Three types of human existence

Generally speaking, there are three types of human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་གསུམ་, Wyl. mi lus gsum):

1. merely human (Tib. མི་ལུས་ཙམ་པོ་པ་, Wyl. mi lus tsam po pa), as described in the The Treasury of Precious Qualities, where “human beings are unaware of the defects of samsara, are without regret for their condition and actually crave the transient and futile pleasures of the higher realms. Totally unaware that they should engage in virtue and refrain from evil, they pass their lives sunk in negativity”;
2. special human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་, Wyl. mi lus khyad par can), i.e., in which actions and attitudes oscillate between virtue and negativity; and
3. precious human existence (Tib. མི་ལུས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wyl. mi lus rin po che).

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• Eight freedoms
• Five circumstantial advantages
• Five personal advantages
• Eight unfree states due to an unfortunate frame of mind
• Eight unfree states due to temporary conditions