Five Perfections of Dharma: the perfect… place; teacher; assembly; teaching; time
Three Defects of The Pot: the pot… upside-down; cracked; tainted
Six Stains: pride, lack of faith, lack of effort, outward distractions, inward tension, discouragement
Five Wrong Ways of Remembering:
- remembering the words, forgetting their meaning
- remembering their meaning, forgetting the words
- remembering both, without understanding
- remembering out of order
- remembering incorrectly
Four Metaphors: Ill, the Dharma my remedy, the teacher a skillful doctor, and diligent practice the way to recovery
Six Transcendent Perfections: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, wisdom
Eight States Without Freedom to Attain Liberation: born in hellish state, born in a ghoulish state, born as an animal, a long-lived God, born as a barbarian, deaf and mute, born when there has been no Buddha, having wrong views
Five Individual Advantages: born a human, in a central place, with one’s faculties, without conflicting lifestyle, with faith in Dharma
Five Circumstantial Advantages: a Buddha has appeared, has preached the Dharma, his teachings still exist and can be followed, there are those who are kind-hearted
Eight Incidental Circumstances (that leave no freedom to practice): misled by corrupting influences, possessed by five poisons (anger/hate, ignorance/delusion, desire/grasping, jealousy, pride/arrogance), overtaken by karmic forces, laziness, under the control of another, practicing out of insecurity or fear, pretending to practice, senseless stupidity
Eight Incompatible Propensities (that leave no freedom to practice): not fully committed to renunciation, without faith in Dharma or teacher, too attached to wealth and/or family, engaged in degenerate behavior, not avoiding non-virtuous acts, not interested in the Dharma, breaking Sutrayana vows, breaking Tantrayana samaya commitments
“If at this time I am unable to attain the essence, in the future it will be even more difficult to have the fortune to obtain a human life, so I must practice well in this life time.”
“Thus having found the freedoms of a human life, if now I fail to train myself in virtue, what greater folly could there ever be? How more could I betray myself?” -Bodhicharyavatara
From “Words Of My Perfect Teacher” Chapter 1, The Difficulty Of Finding The Freedoms and Advantages.