Part 2a - The extensive explanation of the eighteen freedoms and favors

If you ask, “What are these freedoms and excellent favors?”
We were not born in Hell, nor yet among hungry ghosts.
We are not beasts, nor long lived gods, nor vicious barbarians,
We were not reared in wrong views, nor in a time without buddhas,
Nor have we been born as aphasics without speech,
We are completely free from all these eight non-freedoms.

We were born in the human realm, and in a central country.^[1]
Also we are sound in all our faculties.
Not having done extremes of wrong in our deeds and actions,^[2]
We are properly faithful to the objects of faith.
Thus the five holy favors regarding oneself are complete.

A Buddha has appeared, and he has taught the Dharma.
Moreover, at this time the teachings still remain.
So that they may continue, people still follow them;
And others are treating us with kindness and concern.
These five favors are those that exist in regard to others.

Those were the eighteen kinds of being free and well-favored.
On this auspicious occasion they are complete within us.
So strive from the heart, that liberation may be accomplished.

We had better take this to heart. Why? The Life of the Brahmin Gyalwa’i Drökyi Kyeche says:

It is hard to find the opposites of the eight non-freedoms.
It is hard to find the attainment of humanity.
It is hard to find the freedoms in purity and completeness.
It is hard to find the arising of a buddha.
It is hard to find proper faculties that are without defect.
It is hard to hear the teachings of a buddha.
It is hard to find the friendship of holy beings.
It is hard to meet with genuine spiritual friends.

If we are born as Hell beings, hungry ghosts, or animals; distracted by suffering, we have no freedom of body.

Aphasics, who cannot associate verbal symbols with their meanings, have no freedom of speech.

Long-lived gods without perception to see the practice of Dharma; those who have that perception, but are born in a dark age without the appearance of the teachings so that Buddhas are absent; those who have that appearance, but are coarse barbarians with no idea of entering; and those who want to enter, but fall into extremes of exaggeration or denigration, possessing wrong views; these four have no freedom of mind. None of these have an opportunity to practice Dharma. They have been deprived of it by their own bad karma of the eight non-freedoms. Regarding the way of these, the Treasury of Abhidharma ( Abhidharmakosha, chos mngon mdzod) says:

“By abandoning those eight the corresponding freedoms are always possessed.”

The Great Commentary on the Perfection of Knowledge in Eight Thousand Lines says:

Beings in Hell, the hungry ghosts, and the animals;
The long-lived gods and those who are barbarians,
Those in an age without buddhas and those who have wrong views,
These and aphasics are the eight states of non-freedom.

The Friendly Letter (bzhes pa’i spring yig, suhrl lekha), says:

Those who grasp wrong views and the animals,
The hungry ghosts and beings born in Hell,
Those without the Word of the Conqueror,
And those who are born as savage barbarians,
Aphasics, the feeble-minded, and the gods;
These possess the faults of the eight non-freedoms.
Those who have the freedoms from these eight
Should strive in eliminating further births.

As for being well-favored, The Moon Essence Sutra says:

Persons for whom the ten qualities are complete are well-favored. What are these qualities? The following have been listed:

1. We have left behind the lower realms of life.
2. We are not feeble-minded.
3. Our senses are not impaired.
4. We are born as vessels of the teachings.
5. Our health is good.
6. We are not impoverished.
7. We are not enslaved.
8. We have the power to use words.

That is many people's view of what they are. Though that has been explained, here they are as in the Sutra of the Twelve Excellent^[3] Freedoms (dal ba phun sum tshogs pa bcu gnyis bstan pa’i mdo) :

These are the five excellences pertaining to oneself:

1. We have attained the human condition.
2. We are born in a country where there are noble ones.
3. Our powers are sound.
4. We have not performed extremely evil deeds.
5. We have faith in the proper objects of faith.

These are the five excellences pertaining to others.

6. A buddha has come.
7. The Dharma has been taught.
8. The holy Dharma still remains.
9. Others also practice it.
10. Others are kind to those who practice the Dharma.

As for others being kind, the spiritual friend apprehends us with compassion, and leads us to the Dharma. As for there being twelve perfections, the two bases of distinction are also counted.^[4] A tantra commentary says:

A central human being with faculties that are sound,
Without extreme bad actions, but with faith in the objects of faith.
These are the five kinds of favor pertaining to oneself.
A buddha has come and taught, and the teaching still remains.
The teachings still are followed and beings are kind to others.
These are the five kinds of favor pertaining to other beings.^[5]

Here the freedoms are the essence and the favors are its particular aspects. This is like the blue utpala lotus and its stalk and so forth. The Middle Length Perfection of Knowledge (yum bar ma) says:

If even becoming human is difficult to attain,
Why even speak of the precious freedoms being complete?