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not to waste it when we have the opportunity to use it with intention and purpose to free ourselves from suffering.</p><p id="929a">May this teaching lead you to happiness; may it help you grow in truth. May you be freed from the suffering of birth and death.</p><figure id="b69f"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*ZhxEJLppLZTa3T6n.png"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p id="c4da">You may also like these Dhamma articles :</p><div id="5259" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/avijja-ignorance-6faf41d3ef8b"> <div> <div> <h2>Avijja — Ignorance.</h2> <div><h3>#WednesdayWisdom</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*y8XFbxb_lrU3h_3nU0FmSg.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="ee36" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/overcoming-the-kilesas-6a0c769de03a"> <div> <div> <h2>Overcoming The Kilesas.</h2> <div><h3>#WednesdayWisdom</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*Sg63iVVMMvwj3JByvd_JeA.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="9821" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/sati-sampajanna-a52f391bc040"> <div> <div> <h2>Sati-Sampajanna.</h2> <div><h3>#WednesdayWisdom</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*_EEgqcM8au73fldmm5_Ckw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="ae62" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-actualise-bodhicitta-awakening-mind-every-day-60172a0e1dbc"> <div> <div> <h2>How To Actualise Bodhicitta (Awakening Mind) Every Day.</h2> <div><h3>and why we should want to put others’ happiness above our own…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div>

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We Have Such Good Fortune.

#WednesdayWisdom

Photocredit: Image author’s own

We have had the good fortune to be born as human beings — this time. Do you ever think about this? I do. Here in Thailand, we have a lot of soi (street) dogs and every day I affirm to myself that I do not want to be reborn as one of them. Their life is so full of suffering it makes me sad but also makes me work harder with renewed determination.

For the record, I also have no wish to become a hungry ghost or find myself in the hell realm so, as they say, the only way is up!

“You are here (for now).

Rebirth as a human being is extraordinarily rare. It is also extraordinarily precious, as its unique balance of pleasure and pain facilitates the development of virtue and wisdom to the degree necessary to set one free from the entire cycle of rebirths.” — taken from The Thirty-one Planes of Existence

You can see the hierarchy of all 31 realms here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sagga/loka.html

There is more than enough dukkha (suffering) to deal with in this human life and it’s not something I would choose to go through again. There is no way to win when we live ‘in the world’ so if we want to overcome it and work our way towards something better we have to put determination and effort into our Dhamma practice.

Fundamentally, we need to practice sila, samadhi and panna (morality, concentration and wisdom) and we do this by keeping the five moral precepts and by practicing two stages of meditation — first we make the mind calm and one-pointed then we investigate a range of things — which eventually leads us to have wisdom-knowledge.

[If you would like to know more about meditation and mindfulness of breathing practices or any of the things mentioned above please let me know in the comments.]

Essentially the message is that, having attained this human life, we should be careful not to waste it when we have the opportunity to use it with intention and purpose to free ourselves from suffering.

May this teaching lead you to happiness; may it help you grow in truth. May you be freed from the suffering of birth and death.

You may also like these Dhamma articles :

Dharma
Buddhism
Wisdom
Mindfulness
Meditation
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