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 The devotee seeking Liberation and the Omniscience of Buddhahood should first meditate upon these ten things which are causes of regret:
1. Having obtained the difficult- to- obtain, free, and endowed human body, it would be a cause of regret to fritter life away.
2. Having obtained this pure and difficult-to-obtained, free, and endowed human body, it would be a cause of regret to die and irreligious and wordly man.
3. This human life in the Kali- Yuga [ or Age of Darkness ] being so brief and uncertain, it would be a cause of regret to spend it in wordly aims and pursuits.
4. One’s own mind being of the nature of the Dharma Kaya, uncreated, it would be a cause of regret to let it be swallowed up in the morras of the world’s illusions.
5. The holy Guru being the guide on the Path, it would be a cause of regret to be separated from him before attaining Enlightenment.
6. Religious faith and vows being the vessel which conveyeth one to Emancipation, it would be a cause of regret were they to be shattered by the force of uncontrolled passions.
7. The perfect Wisdom having been found within oneself in virtue of the guru’s grace, it would be a cause of regret to dissipate it amidst the jungle of worldliness.
8. To sell like so much merchandise the Sublime Doctrine of the Sages would be a cause of regret.
9. Inasmuch as all beings are our kindly parents(1) it would be a cause of regret to have aversion for and thus disown or abandon any of them.
10. The prime of youth being the period of development of the body, speech, and mind, it would be a cause of regret to waste it in vulgar indifference.
These are The Ten Causes of Regret.
(1) In the Buddhist, as in the Hindu view, so interminably during inconceivable aeons have evolution and transition and rebirth been going on that all sentient beings have been our parents. Reference should here be made to a parallel passage and its commentary in Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa, p. aog.(1)
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