Apr 08 2020 44 mins 13
09 Apr 2020
Make the Best of This Human Birth
Lama Alan begins by reading the next lines of the text, which refer to the initial instructions for mind training of the disciples –who maintain the samayas–, when encountering the entrance to the path. This pertains training in the four outer and seven inner preliminaries.
Lama Alan talks about the four outer, four revolutions in outlook, these are questioning our preconceptions, habitual way of seeing the world we inhabit. He compares this to the Galilean revolution, Darwinian, modern cosmology, and other such shifts in human history. The first of the four revolutions directly shifts the way we regard this human life, from regarding us as a unitary individual, which in the materialistic view comes from nothing and turns into nothing at birth and death, to realizing that each of us is endowed with this inconceivably precious opportunity, as rare as a star in the daytime, to achieve awakening. So our way of engaging with the world radically changes. Wether this is true or not, can be put to the test. Do we have the potential to be forever freed from Samsara? If it turns out to be true, then what do we do with this wish-fulfilling jewel?
Then the lake born Vajra lays the first step for seeking the path: merge your mind with your Guru’s mind, rest there for a little while.
Our Lama clears out that in the sessions it is assumed that we have already done our dharma practices by ourselves in the morning, so recitations will be done just once (sometimes English sometimes Tibetan), and we will go straight into the main practice. Today’s practice is about precious human rebirth, in the particular context we face today.
Meditation starts at 19:10
We close the session with dedication prayer.
Make the Best of This Human Birth
Lama Alan begins by reading the next lines of the text, which refer to the initial instructions for mind training of the disciples –who maintain the samayas–, when encountering the entrance to the path. This pertains training in the four outer and seven inner preliminaries.
Lama Alan talks about the four outer, four revolutions in outlook, these are questioning our preconceptions, habitual way of seeing the world we inhabit. He compares this to the Galilean revolution, Darwinian, modern cosmology, and other such shifts in human history. The first of the four revolutions directly shifts the way we regard this human life, from regarding us as a unitary individual, which in the materialistic view comes from nothing and turns into nothing at birth and death, to realizing that each of us is endowed with this inconceivably precious opportunity, as rare as a star in the daytime, to achieve awakening. So our way of engaging with the world radically changes. Wether this is true or not, can be put to the test. Do we have the potential to be forever freed from Samsara? If it turns out to be true, then what do we do with this wish-fulfilling jewel?
Then the lake born Vajra lays the first step for seeking the path: merge your mind with your Guru’s mind, rest there for a little while.
Our Lama clears out that in the sessions it is assumed that we have already done our dharma practices by ourselves in the morning, so recitations will be done just once (sometimes English sometimes Tibetan), and we will go straight into the main practice. Today’s practice is about precious human rebirth, in the particular context we face today.
Meditation starts at 19:10
We close the session with dedication prayer.
