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10 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

to practice the Dharma: All the conditions conducive
to the practice of Dharma are present and all the
conditions what could prevent it are absent. As such,
this life is extremely useful and very rare. Nevertheless,
there are many situations, however, that can destroy
Why? Because in thinking of ignorance as an object to
this life, and further, the time of our death is uncertain.
discuss, we are distancing ourselves from it, setting it
Contemplating these two things—the positive and rare
apart in some place over there. Meanwhile, we are not
attributes of our life and tits immanent destruction—
looking at our ignorant mind that is right here in front
are an excellent way to keep us from being distracted by
of us. If in this way, we separate ignorance from our
the entertainments of this world and turn our minds to
present mind, our study and practice will not reduce
practicing Dharma.
self-fixation, because we are not paying attention to its
real source—our present mind. Ignorance is just this
“Many people entertain the thought of practicing
mind. Self-fixation is just this mind. The accumulator
Dharma, but their problem is procrastination. They say,
of karma is just this mind. And it is only on the basis of
“I’ll start tomorrow or the day after,” and in this way
encountering this mind directly that we can effect real
deceive themselves. This is why the precious human
change.
rebirth with its freedoms and resources is taught
together with the contemplation of impermanence; it
The second section about the desire for liberation
allows us to get the point that although this precious
concerns the means for removing the craving for
human birth is rare and supremely useful, it is easily
saṃsāra from our minds. This has two divisions—
lost. This spurs us on to engage in practice.
turning around the attachment to this life and to future
lives—which are explained in a single stanza:
“It is easy to describe the freedoms and resources that
make this human body so precious. It is more difficult,
By meditating on the difficulty of attaining our freedoms
however to describe how rare it is to have one, since
and resources, and
this requires a belief in past and future lives. I will not
the short time we have in this life,
enumerate the eight freedoms and ten resources now,
Our attachment to this existence is reversed.
but give their essence. More than other species, as
By meditating repeatedly on the infallible results of
human beings we have a great capacity for conscious
actions and the sufferings of samsara,
moral choices. We have the discernment that can know
Our attachment to future lives is reversed.
what we should and should not do. The means that as
human beings if we use this capacity well, we can make
“The type of rebirth we all of us here have is a
our human lives extraordinarily meaningful. However,
combination of freedoms and resources that allow us
we also have the capacity to waste our life or worse to