tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2688138290971915830.post7414254173845131455..comments2024-03-25T21:35:47.298-07:00Comments on Interdependent Science: Ergodic SamsaraJimKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16167191806249119508noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2688138290971915830.post-12753652404989317252013-05-06T13:24:29.672-07:002013-05-06T13:24:29.672-07:00Contemplation on the rarity of a precious human bi...Contemplation on the rarity of a precious human birth is generally intended to work as a spur for practice. The defining quality of a precious human birth is that it provides the opportunity to practice Dharma, to liberate oneself from samsara or at least to make substantive progress on the path. If one fails to take advantage of this opportunity, one will generally experience a long series of births without any such opportunity before again experiencing a precious human birth.<br /><br />If one misses the twist in the argument where time, one's own future births, replaces space, the present births of other beings, then there is real danger that contemplating the births of other beings could have the opposite effect, could provoke complacency. A precious human birth is indeed special. But sentient beings cannot themselves be categorized as special or not special. All sentient beings cycle through the same sorts of births, the rare special ones and the much more common ones that are not special. <br /><br />If one infers from one's own present rare and special precious human birth that one is a special being, one might then conclude that such a special being as oneself can safely presume to take rare and special birth in the future as a matter of routine. So then there would not be much urgency in the need to practice. If not this lifetime, soon enough, since opportunities are abundant. But this would be a catastrophic confusion!<br /><br />The selflessness at the core of Buddhism is exactly the point that beings themselves cannot be divided up into distinct categories. Certainly at any time each being has a unique combination of characteristics and so can be categorized in many ways. But over time these characteristics are constantly shifting. Beings are constantly crossing the boundaries of whatever categories we might use to classify them. JimKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16167191806249119508noreply@blogger.com