Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, His Holiness Sakya Trizin explores the rarity and preciousness of human birth in Buddhist cosmology, laying the essential philosophical groundwork for authentic spiritual practice. He begins with the eight unrestful places—lower realms and certain human conditions where Dharma practice is impossible—then expounds the ten necessary conditions for a viable spiritual life: five from one’s own side (human birth, central location, sound faculties, faith in Vinaya, abstention from the five limitless sins) and five from outside (living when a Buddha has come, the teaching still thriving, living followers present, and right livelihood). Having established how vanishingly rare this situation is, he turns to impermanence—death is certain, its timing uncertain, and at death nothing but Dharma practice can help. He shows how meditating on impermanence generates genuine renunciation, accelerates practice, dissolves worldly attachment, and ultimately opens the door to understanding emptiness. This is foundational material for any Buddhist practitioner seeking to move beyond surface-level spirituality.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 FfK.mp3
UUID: d1cf967f-3e85-4f65-903d-2c76cc735f67
Teacher: HH Sakya Trizin
Collection: Freedom from the Known (HH Sakya Trizin)
Date: 1988 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.1 minutes
Words: ~4,707
So when we just like the how difficult it is to go through his head through the only small hole of the golden yoke, which is floating all over, it is a very difficult chance to happen. Almost impossible to happen. So similarly, the the the to be born as human being with the right condition is very rare. And the fourth is from its own the nature point of view. From its own nature point of view, the human life which has all the eighteen prerequisites, the free from the eight unrestful places, one that has obtained the ten right condition is very very rare, very difficult.
The first, the human life which is free from eight unrestful places, which means that four four are within human human beings and four non human beings. For example, if one is born in the hell realm, the number one unrestful place is the hell realm. If one is born in the hell realm that there is so much suffering that there is no way to practice Dharma. For example, when one is sick even in this life, if one is sick, then one could not do any work any work, anything. Not only that in the realms that they due to their heavy karma, they do not even have any facilities or there’s no way to to hear the dharma.
And the second unrestful place is the hungry ghost realm. In the hungry ghost realm, they have so much hunger and thirst that they all the time thinking about food that they do not have any chance. And the third unrestful place is animals realm and the animals they have so much generally in great ignorance just like putting a big rock over their head and there is no way to learning the right way and the and the wrong way. Which is the right and which is the wrong? There’s no way in learning in great ignorance.
And the fourth one is called the long lived gods. Generally speaking, all the ordinary living beings, all the ordinary beings who are in the heavenly realms are also unrestful place because even though they have accumulated much virtuous deeds in the past and due to this, they are at the moment, they are born in the heavenly realms. But in the heavenly realms, there is so much luxury and pleasure to enjoy that they spend whole their life in in the pleasure that they do not even think of need to practice the Dharma. They never think of the need to practice Dharma. So that generally speaking, actually, all the gods, all the ordinary beings in the heavenly realm are unrestful places.
And particularly, there is a one state called in the we normally, we speak of three three realms. We mean first the Kamadhatu. Kamadhatu means the the the the realm that we live also. And in this in this realm, we have the lower realms and higher realms. The higher realms, we have a human human realm and then the demigods realm that are sort of half god, half not god.
And so they are called demigods, demi-gods realm, and then the devas realm. So this is called the kamadhatus realm. And then the higher than this Higher than this is called the realm of forms. Is called. It is the realm of forms, the with forms.
And this there’s a one section in this particular section that where all the the mental activities are completely ceased. Only when he is born and and when he’s is is dying at that time, there’s a perception. Otherwise, a conception. Otherwise, all the mental activities are ceased. And so since he has no mental activities, in this particular, it is stage is called the long lived god who have a very long life but do not have a chance to practice Dharma.
So these are the four unrestful places that are nonhuman beings who have do not have a chance to practice Dharma. Then there are four states within human life also. Those who the barbarians who do not have any knowledge of the right thing and wrong things to do, who are doing everything wrong way, such such as people who are living in in the very remote and very jungle areas where the very barbarians the one. And the second is the those who have the wrong views, who do not believe who who believe in a very wrong way, who do not believe that from the virtuous deeds rises the happiness, and from the non virtuous deeds rises the the suffering, etcetera, who do not believe and who believe in the complete wrong views. And the third one is one who is born at the time that the Buddha has not come, where there were not not a possibility to hear the name of the Buddha.
And the fourth one is the defect in the organs such as, like, dumb and deaf, especially those who are mentally dumb. So that who has no possibility to receive teachings or to practice dharmas. So these are called the eight unrestful places, which has no chance to practice Dharma. And when you think of when you examine this, most of the beings, most of the human beings, most of the the living beings are within these eight unrestful places. And then not only that we are free from these eight unrestful places, but we have gained all the necessary conditions.
There are ten conditions, The five to obtain from one’s own site and the five to obtain from other site or the outer site. And these five to five to obtain from one’s own site is the number one is that to be born as a human being, which is very difficult from many point of view to from many point of view, it is very difficult to be to be born as a human beings. And second second is not only as a human beings, but to be born as a to be born in a centrally located place. The centrally located place, there are two two ways. One is geographically or geographically centrally located place, which means that like India, the bodhigaya where the Buddhas have attained enlightenment is the geographically, the centrally located place.
And Dharma wise, centrally located places mean the places where there are monks and nuns and male and female followers of Buddha are still existing. Those places where there is not four types of followers, like monks and nuns and lay female and male and female followers of Buddha not existing. Not all are together. Not four types of followers of Buddhas not existing is called not called centrally located place. So to be born as a centrally located place.
And then to the third thing is to one who obtain the sound organs. No defect in organs. No hindrance so that no hindrance in receiving the teachings. And the fourth one is the one who believes in the teachings. Teachings in general and particularly the root of all the teachings, the Vinaya, which explains the different types of moral conduct.
So in order to control, in order to subdue our defilement mind, the mind that is so much indulged with the defilements to to subdue this to the one who has a real faith, real devotion in the Vinaya. That is also actually very few people. And then the fifth one is the one who have not committed the five limitless sins either by yourself or that you have directed others to do the five limitless sins, or those who have given support to do the five limitless sins. Anyone who have done the five limitless sins, generally speaking, according to the Mahāyāna where they are not allowed sort of not allowed to practice enter into the path. Though in vajrayana, it is a different.
But here in in at at least they are very difficult to practice in the path. So so from this point of view that we are not only free from the unrestful places, but we have obtained the all the necessary things that from one’s own side born as a human being that also in a centrally located place and sound organs and deep devotion in the Vinaya and the one who have not committed the five limitless sins. The five limitless sins are the one is the killing of one’s father. Second is killing of one’s mother. Third one is killing of arhats, those who have attained very high realization.
Fourth one is making injuring the body of the of the Buddha, causing blood to flow from the body of Buddha. Out of out of anger or out out of impure mind. And fifth one is creating a or creating a disharmony between sanghas, between two groups of monks or the nuns or religious groups. And then the five things that you you need to obtain from others is from outside is that one have to be born at the time that the Buddha has come in this world. Generally, the when the Buddha the time that the Buddha has come is called the light eon.
And the time that when the Buddha is not appearing, it is called the dark eon. And at present eon has one thousand buddha will come. So, therefore, it is called the fortunate eon or the good eon. And that is also very because at this eon, there are one thousand Buddha will come. So it is a very, very fortunate time, very fortunate.
So it is called good eon or the fortunate eon. And now after this, there will be sixty dark eons. After that, there will be only one eon or light eon, which is known as establishment of qualities. And then after that, there will be ten thousand dark eons. And Then after the ten thousand dark eons, there’s one light eon known as greatly pleasant eon.
And then there’ll be another three hundred dark eons. And then after that, there is a one light eon known as the great star. So altogether, there are during the ten thousand three hundred sixty dark during which time there’s only four light light eons. So it is very, very rare to the Buddhas to come to in to this world. And even at the time of the light eons, when the people’s life is increasing, when the at the time that the people’s life is increasing, in the beginning that people’s life is increasing, at such time, buddhas do not appear.
So most of the time the time is that the Buddha is not appearing. Buddha is not coming into this universe. So that we are very fortunate to be born at the time that many Buddhas are coming in this era. And not only Buddha has come to to this You know? But to turn the wheel of Dharma too.
Because even Buddha has come to this world but when there is a not worthy of receiving the teachings then the Buddha do not give the teachings. And even our historical Śākyamūni Buddha after attaining the enlightenment, he says that he has obtained great realization like a nectar. But if I explained if I teach this, nobody understands. So, therefore, for the time being that he is not going to turn the wheel of Dharma. And then the lord Brahma who offered the the golden wheel with a thousand thousand spokes is offered as a offering to the Buddha to turn the wheel of Dharma.
And only then he has turned the wheel of Dharma. So the buddhas not only buddhas come, but at the time that he’s turning the wheel of Dharma, it’s very rare. And not only that, to have the teaching still living. The teaching is still living. In the previous time also, there are buddhas have come and turned the wheel of Dharma, but previous buddhas, their teachings are all finished and then there are long gaps in between another Buddha to come.
And so, therefore, the the one is fortunate. Not only that born at the time that Buddha has come and not only that he has turned the wheel of Dharma, not only that the teaching is still living and not only that the teaching is still living, but also it’s very rare that oneself and others are although the teaching is still living, but to following it, very rare to follow it as there are still there are so many who are not following the Buddha’s teaching. Even those who are following the Buddha’s teaching, as I said in the beginning, the most most people are it is very difficult to find the someone who is with the pure motivation and real practicing the spiritual spiritual practice. Very few people. Most are just outwardly the most practices are kind of superficial.
It is really outwardly looks like Dharma practice, looks like a spiritual practice, but in reality that there are very, few people. So so that is in this way also, it is very rare. And then not only this to find when one is practicing the spiritual, to find the right livelihood to find the right livelihood. There are many people are giving offerings and so forth, but most of them are giving offerings in order to gain something. You offer something and you one wish to gain more than what one has offered.
So such a way that there are very few people who are really practicing, who are really practicing Dharma, Dharma that it is difficult to obtain obtain the right livelihood. So so these five things that born at the time that Buddha has come, not only that, the second is to turn the wheel of Dharma. Third is that teaching is still living. Fourth is that there are still followers that who can show us the example. There are still practitioners who can who can show us the path, who can show us the example.
And the fifth one is to the right livelihood. The live livelihood without missing with the non virtuous deeds to find the right livelihood easily. So these are the five things that to be obtained from other side. So the human life so, overall, the human life which is free from the unrestful places and the human life which has all the ten necessary conditions, five from five to obtain from one’s own side and five to obtain from the others. So altogether with the eighteen prerequisite is very very rare.
From its own point of view, it is as rare as like daytime star. And so from this point of view that one should meditate on this again and again until you have the real inner urge. Now that it is so precious, so rare from many point of view so that we must not waste this precious opportunity and we must utilize this for the best possible cause. And so in this way that one should try to meditate. Although, of course, it is easy to understand these meanings intellectually, but that is to understand it in that intellectually is not enough.
What we require is to to meditate on this so that we we have a real inner urge, real inner urge to practice the Dharma. So until such time that one should practice meditate on the difficulties of obtaining the precious human birth. And then the second one is the impermanent. Because the impermanent not only need to practice Dharma but to practice Dharma in quickly. As one of the great masters says is that the one thing that’s in front of every sentient beings who are born is that is death.
Death is in every certain, in front of every sentient beings because the birth and death are depend on each other. When there’s a birth, there is a bound to be a death just like a right and left. If there’s a right, there have to be a left. Otherwise, there won’t be the right. So similarly, the death and the life and the both birth and death depend on each other.
