The Ten Assets
Yet, there are more conditions needed to practice the Dharma. These are the ten kinds of richness or the ten assets. Here, we distinguish two groups of five assets. One depends on oneself, the second depends on others.
1 - The first condition is that one is a fully equipped human being, intact and functioning well as either a man or a woman.
2 - One has to be able to meet a Dharma teacher and ask him or her for teachings.
3 - Having received the teachings, one has to have the capability to practice the Dharma.
4 - One must not be physically or mentally disabled to an extent that prevents Dharma practice.
5 - One must not have committed one of the five extremely negative actions. As a result of these - wounding a buddha, killing an arhat, killing one's father or mother or splitting the sangha - it would be very difficult to attain any level of realization in this life. These actions are simply too negative.
Besides these five conditions related to oneself, there are five more conditions related to others:
1 - A historical Buddha must have manifested in this world.
2 - This Buddha must have taught.
3 - The teachings must still be accessible today.
4 - There must still be teachers to pass on those teachings.
5 - The teachers must be able to teach the Dharma appropriately - that is to say with compassion.
Being born as a human provided with these ten assets is the best presupposition to practice the Dharma.

The Precious Human Rebirth
Since this kind of rebirth is the most favorable for practicing the Dharma, it is called the "precious human rebirth." The Tibetan term "rinpoche" means "precious" or "jewel." It is used here to describe the human body, since it is in fact very precious and very difficult to get. Once it is obtained, possessing so many qualities, it is of inestimable value.
This is why this kind of rebirth is called the "precious human rebirth" - having a human body which we can use in the right way to attain enlightenment. The reason for it being so difficult to obtain is that the main precondition is correct behavior. To be born as a human being, one has to have avoided the ten negative actions in past lives. Looking around however, we will see that there are actually not so many people who have abandoned negative actions. Compared to an ordinary human body, a "precious" human body is yet more difficult to obtain. Having the opportunity to practice the Dharma in this life is not the result of just good conduct, but comes from strong and consciously made wishes to be reborn in that way, which makes one able to develop and practice.
Examining how many humans there are compared to animals is easy. It is possible, for example, and not too difficult, to count the population of a country. If, on the contrary, one wants to count the vast amount of animals, it is impossible. They are innumerable. This gives us an idea of how few human beings there are compared to the number of animals.
Moreover, looking at how few people meet the eighteen conditions - the eight freedoms and ten assets to practice the Dharma, we see how rare this opportunity is. Taking a big city with five million inhabitants as an example, if only one thousand or ten thousand of them would practice the Dharma, it would be a lot. Yet this is probably nowhere near the case. This alone shows us how rare the precious human body is. Looking at the enormous world population and considering the number of people who stopped committing the ten negative actions, not only among Buddhists but among practitoners of all religions and those who do not follow any religion, they are few compared to the total number of people living in the world. If, then, we look at how many people know how to make wishes for the benefit of all beings, there are also not many.
Considering these facts, we become aware of how fortunate and lucky we are; being humans we are in a situation where we can practice the Dharma. So we can understand how extremely rare this chance is. This should encourage us to lead our lives in a sensible way and decide not to waste this opportunity, since it is, as mentioned before, extraordinarily difficult to obtain.
We should be aware how truly powerful our present existence is and try to use it to attain enlightenment in this life. If we do a good job, though not necessarily the best, we can become bodhisattvas in this life. If we do not so well we can become Pratyekabuddhas. (note 1) If we are not able to do that, we might still practice the path of accumulation and junction. (note 2) At least we should try not to waste this life, but instead use it in the best possible way. With this in mind, we can surely avoid stepping back in our development and be able to hold our level or develop even further. That shows how powerful our situation is. We should really appreciate that.
Shantideva explained this using the following example of a master and a servant. If the master pays fair wages and treats the servant well, the servant will be happy and do a good job. This in turn helps the master as well. On the contrary, if the master treats his servant poorly, the servant will naturally work less, and the master will not make a profit.
Similarly, we should treat ourselves well so later we will find ourselves in good physical condition and be able to develop our minds positively.
We should not waste any time. Instead, we should practice the Dharma now and do not postpone it, since we can at any time die and lose this opportunity. From the moment of birth we steadily approach death. There is no certainty about when we will die. Death can be caused by all kinds of conditions and we do not know when it will happen. Inevitably, death comes closer every single moment. Due to this fact, this very moment is so important and we should make the best use of our time here and now.

The Three Different Kinds of Confidence
To be able to practice, we need the eighteen conditions defining the precious human body and have to develop the right kind of confidence. This sort of confidence - sometimes called faith or devotion, "dapa" in Tibetan - is again classified into three different kinds of confidence:
1 - the confidence of conviction,
2 - the confidence of wish or aspiration, and
3 - the confidence of openness or of true faith.
1 - The basis of any kind of confidence is conviction. The first kind of confidence is the most important one, since it is developed through clear argumentation. One should not follow anything with blind faith, but there should be a convincing reason. As a proof to the contrary, one can look at Islam. The Muslims claim that Allah - living in a kind of paradise in a golden house with seven floors - proclaimed that the teachings have to be spread and therefore his followers have to fight a holy war. Everybody taking part in this holy war and killing other people will surely be reborn in paradise. Blindly believing this, without any convincing reason, millions of people can be misled.
The Buddha always gave the advice not to follow a teacher for his charisma but to check his teachings first. By scrutinizing the teachings, one will find out whether they are correct and, if this is the case, one can follow them. If for example, one buys gold, one would also check whether it is really gold. The Dharma has the quality that the more one analyzes it, the more one will be sure that it is right. Yet, the Buddha also stressed the importance of everybody finding this out for themselves.
2 - As one is convinced by the teachings, the second kind of confidence follows automatically: one wishes to attain enlightenment oneself. One sees that it is the right thing and wants to get there.
3 - The third kind of confidence requires the mastery of the pure view and the understanding of the qualities of enlightenment. If all these conditions come together, the eighteen conditions for the right kind of rebirth, the mental conditions as well as the three kinds of confidence, this is a perfect situation for truly successful Dharma practice. Hence, one can develop the right motivation, that is to say, to use the Dharma for the benefit of other beings, and encounter no obstacles on the way.

note 1
Prathyekabuddhas, "Self Victorious," claim not to have a teacher and make wishes to become enlightened without a teacher.
note 2
The fife paths: path of accumulation, path of junction, path of seeing, path of cultivation, path of no more learning - a description for the progressive spiritual development until enlightenment.
 
Reproduced here with kind permission.
Talk originally appeared in : Buddhism Today , Vol.3, 1997. Copyright ©1997 Kamtsang Choling USA

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