From This Moment On - Make It Meaningful!

The Buddha kept telling us that "It is precious to be born as human". However, many Buddhists sometimes misunderstand the teaching of the Buddha. They only brood over the suffering of human beings, and do not appreciate that it is precious to be born as a human being! The Buddha used this illustration for that teaching. A blind turtle lives in the bottom of the ocean and every 100 years he comes up for air. If that turtle was to rise for air and by chance put his head through a bucket that was floating on the surface it would be extremely rare. Attaining a precious human rebirth is even rarer than that.

Precious human existence is so, so amazingly rare. It’s so hard to get it. It’s such a rare thing that unless we fully utilise this life then there won’t be the next life where we can really do what we want to do.

A precious human existence is very, very hard to get in a future life. In one way we don’t know about the future life or our past lives. But actually, if we want to know about our past lives and about the future, we can learn a lot from just knowing ourselves as we are now. The fact that we’ve got the human existence we’ve got, we’ve met the great teaching and great teacher in this life, we lives in a right and safe place, have right livelihood are certainly the results of the wonderful work we have done in our past life and past lives. We should appreciate that.

I like this quote : “Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it, I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.” H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama

I know people who are constantly overwhelmed with life, and they never cease to tell me. Are you one of those people? Do you complain about your job, your boss, your salary, your neighbors or your spouse? If you do, then you are doing nothing but exuding negative energy. Negativity doesn’t change things. It keeps you stuck. So change your thoughts and talk about what you appreciate about your life, not what you don’t like. Video games. Reality TV. Surfing the ‘net. Eat too much food. Drinking too much. And the list goes on. Take a serious look at your life. Where are you spending the majority of your time? And does it serve you well? Is it leading to a better life? Is it laying the foundation for a bright future? If not, then you need to reevaluate your routine activities and make changes.  It’s easy to get stuck hanging out with people who are not making you feel like a better person. But if you keep doing that, then you will stay stagnant or get pulled down with them. I like to call them “Energy Vampires.” They suck the life out of you and give you nothing positive in return. Instead, go find growth-oriented people to be around. There is a difference between a “need” and a “want.” I’m sure we all learned that in kindergarten. In fact, I know people who can’t pay their mortgage, but still have the fanciest gadgets on the planet. If you stop to think about it, there is very little that we actually need.

Instead of looking for a guarantee that tomorrow will be valuable, know that today is valuable—that you’re not wasting time because you don’t yet feel a sense of purpose. You’re using time well by starting (or continuing) the process of discovering it. You are the only thinker in your mind. This is the most wonderful discovery anyone can ever make. It is the key to freedom—the high road. Because this means that you are the choice-maker. You are the one who decides.

Every day, every minute, every second, and every life is precious, no matter what. Human life is unique, as you know, but all life, even the most basic forms, will fulfil goals.  The goal of human life is to be happy. Every person who walks this planet wishes to be happy, free from suffering and every person has potential to achieve that. Your ability to choose what you focus your attention on is what makes you a free individual. If you could not think for yourself and choose your focus, you would not be free. But you can, because no one else can get into your mind and think for you. Please think deeply about it—and you will see how truly amazing this is. This is what makes human life so precious, because we have the ability to be aware and choose our focus—and thus grow and evolve spiritually.

Today, right now, at this very moment, there are people enduring a tremendous amount of strife. Not just afar in places like Syria or North Korea, but in our very own backyards. When you stop to think about it for a moment, there is an enormous amount of pain and suffering happening everywhere. The sheer enormity of it all can certainly feel overwhelming. Many people go their whole human life never realizing that happiness lies right in their own mind. They pursue money and fame and nice cars and when they grow old they realize they still aren’t happy. How sad.  The never ending quest to be financially secure will crush your chances of making something useful of your life. Imagine the horror of growing old and looking back and realizing you spent the better part of your life worrying about something that really was pointless. I think it would be quite difficult to bare. Of course, you have to go to work, you have to pay the bills, you have to feed yourself. It is not the work I am talking about here. What I am referring to is the WORRY. The constant consuming mental habit of worrying about the future. It is pointless.

What really makes it precious is that we have the opportunity for practice, to actually put it into practice, to make it work. That’s a possibility because we have all the faculties we need for that. Sometimes someone can have an ear but it can’t hear, sometimes people have eyes but they can’t see. Sometimes you can have a brain but there is something wrong with it and it can’t really think and so on. For us it’s not like that. We have our faculties and we can take the teachings on board and we have this opportunity of actually putting them very effectively into practice. That’s the most precious aspect of the precious human existence.

As a human, you can pause and reflect on what your situation is and then use your intelligence to choose a path of action. Born as a human being and living in a peaceful environment – relatively peaceful environment – not in a war zone. And this is something precious for practicing and realizing the teaching (Truth/Dharma). So being free of being in a war zone – this is the line of reasoning, this is the logic: being free of being in a war zone and terrified out of our wits in a bomb shelter or in some sort of refugee camp, where everybody is stealing from each other and it is filthy – being free of that is precious for being able to practice, study, and learn. Why is it precious? Because I am free of this difficulty.

So then we have to look at what we’re doing now in this life. What do we need to do in order to get the next life as a precious human existence? That’s very clearly known. What we need is to live in a very pure and ethical way, right conduct. What we need to do is develop compassion, practice also develop the generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, concentration and wisdom and so on. Those are all of the causes that bring about rebirth as a human being.

So it is our path as Buddhists to embrace every moment (especially those of great suffering) as an invitation to recognize the preciousness of each human life, knowing that no matter how much pain a being may cause or experience, they are—due to their precious human birth—ultimately fully capable of awakening and ending their own suffering.

“My religion is to live and die without regret.” – Milarepa. I love this quote! Regret scares me. And the only way to live and die without regret is to find a way to make your life truly meaningful. When your every action, thought and word has meaning you will find that your death (and indeed your life) will be a very peaceful process. You are probably like me. You want to live and die without regret. So how do we do that? How do we make every minute of our existence count?

The most important thing you can ever do is make your life about other people. Our world is so self-centered. We are brought up to believe that we are more important than everyone else and that we need to take care of our own needs and wants before the needs and wants of others. One of my favorite quote from Master Shantideva is “All the suffering in the world comes from wanting happiness for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from wanting happiness for others.” A life spent helping others is a life well spent. And when your time comes to an end there will be no regrets because you have used your time well. You have made a contribution.

The Buddha once remarked that a single moment of anger can destroy 100 years of good deeds. I can see how this can be so. Lots of bad things happen because of anger – violence, rape, wars, etc. And the bad thing about anger is that you always end up regretting it. Anger is the worst thing you can do. Don’t become one of those people who finds the worst in every situation. Look for the best.

Be aware of yourself and your actions. Remain mindful of what you do at all times, and make sure you are living life according to your principles, your life’s purpose, and what you are passionate about. Review your actions each day, taking stock of those that strayed from your path.

So I’ve contemplated how rare and precious this life is and I do feel some sense of loss when I waste it. I am very happy to be able to hold precepts, they help me to feel courage and faith in the practice. I also realize how fortunate I am to have such kind teachers, good environtment, right livelihood and life in a safe country. Life is so short and fleeting. You could die in your sleep tonight. Make sure you live your life in a way that will allow you to pass away with no regrets. Make compassion, love, patience and energy the main pillars of your existence. I wish to practice well and become a kinder, wiser human being, I wish you the same thing! From this moment on - Make it meaningful!