PLANOS TECNICOS MUEBLES

We have now obtained a human body with all the eighteen qualities of freedoms and advantages. After we die, will we attain this same human body with the qualities complete? That would be very difficult. Lord Buddha taught in the sutras on the difficulty of finding this precious human body, and his followers have explained this in great detail in the commentaries, giving many examples of the difficulty. The cause of finding the precious human body is a basic, pure morality. While the virtue accrued from observing pure morality is the cause, it must be supported by repeated practice of the six transcendental perfections as the condition. Finally, at the moment of death, it should be sealed with dedication prayers for the attainment of the precious human body in the next life. Achieving a human birth without relying upon causes and conditions is not easy. Examine whether your morality is pure and whether your practice of the six perfections supports it. When we die, immense suffering torments us, and remembering to make dedication prayers is quite difficult. Thus, obtaining a human body is far from assured.

Lord Buddha gave the following example to illustrate the obstacles to gaining a human form: “Obtaining a human body is even more difficult than it is for a tortoise rising from the depths of an ocean tossed by the turbulence of violent waves to put its head through the hole of a yoke drifting on the surface.”

We cannot declare that it is impossible for the tortoise to pass its neck through the yoke, but it is extremely unlikely. This exemplifies the limit of possibility. Patrul Rinpoche elaborates further:

Assume that the great oceans of the three realms of samsara have become one on which there floats a wooden yoke like those used to hold a pair of oxen together for plowing. The yoke moves unceasingly,

with the eastern waves driving it westward and the western waves carrying it to the east. At the ocean’s bottom lives a blind tortoise that surfaces once every hundred years. That the two might meet is highly unlikely. The inanimate yoke has no mind to seek the tortoise and the tortoise has no eyes with which to look for the yoke. Were the yoke to stay in one place, they might meet, but it never rests for even a moment. Likewise, were the tortoise to rise constantly to the ocean surface, it could encounter the yoke, but as it surfaces only once every hundred years, the chances of the yoke and the tortoise meeting are immeasurably small. Nevertheless, the tortoise might, by sheer chance, slip its neck into the yoke. According to the sutras, obtaining a human body complete with the freedoms and advantages is even less likely.

Examples of “sheer chance” are the following. A blind man who finds a wish-fulfilling gem in the middle of an intersection where many people pass, finds it not through his own potential but by sheer chance. Likewise, by sheer chance the tortoise might slip its neck into the yoke. Just as the story of Dawa Trakpa’s father was told to illustrate why we should not fantasize about the future, these made-up examples show the limits of possibility.

Lord Nagarjuna explained the meaning thus:

For a hole in a wooden yoke rolling on a great ocean

To meet the neck of a tortoise is more likely than being born as an animal.

Compared to that, being born as a human is extremely difficult. Your Majesty, practice the noble Dharma and reap the fruit.

To review the order of the six realms – the god realm is at the top; below it are the demi-god realm and then the human realm. The human realm includes animals, indicating that animals are near to humans in terms of birth. Yet, to obtain a human birth after being born as an animal is not at all easy. Nagarjuna, in the text “Letter to a Friend,” tells his disciple, King Decho Sangpo, that as being born a human is very difficult, no one is guaranteed another human birth in the next life. Therefore he says the king should be sure to practice Dharma in this life and achieve results. Nagarjuna and King Decho Sangpo were priest and patron.

Shantideva wrote:

Like a tortoise’s neck passing through the hole Of a yoke tossing upon the wide sea,

The Mahaparinirvana Sutra contains other examples of this difficulty: the likelihood of finding a pea remaining on the smooth surface of a wall at which it has been thrown, or of a single bean remaining standing on the tip of an upright needle over which the beans have been heaped. We must consider and understand these analogies.

As Nagarjuna advised King Decho Sangpo, based on the human birth we have obtained, we must practice Dharma to achieve the ultimate fruition. If we fail to do so, finding a human body again in the next life will be extremely challenging. Thus we should never spoil our precious human birth but should practice genuinely. Simply knowing how to count the eighteen qualities doesn’t guarantee the attainment of liberation and enlightenment, nor does not knowing them lead to lower realms. The most important thing to recall is the difficulty of obtaining a human birth and why we must use this precious human body we have now gained to attain the ultimate fruition. Otherwise, in the future we won’t be able to achieve such a precious birth. Thinking like this, we will be less attached to this life, and our perseverance in Dharma practice will increase. One who has trained his or her mind in the rarity of finding a human birth and can generate this thought effortlessly will be too engrossed in practice to even find time to drink tea. This concludes the teaching on the examples of the difficulty of finding human birth.

CONTEMPLATING THE NUMERICAL IMPROBABILITY