Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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4. The freedom of not being born as a long-life god 5. The freedom of not being born where no buddha has descended 6. The freedom of not being born as a barbarian 7. The freedom of not being born as a fool 8. The freedom of not being born as a heretic The ten richnesses are: 1. Being born as a human being 2. Being born in a religious country 3. Being born with perfect organs 4. Being free of the five immediate negativities 5. Having devotion to the teachings 6. Being born when a buddha has descended 7. Being born when the teachings have been revealed 8. Being born when the complete teachings exist 9. Being born when the teachings are being followed 10. Having the necessary conditions to practice Dharma Because we have been born as human beings rather than in the lower realms, as hell beings, hungry ghosts or animals, we have the freedom to practice Dharma. We have not been born as long-life gods. They have awareness at the beginning and the end of their life but for its entire duration—which can last thousands or millions of human years—it’s as if they’re in a deep sleep. Because of that, these gods have no freedom to practice Dharma. We, however, have not been born as long-life gods and so we have that freedom. We have not been born in a place where the buddha has not descended, where there’s no chance to meet the Dharma. Since we have not been born in such a place, we have the freedom to practice Dharma. We have also not been born as barbarians, living in an irreligious country, where there is no chance to practice the Dharma. We are neither mutes nor fools. If we were, we would be unable to learn and practice the Dharma, but we are free from being born in that state, so we have freedom to practice Dharma. Finally, we have not been born as heretics. Heretics have very closed minds. Without an open mind, there is no freedom to understand the inner science—knowing what is beneficial and what is harmful—no freedom to attain even temporal happiness, let alone ultimate happiness. Heretics believe there is no Buddha, Dharma or Sangha, no four noble truths. We are not heretics, nonbelievers, so we should feel happy that we have the freedom to practice Dharma. It is unbelievable that we have all these eight freedoms, which are so precious. We should feel incredible happiness just thinking about it. 45
We also have the ten richnesses, the first of which is being human. In Tibetan, the normal definition of a human being is one who is able to communicate and understand. Having this richness means we have an incredible opportunity to practice Dharma. As I have already explained, nonhuman beings such as spirits or gods and demigods, as well as other lower realm beings whose suffering is unbelievable, have no freedom to practice Dharma. Even in the god realms, their lives are full of unbelievable distractions caused by attachment. Always chasing pleasure, they have no interest in the Dharma. Our life is not like that. Being born human, we have the richness to practice Dharma, and that is unbelievably precious. We have the richness of being born in a religious country. That has two meanings. One is by place, which means in a religious center, such as where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. But I think the main thing is where there is the lineage of the vows of fully ordained monks and nuns. There are also the novice monk and nun lineages of thirty-six vows. Even if the gelongma lineage no longer exists, the other three lineages do. 22 If we live where the lineage of the vows exists we can consider ourselves to be in the center of a religious country because those vow holders help us achieve liberation from samsaric suffering and achieve the blissful state of peace ourselves. It also means that there are the right conditions and freedom from obstacles that make it easier to attain enlightenment. The next richness is having perfect organs, which also makes it much easier to practice Dharma. Then there is the richness of not falling into any of the five extreme actions: killing one’s father, mother or an arhat, causing disunity among the Sangha or maliciously causing blood to flow from a buddha. We have not engaged in these heavy negative karmas, which result in having to experience rebirth in the hottest hell right after death. If we had done any of these actions we’d be disqualified from taking vows, but not having done them gives us the opportunity to practice Dharma. We live in a place where there are the teachings. Traditional texts say Vinaya teachings, but it is more than that. In particular, it means where there are lam-rim teachings, the graduated path to enlightenment. The way that <strong>Lama</strong> Atisha presented the lam-rim is that all the teachings are set up to subdue the mind because, as I often mention, all our happiness and suffering come from our mind. Therefore, to attain happiness we have to subdue the negative mind, our disturbing thoughts. That is what the lam-rim helps us do, leading us from the wrong thinking that causes suffering to the right thinking that causes happiness— every happiness up to enlightenment. The next richness is having devotion to the lam-rim. This gives us an incredible opportunity to practice Dharma. The next is being alive at a time the Buddha has descended on earth. Because the Buddha descended we now have the teachings, the Dharma, that he left for us. Once, the Buddha was an ordinary person like us, with just as many problems, but then he was able to transform his mind, generating bodhicitta, letting go of the I and cherishing others. In that way he attained the complete Mahayana path and achieved enlightenment. We have this opportunity because the Buddha generated great compassion for all sentient beings including us. For three countless great eons he collected the merits of wisdom—the cause of the dharmakaya, the holy mind of a buddha—and the merits of virtue—the cause of the rupakaya, the holy body of a buddha. He gave his cherished limbs and his life to 46
Page 2 and 3: SUN OF DEVOTION, STREAM OF BLESSING
Page 4 and 5: The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Bring
Page 6 and 7: 6. The Guru Is the Most Powerful Ob
Page 8 and 9: Editor’s Preface This book is the
Page 10 and 11: Chapter 1. Taking Care of the Mind
Page 12 and 13: We still have to experience death b
Page 14 and 15: In a well-cultivated field, whateve
Page 16 and 17: What a pleasant life we human being
Page 18 and 19: enefit the teachings of the Buddha
Page 20 and 21: Among those fifty-one secondary min
Page 22 and 23: means the cessation of all the gros
Page 24 and 25: Padmasambhava’s ways of diagnosin
Page 26 and 27: Practicing Dharma is subduing our m
