The early Buddhist scripture the Dhammapada discusses the blessing of human life:
It is difficult to be born human;
Difficult is the life of mortals.
These lines mean that countless living things exist in this world, and the fact that among all of them we were born as human beings is rare to the point of being astonishing, and something for which we should be grateful. Even though every one of us will die sooner or later, we are each being caused to live here and now. The foundation for living as a Buddhist consists of recognizing the preciousness of this miraculous life, and praising and paying reverence to all other lives.
We were not born into this world through our own efforts. The only way to express this is to say that we are given life in this world by means of a great power or an eternal life, which we call the Buddha. Born into the Buddha’s life, we are being caused to live in the here and now, with our heads bowed to the great life.
Kokorono manako o hiraku [Opening the Mind’s Eye] (Kosei Publishing, 2013), pp. 70–71
Nichiko Niwano is president of Rissho Kosei-kai and an honorary president of Religions for Peace. He also serves as an advisor to Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan).
