Freedom

In Dharma, it is always important to cultivate gratitude and appreciation for precious opportunity we have of realizing full enlightenment. Without this, we will waste the opportunity. Being born in as a human with the opportunity to practice is very rare and it is said to be the best possible condition for attaining enlightenment. Classical Buddhist text enumerate eighteen freedoms and advantages that are necessary to attain buddhahood: of these, there are ten advantages and eight states that lack freedom. Being born in the hells, hungry spirits, animals, barbarians, long-lived gods, having wrong views, the absence of a Buddha, and being dumb are the eight states that lack freedom. In Torch That Lights the Way to Freedom by Dudjom Rinpoche, He states: “These, then, are the eight states of lack of opportunity. Of them, the three lower realms and long-lived gods are nonhuman states, and the other four are human states in which there is no opportunity to practice Dharma. To be free of these eight states of no opportunity constitutes freedom, as shown in the Sutra of Precious Space:

“the Bodhisattva Akashagarbha asked: “Bhagavan, how should one view the freedoms and advantages?”

He answered: “When mind is buffeted by thoughts and thus distracted, this is ‘having no leisure.’ When the thoughts in the mind are stilled and it is at ease, this is ‘freedom.’”