Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 40-minute guided meditation, Ven Thubten Dondrub leads practitioners through a foundational reflection on the preciousness of human rebirth. He opens with instructions on mental preparation—maintaining focus, applying antidotes to distraction and dullness, invoking Śākyamūni Buddha—then takes the meditator through a structured contemplation of freedoms and advantages. By vividly contrasting the human condition with animal realms, hungry ghost realms, hells, and god realms, he brings home the rarity of this rebirth. He explores how privilege extends among humans: avoiding war zones, oppression, physical handicap, and wrong views about future lives. Throughout, he emphasizes that these freedoms are fragile and temporary, meant to be used for serious practice rather than taken for granted. He closes with a dissolution visualization of the guru and blessing of the mind. Suited to those beginning foundational Buddhist study and meditation practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1b. Day 1 Meditation Precious Human Rebirth.mp3
UUID: d9736fb1-6d49-4284-ae78-3cfe25158822
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: Meditations DTL (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2006 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 40.5 minutes
Words: ~1,919
So having prepared our mind in this way, again make a very strong determination to put all one’s effort into doing this analytical meditation, not letting the mind wander in any way, fully focusing on this. So making this determination to be very mindful, to avoid any kind of obstacles such as on the one hand our mind becoming dull, sleepy, bored, or on the other the mind becoming somewhat excited by being distracted by external sounds, pain in our body or other sensations and especially our own thoughts. So make the stronger determination as soon as any of those hindrances arise, immediately let go of them or try to apply the antidote if you know how. And at very least, remember Śākyamūni, guru Śākyamūni on the crown of one’s head. Imagine blissful white light coming from the Buddha instantly dispelling any kind of dullness or agitation from the mind, and then immediately bring the mind back to reflecting on the precious human rebirth.
So we can begin by reflecting that because of the very nature of our mind, we have Buddha potential. We have within us this indestructible potential that has always been there, will always be there. This pure nature of mind which has the potential to give rise to the enlightened state. It exists within every sentient being, And yet that potential, that Buddha nature, is obscured by our disturbing thoughts and the negative imprints, the karmic imprints generated by those disturbing thoughts. So in most lives, that Buddha potential is very obscured, and we just simply don’t have the conditions to discover the nature of our mind and free ourselves from all those obstacles and not only achieve liberation but complete enlightenment.
So what we need to recognize is that in this life, we have the chance, the freedom, the optimum human rebirth to begin to liberate our mind and discover our Buddha potential that can bring perfect benefit to ourself and to all beings. So we can reflect how we have a rebirth where we are completely free of the greatest obstacles to being able to practice the Dharma, meaning working with our mind in a skillful, liberating way. We haven’t been born in any of the the non the very suffering nonhuman realms, the lower realms. One can think right now what it would be like to be born, for one’s mind to be trapped in a an animal body, to be born in an in the animal realm. Really put some effort right now to think what it would be like to be trapped in a human an animal body with that very limited intelligence of an animal.
The incredible suffering that one would experience, the fear that most animals endure almost every day, like the animals on this island eating each other, hunting each other, being hunted for food. But especially think how in such a body with such an obscured mind, how incredibly difficult it would be, if not impossible, to practice any kind of Dharma, any kind of kindness, wisdom, generosity, how almost impossible in an animal realm it would be to stop creating negative karma and create virtuous, meaningful actions. And then recognize that I I’m not in that situation. I’m completely free of it. How amazing that freedom is, how meaningful that freedom is that I have right now.
If you find it difficult to relate to being born as an animal, one can think that many human beings live lives similar to animals. Just controlled by their senses, living lives of incredible hardship so there is almost no time, energy to practice anything really meaningful beyond just surviving. I am I am not in that situation. I have this amazing freedom. Not the freedom to be deluded, but the freedom to liberate myself from confusion and suffering.
And reflect by just by having this human body, being in this human realm, one is free of incredible suffering being born in the hungry ghost realms, the hungry ghost realms, where one is just constantly tormented by craving, unrequited craving of hunger and thirst, constantly starving for things and never getting it ever. It appears in front of you, but you can never get it. It just completely torments you. And it just goes on and on and on. Although it’s unbearable, it’s something that has to be borne.
Imagine what it would be like to have a life where that that is all one experiences, the suffering body in the suffering realm of being tormented by craving and hunger. Again, if you can’t imagine that such a realm exists, there are millions of human beings born into starving situations, born to starving mothers, and they live very short lives of misery. So try to place your mind in that situation right now, the reality of it, and then try to imagine how one could practice any kind of Dharma while being tormented like that. If you’re being tormented by hunger twenty four hours a day, would you even be able to generate the thought of wanting to share a piece of food with another person, to share anything? The mind would be overwhelmed with self-cherishing.
