Three types of human existence

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Generally speaking, there are three types of human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་གསུམ་, Wyl. mi lus gsum):

  1. merely human (Tib. མི་ལུས་ཙམ་པོ་པ་, Wyl. mi lus tsam po pa), as described in the The Treasury of Precious Qualities, where “human beings are unaware of the defects of samsara, are without regret for their condition and actually crave the transient and futile pleasures of the higher realms. Totally unaware that they should engage in virtue and refrain from evil, they pass their lives sunk in negativity[1];
  2. special human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་, Wyl. mi lus khyad par can), i.e., in which actions and attitudes oscillate between virtue and negativity; and
  3. precious human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wyl. mi lus rin po che).[2]

References

  1. Kangyur Rinpoche’s commentary on the Treasury of Precious Qualities
  2. Yönten Gyamtso: Vol. 1 of the Great Commentary on the Treasury of Precious Qualities

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