[Buddha-l] 8 Freedoms and 10 Favorable Circumstances

[Mike Austin]

In message <00eb01c56ea8$43484ce0$a1d4869f at m4k8m7>, Alex Wilding 
<alex at chagchen.org> writes
>
>Mike has already given you the list, although I am more familiar with an
>interpretation of the last one (where Mike says "others having love in their
>hearts") is that there are those who will support practice. Specifically,
>that might mean that there are sponsors or almsgivers through whose aid one
>might, for instance, go into a long retreat.

Yes. My listing was very brief. These ten are divided into two groups of 
five where the first relate to oneself and the five relate to others. In 
his discourse, Pabongka Rinpoche says:

"The fifth endowment relating to others - that people in general have
  love in their hearts - means that benefactors, etc., provide favourable
  conditions for Dharma practitioners, and that people in general are
  kind-hearted."

The context of this discourse was monastic. Therefore one may expect the 
emphasis to be on sponsors and almsgivers.


>Mike's "peaceful land" is a point that I have heard as "central country",
>and probably does call for interpretation.

I agree. The frontiers of a country can be restless.  If one is central, 
even in a country that wages war around the world,  then one experiences 
a peaceful land. The poor blighters in other countries would, of course, 
have a different view of 'the land' - your land.

On 'peaceful land', though, Pabongka Rinpoche is a bit more specific:

"Being born in a central land means - since only remnants of the Dharma
  remain - being reborn in a place that has at least four members of the
  Sangha"

There appears to be an overlap amongst these freedoms and endowments. So 
birth in a barbarian region he describes as:

"If you are born in a remote, that is, barbarian region, you will not
  hear a word of the Dharma."

In this sense,  I think we need to interpret 'remote' not geographically 
but as out of touch or communication - perhaps isolated, or isolationist 
even. Here, I think barbarian doesn't mean rough or uncultured, but just 
not cultured in a way conducive to dharma practice.

-- 
Metta
Mike Austin