Why Is It So Difficult to Obtain a Human Body?

Sentient beings today almost all have extremely deep afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, yet they themselves are unaware of it. But greed, hatred, and delusion create boundless unwholesome karma, and in the future they will almost certainly fall into the three evil destinies; the hope of being reborn as a human is extremely slim. It is because sentient beings have ignorance that they create karma of greed, hatred, and delusion; and it is precisely because of ignorance that they do not even know it is unwholesome karma. What is precious about being human is having self-knowledge. If one does not study the Buddha-dharma and does not understand cause and effect, one remains in ignorance; or even if one has studied the Buddha-dharma, one still does not understand cause and effect, not knowing that all of one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions have retribution, and so one acts recklessly, giving no thought whatsoever to the consequences. Whether what one has done is right or wrong—one's own judgment is unreliable; one must rely on the principles taught by the Buddha to make that judgment. For countless eons, sentient beings have created vast amounts of unwholesome karma, transmigrating through the six destinies without cease, and the chance of obtaining a human body is minuscule. Therefore they do not know how to be human, do not understand the principles of being human, and are also unable to introspect upon their own afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.

The Buddha used a simile for the chance of sentient beings obtaining a human body over countless eons: it is like a turtle in a vast, surging, rushing ocean, with a piece of driftwood floating on the sea that has a round hole in it, just large enough for the turtle's head to pass through. The probability of this turtle, facing wind and waves, poking its head into the hole in the wood is extremely small; the Buddha said the chance of obtaining a human body is just this small. Once, the Buddha took a handful of soil from the ground and then threw it away, and asked the assembly: Is there more soil under my fingernails, or more soil on the great earth? The disciples answered: There is more soil on the great earth. The Buddha said that the chance of sentient beings obtaining a human body is as scarce as the soil under my fingernail, while the chance of not obtaining a human body is as abundant as the soil of the great earth.

The Buddha said in the Āgama sūtras that sentient beings spend the vast majority of their time in the three evil destinies. When part of the karma of the three evil destinies has been extinguished and a little merit remains, they regain a human body and become human; but as humans they again fail to do well, create much unwholesome karma, and after death fall into the evil destinies again. In the three evil destinies, the time spent in hell is counted in eons, and the time spent as a hungry ghost is also counted in eons; as an animal, each species must be endured at least five hundred times before the unwholesome karma is exhausted and one can return to the human world. So we can see that the vast majority of people do not know how to be human, and human moral character is poor—precisely because they have spent too long in the three evil destinies and have had no opportunity to practice human affairs, they do not know how to be human. That we have obtained human bodies in this life and have also encountered the Buddha-dharma means we truly should cultivate diligently, sparing ourselves those long-eon sufferings. Why create unwholesome deeds just to gratify the afflictions of our own greed, hatred, and delusion? A person of wisdom should calm the mind and contemplate, compare and consider how to spend this life, and consider how to avoid suffering again in the future, so as to resolve the greatest problem of the suffering of birth and death.