For the meditation this morning,
I thought it would be nice to meditate on the topic of the precious human rebirth,
Precious human life.
So it would be good to spend some time meditating on these points.
So this meditation is very uplifting,
Energizing,
Inspiring to use our life wisely in ways that are meaningful and beneficial.
Also it counteracts what neuroscientists call the negative bias of the brain.
So they find that the way our brains work is we tend to pay more attention to negative things,
Signs of threat or danger,
Bad news,
Negative things that we hear about or see.
Our brain tends to focus more on those and then we can end up being freaked out,
Frightened,
Anxious,
Or depressed.
So we can counteract that by focusing on positive things.
There are a lot of positive things in our life.
You can just think about situations that some human beings right here in this world experience,
For example,
There are wars going on in certain places like Syria and Yemen and people are almost constantly in danger of losing their lives from bombs or other kinds of weapons.
So they live in fear,
In danger,
Real danger.
And there are also people living in places where there's a shortage of food,
There's even famine.
And so they sometimes have to go days without any food to eat and watch their children crying with hunger and be unable to feed them.
So you can think of some of these extreme cases of suffering here on this planet experienced by our fellow human beings.
Just understand how fortunate we are that we are free of those kinds of sufferings so that we can use our lives in ways that are beneficial for ourselves and others.
Okay.
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We're not experiencing any serious impediments to being able to move around and see,
Hear,
Speak,
Use our brains,
Which would make it very difficult for us to learn spiritual teachings and understand them and put them into practice.
So this isn't the case for a lot of human beings.
Many human beings do experience severe disabilities,
Physical and or mental.
That would make it difficult or even impossible for them to understand the Dharma,
The teachings on how to transform our minds,
Develop our minds,
Free our minds from obscurations and bring our minds to the state of awakening.
So contemplate that for a few minutes.
See if you can recognize how fortunate you are to be physically and mentally healthy.
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And then another advantage we have is sufficient resources,
Food,
Clothing,
Shelter,
Medicine,
Access to doctors,
Medical care,
Even though some of us may not have as much of these as we would like or even as much as we need,
But probably we don't have to spend all our time and energy 24 hours a day just keeping ourselves alive,
Which is the case for some people in the world,
Which wouldn't leave much free time to be able to listen to teachings,
Study,
Think about them,
Meditate on them and so on.
So probably most of us do have at least some time in our day,
Free time,
Which we can use to learn and practice the Dharma and work on transforming our minds.
And even in those times when we do have to work to support ourselves and our families,
Those also can be used to engage in Dharma practice.
There's always some practices we can do even when we're working.
We can practice loving kindness and compassion,
Keep ethical discipline,
Practice mindfulness.
There's many practices that can be done even while we're working,
Not necessarily on the cushion.
So once we know Dharma and have the interest in practicing it,
Then every situation that we are in is an opportunity to further our understanding and practice of the Dharma.
So contemplate how fortunate we are that we have the outer resources,
Food and so forth,
And the inner resources to be able to use our time,
Use our lives in the practice of Dharma.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All the ideal conditions,
Both external ones and internal ones,
Such as having interest in learning and practicing the Dharma,
Is said to be very rare.
It isn't the case that every human being,
All the seven plus billion human beings in the world,
Have such a life.
So actually,
Just a relatively small minority of human beings do have such an opportunity,
Such a situation.
So it's said in the teachings that having such a precious human life is similar to a beggar finding a diamond ring in the trash can.
So it's something that almost never happens.
It's like,
You know,
Once in a lifetime this kind of thing would happen.
And it's very opportune,
Because with that diamond ring,
The beggar can relieve himself or herself from their poverty and have a much better life.
So in a similar way,
Having a precious human life,
Precious human rebirth with all these opportunities,
Means that we can do so many positive things for ourselves and others.
We can start creating the causes for full enlightenment,
Awakening,
If that's what we wish to do.
We can also start creating the causes for liberation,
Nirvana,
Freeing ourselves from suffering and its causes,
If that's what we wish to do.
We can also create the causes for fortunate rebirths in the next life,
In our future lives,
If we believe in rebirth.
But even if we have difficulty accepting rebirth or those higher goals,
We can do so much just in this lifetime that is beneficial for others.
There's so many opportunities to help others,
To increase our kindness,
Our compassion,
Our altruism,
And also to find more genuine peace of mind and happiness for ourselves,
Make our minds really positive,
Really satisfied.
So there's many positive things we can do with this precious human life.
So see if you can conclude the meditation with a sense of how fortunate you are and with the wish to make good use of this precious opportunity both for yourselves and for others.
Thank you.
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