| Philosophy and Religion / The twenty-eight categories of yogic precepts. |
Gampopa (Dvagpo-Lharje)
XXIV. The Ten More Precious Things
(1) One free and well-endowed human life is more precious than myriads of non-human lives in any of the six states of existence.1
(2) One Sage is more precious that multitudes of irreligious and worldly-minded persons.
(3) One esoteric truth is more precious then innumerable exoteric doctrines.
(4) One momentary glimpse of Divine Wisdom, born of meditation, is more precious than any amount of knowledge derived from merely listening to and thinking about religious teachings.
(5) The smallest amount of merit dedicated to the good of others is more precious than any amount of merit devoted to one’s own good.
(6) To experience but momentarily the samādhi wherein all thought-processes are quiescent is more precious than to experience uninterruptedly the samādhi wherein thought-processes are still present.2
(7) To enjoy a single moment of Nirvāṇic bliss is more precious than to enjoy any moment of sensual bliss.
(8) The smallest good deed done unselfishly is more precious than innumerable good deeds done selfishly.
(9) The renunciation of every worldly thing [home, family, friends, property, fame, duration of life, and even health] is more precious than the giving of inconceivably vast worldly wealth in charity.
(10) One lifetime spent in the quest for Enlightenment is more precious than all lifetimes during an aeon spent in worldly pursuits.
These are The Ten More Precious Things.
Footnotes
1. The six states or regions, of saṃsāric existence are (1) the deva -worlds, (2) the asura -(or titan) world, (3) the human-world, (4) the brute-world, (5) the preta -(or unhappy ghost) world, and (6) the hell-worlds.
2. There are four states of dhyāna, or samādhi (profound meditation). The highest of these states is one wherein the yogin experiences ecstatic bliss which is attained by realization of the unmodified condition of primordial mind. This stage is designated as the True State, being vacuous of all the saṃsāric thought-forming processes of the mind in its modified or finite aspect.
In the lowest, or first, stage of samādhi, wherein complete cessation of these thought-forming processes has not been reached, the yogin experiences an incomparably inferior sort of ecstasy, which novices are warned not to mistake for the higher state.
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