Part 2 - The teaching that if we do not try, we will not be liberated

Therefore, there is this exhortation truly to make an effort from our hearts:

So while we have this precious vessel praised by the Teacher,
Which offers an end to evil and attainment of what is pure,
If we will not receive the wealth of the two benefits,
That for ourselves and also that for other beings,
We only chain ourselves in the prison of samsara.

Those, who do not practice the holy Dharma that benefits self and others, when they have attained its support, these freedoms, will only be bound forever in the noose of cyclic existence. Those who use their leisure to turn back cyclic existence, will establish the liberation that accords with holy Dharma. Urging practice, the Letter to a Student says:

Whoever, attaining it,^[1] crosses the ocean of arising,
Also plants the good seed of supreme enlightenment.
With virtues better than those of a wish-fulfilling gem.
Whoever produces that human birth, though lacking fruition,
Is a person with the support of the path of the Sugata,
Having the requisites of becoming a leader of beings.

Having the power of mind attained by human beings,
Such a path is not attained by gods, naagas, or jealous gods,
Or those with sky-soarers’ minds, or kinnaras and toches.^[2]
Having attained humanity, so hard to gain,
Whoever really takes that to heart will practice hard.