Page 28 and 29: from life to life, we will be able
Page 30 and 31: In A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s W
Page 32 and 33: said, that allows them to develop i
Page 34 and 35: contained in the Tengyur, a collect
Page 36 and 37: Thus the misconceptions about Buddh
Page 38 and 39: Not understanding this specific emp
Page 40 and 41: Cutter Sutra eventually does. Then
Page 42 and 43: There are sentient beings who are a
Page 44 and 45: vase, the neck is not the vase, the
Page 48 and 49: sentient beings, not only to the ti
Page 50 and 51: If Milarepa could do that after kil
Page 52 and 53: All of us, believers or nonbeliever
Page 54 and 55: The need for refuge in our life Per
Page 56 and 57: ▶abstaining from telling lies ▶
Page 58 and 59: Otherwise they come into the kitche
Page 60 and 61: Our life is so important, so precio
Page 62 and 63: Even though our mind, or the other
Page 64 and 65: We will realize this as we are abou
Page 66 and 67: The emptiness of the Z I want to en
Page 68 and 69: the greatest problem that affluent
Page 70 and 71: Without a guru, we cannot be free f
Page 72 and 73: This is mentioned in Pabongka Deche
Page 74 and 75: particles of dust of the earth. Eve
Page 76 and 77: human mother. If we were to sacrifi
Page 78 and 79: Buddhism came from the Buddha, from
Page 80 and 81: obscurations but also the obscurati
Page 82 and 83: Chapter 7. A Talk about Dolgyal Rec
Page 84 and 85: seemed to like us and we were able
Page 86 and 87: very crowded. That’s how we lived
Page 88 and 89: him about the bum-pa, the vase. Thi
Page 90 and 91: A key element of guru devotion prac
Page 92 and 93: who helped with his education, his
Page 94 and 95: In short, practicing Dolgyal is har
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Khadro-la and earthquakes Although
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esult of negative karma is rebirth
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Publicly she is like an ordinary pe
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There are other quotations but that
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Once in Nepal I dreamed of a small
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is the kind root guru. Then it star
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It is as the quote says, Before the
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The importance of guru devotion Pad
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So now, this is a real story. At Bu
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them perfectly—and even if he has
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Practicing Dharma is more important
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memorize them but then forgot them
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egin by achieving a long life, wher
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Chapter 10. Seeing the Guru as a Bu
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The monks did that, but of course,
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uddhas. That is also mentioned in t
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person without head. I don’t know
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Those meditators who have achieved
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When I was in Tibet I visited Tsurp
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Why should they be called kon-chog
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that it is his mistake. It is like
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Chapter 11. More Precious than a Wi
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patience, perseverance, meditation
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dust of this earth can be counted,
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we were once crossing a short bridg
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There are so many animals. There ar
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Whether or not we eat animals is in
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Having been born at a time when the
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We must prepare for the next life T
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There is no sentient being we have
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Probably many people think that ren
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Chapter 12. Cutting the Root of Sam
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Because things appear to us not as
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161
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This is all karma. What the Buddha
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numberless suffering sentient being
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By seeing that person as a wish-gra
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light more and some illusory body.
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to achieve enlightenment. The other
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together is the transcendental wisd
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Then you make a promise to generate
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eings who also need the Medicine Bu
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Focus on the deity’s holy body th
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End Notes 1. Or his. Rather than us
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30. Khedrub Sang ye Yeshe (1525-91)
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64. In other teachings Rinpoche has
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97. These are the three ways to und
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Where and when these teachings were
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Gyatso, Tenzin, the Fourteenth Dala
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———. How to Practice Dharma:
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If you, dear reader, would like to
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Other available teachings by Lama Y
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Our further development similarly d
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The Foundation for the Preservation
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Dedication Through the merit create
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About Gordon McDougall Gordon McDou
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Lama Zopa Rinpoche

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