Appreciating a Precious Human Life

[Midakpa]

Obtaining a precious human life is the result of merit accumulated in the past through positive actions. We have worked very hard and made a lot of effort to gain merit to be reborn as a human with the right conditions to practice Dharma. It is said that obtaining a precious human body is extremely rare, like the turtle that lived at the bottom of the sea and only comes up to the surface every hundred years. Suppose there is a yoke tossed about by the waves on the sea. Is there a chance that the turtle, when it comes to the surface, will poke its head through the yoke? It is almost impossible. But the Buddha said that this compares to the number of chances we have of obtaining a precious human existence.

Therefore we should not waste this precious opportunity and use this human existence to practice Dharma well with the guidance of a teacher, abandon negative actions and attain nirvana/enlightenment. If we waste it now, we may not have another opportunity for many hundreds of years. Since this human existence is so hard to come by, it would be stupid not to make full use of it but instead be controlled by our laziness and tendency to procrastinate..

[fruven]

Dsiluvu, very good point you brought up about enjoyment.

It is a distraction from the preciousness of human life. An example, you enjoy and passionate about photography because you have a developed sight and body mobility. People who are blind and immobile cannot enjoy photography. Another example, you enjoy and passionate about music because you have a developed hearing. People who are deaf cannot enjoy music. People who likes to travel and enjoy scenery have mobility and senses.

If we look at some of the people who have missing senses but still have positive outlook of life is because they appreciate life more due to lacking of something. Having everything makes one forgets about the value of what we have. Perhaps it is normal to have all senses and mobility as a human being so it is not as rare as what we imagine it to be, our mind justifies itself.

We can see here that most if not all the enjoyment are sense pleasures. The love is senses enjoyment, something very different compare to love of others, caring for others.

I think for the non-spiritual they would probably say enjoy as much as they can before their precious life ends and do all those things that they love and passionate about. But I guess if we truly truly understand that this precious human life has been the collection of our good karma, then we would probably want to collect more good karma and merits to ensure you get another one. Hence it is always best to do good deeds and this would be focusing out on others... helping others. Whether supporting a good cause of being kind and giving someone a smile, a hand, or taking care of the weaker ones.

When you truly appreciate your precious human life... you will be able to appreciate all lives and realise the existence of a human which is suppose to be the most superior and most intelligent form on this planet should be the protectors of all precious life on this planet. Yes that means they should be the one helping everyone... and everything as much as they can isn't it?

The word Human is part of the word Humanity... x

[icy]

Whenever we consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for bliss occur, if we fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path. Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the bliss occurs, we think, ''That's my nature." Based on that, we become arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once it arises, that's where the path stops.

This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds. Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage, we continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and appreciating this precious human rebirth.

[Manjushri]

I like what was brought up here in both the threads.

Most if not all things that we perceive to be of pleasure comes from our senses. We are led mostly by our senses, and our perception to and from these senses. Therefore, ultimately, we are led in life by our selfish wants and needs because it is all about gratifying our pleasures that arises from our perception of our senses.

We are driven by pleasure because we think that life is only about enjoyment, and that enjoyment ends when we die. Therefore we seek living each day to enjoy our time on Earth. We arose from pleasure, from the joining of one male and female, thus we are driven by the exact same cause of our existence. Everything that we do to ourselves is to attract others. In being so absorbed in pleasing our desires, we delve deeper in living for ourselves and lose track of appreciating our life for what it is worth, and in helping others.

Dsiluvu, very good point you brought up about enjoyment.

It is a distraction from the preciousness of human life. An example, you enjoy and passionate about photography because you have a developed sight and body mobility. People who are blind and immobile cannot enjoy photography. Another example, you enjoy and passionate about music because you have a developed hearing. People who are deaf cannot enjoy music. People who likes to travel and enjoy scenery have mobility and senses.

If we look at some of the people who have missing senses but still have positive outlook of life is because they appreciate life more due to lacking of something. Having everything makes one forgets about the value of what we have. Perhaps it is normal to have all senses and mobility as a human being so it is not as rare as what we imagine it to be, our mind justifies itself.

We can see here that most if not all the enjoyment are sense pleasures. The love is senses enjoyment, something very different compare to love of others, caring for others.

I think for the non-spiritual they would probably say enjoy as much as they can before their precious life ends and do all those things that they love and passionate about. But I guess if we truly truly understand that this precious human life has been the collection of our good karma, then we would probably want to collect more good karma and merits to ensure you get another one. Hence it is always best to do good deeds and this would be focusing out on others... helping others. Whether supporting a good cause of being kind and giving someone a smile, a hand, or taking care of the weaker ones.

When you truly appreciate your precious human life... you will be able to appreciate all lives and realise the existence of a human which is suppose to be the most superior and most intelligent form on this planet should be the protectors of all precious life on this planet. Yes that means they should be the one helping everyone... and everything as much as they can isn't it?

The word Human is part of the word Humanity... x

[icy]

From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree; where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age. It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained, or will attain, enlightenment. This human existence, moreover, is not to be achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions. And because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human existence is indeed difficult to obtain.

Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving teachings. But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and death. If we do not follow the doctor’s prescription when we are sick, then even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.

[Dondrup Shugden]

Being born as a Human being is very precious and the result of merits gained in previous lives.  It is not easy to be born in this form and much less to be near a Dharma teacher and centre.

The paramount thing to remember is that it is in this human form that Shakymuni attained enlightenment as a Buddha.  So can it be imagined the preciousness of this life and the potential we have.  So do not waste this precious human life.

[RedLantern]

The term ‘precious human life’ actually comes from the Hinayana Buddhist tradition. A precious human life, however, is something very special – something different. The Buddhist masters say it is almost impossible to attain and once you have it you should not waste it because it is unlikely to come around again. Basically, a precious human life is where you attain a human body that is endowed with all the free and favorable conditions. These conditions include:

    Living in a country where you are free to practice spirituality
    Having all the human sense faculties
    To be born where spiritual teachings have been taught
    To be interested in those teachings

Simply put, a precious human life is a life where you are interested in changing your mind and your situation. Many people go their whole human life never realizing that happiness lies right in their own mind. They pursue money and fame and nice cars and when they grow old they realize they still aren’t happy. How sad.
The Buddha used this illustration in a teaching . A blind turtle lives in the bottom of the ocean and every 100 years he comes up for air. If that turtle was to rise for air and by chance put his head through a bucket that was floating on the surface it would be extremely rare. Attaining a precious human rebirth is even rarer than that.

[kelly]

I must make a statement precious human life only precious if we practice the dharma if we spend our time on samsaric enjoyment then we are wasting this human form that we have now, our reason to be here is to practice the holy teaching of buddha so we can attain enlightenment, in order to do it we need to transform our mind not just learning the dh dharma but never put into practice is like enquire the knowledge but never use it.

[Kim Hyun Jae]

To quote from Day 15 in the Lamrim, in the Path to Liberation - Geshe Potowa wrote "When you wandered so much in the past, samsara did not stop by itself, nor will it stop by itself - YOU MUST stop it! And the time to stop it is now that you have gained the optimum HUMAN REBIRTH."

..... there is no better rebirth to have than this one.