The Tree of Enlightenment

for the practice of unwholesome acts. If we consider the causes
of human birth, the rarity of human birth, and the difficulty of
securing a situation in which we are able to practice the Dharma,
then surely, having secured all the opportune conditions, we
must practice the Dharma quickly. To motivate ourselves to do
so, and to take up all the practices that will eventually culminate
in the attainment of Buddhahood, we contemplate the rarity and
precious nature of the human form and of conditions conducive
to practice of the Dharma.
is contemplation is followed by meditation on death and
impermanence. is meditation is an incentive to practice; it is
also a key to understanding the ultimate truth. Just as the cultivation
of faith and the taking of refuge complement each other,
so contemplation of the precious nature of the human form and
meditation on death and impermanence are complementary.
ese contemplations are followed by careful consideration
of the truth of the universality of suffering in the six realms,
accompanied by contemplation of the law of karma.
e preliminary practices are meant to transform one’s attitudes
to such an extent that one is ready to begin practicing the
Mahayana path. e result of the preliminary practices is twofold:
(1) enthusiasm for an elevated and exalted goal, the goal of
Buddhahood; and (2) disengagement from, or renunciation of, all
attachment to the things of this life and to the cycle of samsara
as a whole. At this point, as Shantideva said in his Introduction
to the Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara), one is ready
to expel attachment to the world the same way one would cough
up spittle.
e Mahayana path only begins when disengagement from
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