So the wherever there’s a birth, it is bound to end with the death. So therefore, before we die, before we lose this opportunity that one must practice Dharma quickly. And to this and to explain this in three three ways, the first is that the death is certain because, actually, the anything everything that is created with the cause and the condition is impermanent. So everything that is impermanent is, of course, bound to change and and bound to finish, bound to and to to lose. Even those who are who have obtained the ultimate enlightenment, who have obtained the the the lord buddha, our historical shakyamuni buddha who have obtained the every possible qualities.
But for the sake of ordinary living beings that he does not remain at the end at his even though he has obtained the eternal body like a vajra body, but even that also have to disappear, have to to pass for the for the sake of ordinary eyes that he have to this pass away. No Buddha has left lived for our for ordinary eyes point of view, then no Buddha has lived for forever. Even those who have all already obtained the ultimate enlightenment have to have to go. And then all the the lineage gurus who have actually obtained the great qualities, who have infinite wisdom and compassion, all have passed away that we have the long list of lineage gurus that no one has lived forever. They all have passed.
So we as ordinary people who do not have any qualities, who do not gained any higher stages, and who do not who are completely bound with the karma and the defilements, of course, have to die. So the one thing that is a hundred percent certain is the death. No matter where one is born, in the lower realms or higher realms or in between realms, the higher realms or lower realms or wherever ones who are born, either in rupadhatu, kamadhatu, arupadhatu, wherever one is born, that one is going to die. And not only that, there are many causes, many things to cause our death. Internal organs can something can go wrong in internally.
Outsidely, something can strike. Something certain can strike to us. And even those that are which we mean for prolong our life such as, like, medicine and such as like medicine and food that are actually meant to living long. But sometimes the food can go can go wrong and can cause death. Even sometimes the medicines can cause cause death, etcetera.
So that not only that this the death is certain, but there are so many causes, so many things to cause a death. So, therefore, we must without any delay that one must practice Dharma. And then the second explanation for this is when to die. Uncertainty that when one will die. Many people die even when they were born, before they were born.
Some people die immediately after the birth and when there are babies, when there are as children, when there are teenagers, and adults, and old, and so forth. So when the when one is going to die, that actually nobody knows because anything can happen even though one has a certain period or set time to to live long, but the certain obstacles that can appear in nowhere and this that one will be die dead in the so it is wrong to think that I will do a I will wait to practice Dharma until my later part of the life or to say that this year that I will do other things and the next year that I will practice Dharma, that one will never know whether one will have the such chance to practice Dharma or not. As it is said in the sutras, the tomorrow’s future and the next life’s future, which one comes first is that no one knows. So it is far better to work for the next life’s future rather than tomorrow’s future. And then the the third thing, the first thing is actually the certainty of the death.
And the second thing is the uncertainty of the death when we will die. Death is certain, but when we are going to die that nobody knows. Death could be in any moment, could be one’s dead death. And the third thing is that when one is going to die, that no matter what you have, one may have a very powerful one may be very powerful. One may be very one may have very wealthy.
One may be have many followers, many subject or many friends, many relatives, or maybe very brave, very learned, very good, the very skillful very skillful in many methods, etcetera, but nobody can turn nothing can turn the death away. The king, the emperor who has hundreds of bodyguards cannot do anything when the time comes. The wealthy man that who has has so much wealth can cannot do anything when the time comes. The most powerful man, even the the universal emperor, when the the the lord of death attacks on him that nobody can save, nobody can protect, nothing can protect. So the only thing that can help at that time is the Dharma practice that we do while we are living that we do Dharma practice and so that we will do enough Dharma practice so that at the time of death we have no hesitation.
