This human birth is precious

I have just returned from a 5 day yin training intensive with Norman Blair, author of ‘Brightening Our Inner Skies’. This is a poem by Tsongkpapa, a 14th century Tibetan Buddhist master. Norman read out this translation one day during savasana. Absolutely beautiful. People often talk of tears on the yoga mat – For me, hearing this poem was one of those moments.

Abstract leaves

This human birth is precious
An opportunity to awaken
But this body is impermanent
Ready or not one day I shall die
So this life I must know
As the tiny splash of a raindrop
A thing of beauty that disappears
Even as it comes into being
The karma I create,
Shapes the course of my life.
But however I act
Life has inevitable difficulties;
No-one can control it all.
Only the Dharma
Can free me and others
From suffering forever.
Therefore I recall
My heart’s longing for freedom,
And resolve to make use
Of every day and night
To realise it.

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