The teachings and practices. The second principal
cause is the teachings and practices. You have a lot of
support when you see what you do rather than turn it
against yourself or try to run away from it. You have a
lot of encouragement from the teachings and prac-
tices to open your heart further, to feel what’s going
on and not shut down, extending your openness to
other sentient beings. When the mirror has just told
you that you’re not the fairest of them all, and you’re
feeling embarrassed and awkward, it begins to occur
to you that there are many other people at this very
moment feeling the same way. You can breathe it in
for all of you. When you’re feeling happy, it begins to
occur to you to think of others and wish for all beings
to be happy.
Precious human birth. So the first principal cause is
the teacher, who serves as an example and represents
life itself, and who also serves as a pointed reminder
to let go of holding on to yourself. The second is the
teachings and the practices that actually give you
tools for opening your heart. And the third cause is
this precious human birth. All of us have this pre-
cious human birth. We’re fortunate enough not to be
starving; we’re fortunate enough to have food and
shelter; we’re fortunate enough to hear the teachings
and be given methods to wake up; we’re fortunate
enough to have good intelligence and the luxury to
explore and question why we and others suffer.
198 High-Stakes Practice