Impossible that if we reach a certain stage then that that we do not have any fear of any the best Dharma practitioners that when they’re at the time of death that they are going just like going into their own homes, that they have no hesitation, no fear. Now even you cannot do this much, but if we have practiced enough that you do not have any hesitation, at least even though you do not reach any stages or any accomplishment, if one could not gain any accomplishment, but at least if one has tried if one has tried the Dharma practice, then one do not have the regret of not practicing at the time of death. So, therefore, to think this that the certainty of death and uncertainty of when one is going to die and at the time of death, the only Dharma can help. So these three things are very, important as and to think about impermanent is very important. As it is said in the sutras that to think about impermanent means the great offering.
The great vehicle of making offering to the Dharma is to to the offering to the Buddha is to think about impermanent. And to think about impermanence is prophesied by the Buddha, which means that the Buddha has told Buddha has tell said to the his followers to think about the impermanent. And the imperm those who are thinking about impermanent are blessed by the Buddha. And so all the the perceptions that we have, the the best thought that one can have is the thought of impermanence. As by thinking of impermanent that will give up attachment to this life.
And by thinking, meditating on the impermanent will speed up our practice, and it will become the antidote for the sufferings, and it will eventually help us to realize the the sunyata. How we will give up attachment to the by meditating on the impermanent is that when you think when you realize that everything is impermanent, then there’s no need to have attachment because every everything you have is going to lose sooner or later that it is impermanent. There’s no need to to have the attachment. No. Not worthy of having attachment.
And it will speed up your practice by realizing that uncertainty of death that first it will cause us to enter into the spiritual path. And in the meantime, it will help us to speed up our spiritual practice. And finally, that it will help us to really mix our mind with Dharma. If one do not understand them impermanent, even once one may one may wear robes and one may looks like a spiritual person, but he is still a still a layman. One is still a layman.
Even one who says that he is spiritual practicing, but in his deep heart still having attachment and having attachment the prosperity of the worldly life. And whatever we do, if we do not understand the impermanent, whatever practice we do, the study, hearing, contemplation, meditation, whatever we do, it will only add to gain more pride, to gain the worldly gains, to have only to to have the worldly gains. It is not the the ones real practice will not become the real Dharma practice. But if we understand impermanent, then it is just like the speeding up the one’s horse with whips. Like that that it will first help us to enter into the Dharma.
Those who are not enter into dharma, it will help us to enter into the dharma. Those who are initial practitioners will become a better practitioners. Those who are better practitioners become the best practitioners and those who are best practitioners help us to become the to obtain the the real liberation. And the one who realize the impermanent is not even afraid of the the suffering of death. So, of course, he’s not afraid of the other tiny sufferings.
So, therefore, that’s the best method to cross the suffering of Samsāra is to one of the best method to cross the suffering of Samsāra is to meditate on impermanent. And it will eventually help us to realize the Śūnyatā because the all the phenomena, that all the things that we see, all the things that we have are in reality not independently existing. Everything is actually connected with each other. It to exist this that it have to depend on this thing and to exist that it have to depend on that thing, etcetera. From this rise this from this rise this.
And so it there’s another single thing, single entity that could not remain as itself. So if it is something that is need no need to rely on cause and conditions and just independently existing, then then it is permanent. But since everything, the every phenomena that we see are depending on the cause and conditions, etcetera, that on many things that that everything is impermanent. So therefore, that by understanding of the impermanent will help us to understand the Śūnyatā, true nature of all things. So in this way that we complete the first line which says that if you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious person.
And this in general path that we talk of the three three different types of persons, the small persons, middle persons, and the great persons. And this is the path of the small persons, the one who knows the precious human birth and impermanent will then give up attachment to this life, and he sees that this life is just like a bubbles of the water, not worthy of having attachment. And the future life is more important. And so the future life as nobody wish to have a sufferings, nobody wish to be born in the lower realms, so he wish to be continuously born in the higher realms, like Devas realm or the human realm. So in order to to gain to be born in the higher realms, to practice the one who is whose aim is to be born in the higher realm and the whose aim is to be free from the lower realm, one who is practicing for such a goal is called the small person’s.
So small person’s path is explained in this the first line which says that if you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious person. So here that we will have now break and then resume the afterwards.