[Buddha-l] 8 Freedoms and 10 Favorable Circumstances

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Fri, 2005-06-10 at 22:15 +0100, Mike Austin wrote:

> Eight Freedoms
>   from rebirth in a hell
>   from rebirth as a hungry ghost
>   from rebirth as an animal
>   from rebirth as a long-lived god
>   from rebirth as a human in a barbarian region
>   from rebirth as a human in a place where a buddha has not appeared
>   from rebirth as a human with impaired faculties
>   from rebirth as a human with wrong views

Damn! I was born in a barbarian country where no buddha has ever
appeared, I am legally blind without eyeglasses, and I have never
managed to have the right view on anything of importance. Should I
consider becoming a Mormon?

> Ten Endowments
>   birth in a peaceful land
>   having all one's faculties
>   the teachings are followed
>   others have love in their hearts

Damn again! I was born in a war-mongering nation that keeps cutting its
education budgets so that schools no longer have all their faculties,
where everybody preaches but nobody practices, and few would recognize
love even if it sneaked into their heart. Four strikes and you're out,
eh?

-- 
Richard Hayes
http://www.unm.edu/~rhayes