In that state, how could I possibly practice the Dharma? So really try to feel that, imagine it, make it real for yourself right now, and then realize that I’m not in that situation right now, temporarily. I have been in it for countless many, many lifetimes. I have the potential to fall into that realm again. But very briefly, right now, I’m free.
Does that mean I’m free just to create the cause of more suffering? It means recognizing that I’m free to practice the liberating Dharma. If you can try to think of the extreme suffering of the hell realms that the Buddha taught to exist, where the mind and body are tormented by heat or extreme cold. In the cold hells, one is born in complete darkness and silence, totally alone and only experiencing unbearable cold. In utter silence, in utter darkness, in total isolation, with no contact ever with another living being.
A whole lifetime goes like that. Imagine that suffering. Imagine if one could generate even one virtuous thought in that state. And, again, if one finds it very difficult to believe that such realms, such rebirths exist, Many human beings right now live lives that are like hell, live in places where the environment is like hell, such as Iraq right now for many people. There are many places as bad as the concentration camps of Nazi Germany still existing in countries in the world where people are tormented and tortured.
There are people, millions of people, who suffer severe mental disturbance, where they live in an isolated world of their own making created by their own mind. For example, people who extreme experience extreme paranoia where the whole world is against them. Their mind is tormented day and night by fear. Imagine what that would be like. Really try to feel it.
It is a reality. It’s a reality that we have experienced before, that we often still create the causes for right now in this life. But right now, we are free of experiencing that those states. Think what that freedom really means. How precious it is.
And we can reflect how actually it’s fortunate that we are not born in the god realms, the various kinds of god realms, where although there’s incredible pleasure being experienced, there’s no chance because of that extreme pleasure to practice the Dharma. In those realms, there may be happiness that lasts much longer than in the human realm, but it does come to an end. And there’s nothing left to show for it. And those beings once again fall into the lower realms of suffering, the realms of obvious suffering. Nothing has been achieved in those lives.
So then reflect that even among those people who are fortunate to have a human rebirth on this planet right now, so many human beings have lives of incredible suffering with very little freedom. So many human beings are forced by circumstances, by environment, so on to live quite barbaric lives because there is continuous fighting, poverty, political repression. There are places where religion of any meaningful kind hardly exists or has been repressed, suppressed, where it’s very difficult to find these liberating teachings or have the freedom to practice them. We could be born, we could have been born in such places. Imagine what that would be like.
But right now, we are free of that kind of situation. If we can see how much in our own lifetime violence in the world, political violence and so on, has increased conflict around the world. We can think that this freedom we have is really so fragile. It could really end at any time. Even those human beings who have the fortune to be born in comfortable environments and so on with plenty of food and so on still can experience all kinds of suffering, such as being born seriously handicapped physically or mentally.
We could have taken such a rebirth. We could have been born deaf or blind. Imagine what that would be like. Not being able to hear the Dharma, not being able to read. How could we practice?
It’s difficult enough now. You know, we hear teachings, but we don’t remember them, so we have to read them again and again. But imagine if we couldn’t hear them or be able to read, what would it be like? Just what an amazing freedom we have right now. We take it for granted, and we don’t taking it for granted, not recognizing it, we don’t really take full advantage.
Finally, can reflect how there are so many human beings born in very good situations with healthy bodies and minds and so on, but they have no belief in any kind of future lives, altruism, any kind of religious system. So completely denying the chance of becoming free of suffering. So how fortunate that right now we are free of those wrong views. Just by meeting the dharma and having some belief in it, it opens a vast range of possibilities of changing our life, improving our life, not only for our own sake but for others. But if we we are born with these heavy wrong views, all that freedom is lost.
So how incredibly fortunate we are right now. Try and recognize that. So strongly focusing on recognizing the incredible freedom we have right now. Make this strong determination to use this freedom, to be mindful of it in in daily life, every day to remind yourself what amazing no matter what suffering we may have, what difficulties in life we have, we still have amazing freedom to work with our mind, so to appreciate that freedom and use it in the most meaningful way. So then recall Śākyamūni Buddha on the crown of one’s head.
Imagine the Guru Buddha very pleased with our meditation, and because of that, imagine the Buddha dissolving into light, and that blissful golden light comes down through the crown of our head, pervading our whole being and particularly blessing our mind to be able to gain a complete, stable realization, recognizing the great freedom of our rebirth, its great meaning and rarity, A realization that inspires us to practice the Dharma wholeheartedly for the sake of ourselves and all sentient beings.