a Protestant background
if I even start to think about being free and happy, I unconsciously feel
anxious, expecting someone to hit me or step on me. That's how we've been
conditioned.<br/><br/>You are a great being<br/><br/><br/><br/>Have you been
exposed to a religious tradition that begins with some huge putdown, that you
must begin by seeing how there’s something wrong with you and you have to save
yourself? Perhaps that God made you out of nothing and that you have to depend
on some authority, some power for whatever, in desperation, you really need to
be saved?<br/><br/>The beginning
of the path is so important, because until you really treasure yourself how
can you truly develop a mind that seeks freedom?<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Human life
is so precious.<br/> <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Sent from Yahoo! Mail
for iPad
