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.
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.