Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

– AN 1.331
Rare are the people who understand that we can’t live like
this, that we can’t be negligent. It is far more common for
people to live under the assumption that nothing will go
wrong in our lives, that bad things will not happen to us, that
when we die we will go to a good place, or be extinguished
forever.
Actually, a human being is like a person walking a tightrope;
any moment we could slip off and fall into death or suffering
or whatever lies in wait below. If you were up here
meditating during the lightning storm two nights ago you can
understand this. It’s quite an experience really, realizing
how thin is the rope on which we are walking. At any
moment, something could knock you off and if you haven’t
prepared yourself or learned anything useful in your life, how
could you be ready for it? You would die without any clarity
of mind, without any presence, without any awareness. You
would die with a muddled, confused mind, and be reborn in a
corresponding state. Many people have no concept of how
precarious our situation really is, and yet we are able to see
this.
Not only are we able to see this, but we have acted on it,
which is a rare achievement as well, as the Buddha taught:
“appakā te sattā ye saṃviggā yoniso padahanti; atha kho
eteva sattā bahutarā ye saṃviggā yoniso na padahanti.”
“Few are those beings who, disturbed, put out wise effort;
those beings who, though disturbed, do not put out wise
effort are far more.”
– AN 1.332
Some people see the danger of being negligent, but do
nothing about it. They think, “yeah, that would be great if I
could do some meditation or something spiritual,” but they
don’t do it. Seeing this, the Buddha taught that as rare are
the people who have understanding of danger, far more rare
are the people who actually do something about it.
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