The Mirror of Dharma. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

should abandon attachment to them. In this way, we can eliminate laziness, the main obstacle to pure Dharma practice.

MEDITATION ON THE DANGER OF LOWER REBIRTH

      THE PURPOSE OF THIS MEDITATION

      The purpose of this meditation is to encourage us to prepare protection from the dangers of lower rebirth. If we do not do this now, while we have a human life with its freedoms and endowments and we have the opportunity to do so, it will be too late once we have taken any of the three lower rebirths; and it will be extremely difficult to obtain such a precious human life again. A precious human life means a human rebirth in which we have the opportunity to attain permanent liberation from all suffering, known as ‘nirvana’. It is said to be easier for human beings to attain enlightenment than it is for beings such as animals to attain a precious human rebirth. Understanding this will encourage us to abandon non-virtue, or negative actions, to practise virtue, or positive actions, and to seek refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the supreme and pure spiritual practitioners); this is our actual protection.

      Performing non-virtuous actions is the main cause of taking lower rebirth, whereas practising virtue and seeking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the main causes of taking a precious human rebirth. Heavy non-virtuous actions are the main cause of rebirth as a hell being, middling non-virtuous actions are the main cause of rebirth as a hungry ghost, and lesser non-virtuous actions are the main cause of rebirth as an animal. There are many examples given in Buddhist scriptures of how non-virtuous actions lead to rebirth in the three lower realms.

      There was once a hunter whose wife came from a family of animal farmers. After he died he took rebirth as a cow belonging to his wife’s family. A butcher then bought this cow, slaughtered it and sold the meat. The hunter was reborn seven times as a cow belonging to the same family, and in this way became food for other people.

      In Tibet there is a lake called Yamdroktso, where many people from the nearby town used to spend their whole lives fishing. At one time a great Yogi with clairvoyance visited the town and said, ‘I see the people of this town and the fish in this lake are continually switching their positions.’ What he meant was that the people of the town who enjoyed fishing were reborn as the fish, the food of other people, and the fish in the lake were reborn as the people who enjoyed fishing. In this way, changing their physical aspect, they were continually killing and eating each other. This cycle of misery continued from generation to generation.

      THE OBJECT OF THIS MEDITATION

      The object of this meditation is our feeling of fear of taking rebirth in the lower realms as an animal, a hungry ghost or a hell being. We should learn to develop this feeling of fear through contemplating the above explanation of the purpose of this meditation. When, through this contemplation, a feeling of fear of taking such a rebirth develops in our heart, we have found the object of this meditation.

      In general fear is meaningless, but the fear generated here has great meaning. It arises from our wisdom and directly leads us to prepare the actual protection from taking lower rebirth, which is sincerely seeking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or in Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka. As the result of this, our next rebirth will be a precious human rebirth, which will give us the opportunity to continually make progress in our practice of Dharma, both Sutra and Tantra. Or our next rebirth will be in Keajra Pure Land through being led by Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka. If we do not generate this fear now we will never prepare these protections.

      THE ACTUAL MEDITATION

      We contemplate as follows: