Rising and Falling Through Samsara

We have lived innumerable lifetimes. We have lived as humans. We have lived as animals. We have lived as beings in the hell realms. We have even lived as heavenly beings. None of these lives were permanent. Some have been short. Others have been incredibly long. At the end of each lifetime, the consciousness moved on to be reborn as a new being.

We die and get born again, die again, are born again. If we are good, we rise through the cycle of rebirth. “Good” means we do not have thoughts of self-benefit. “Good” also means we unconditionally help others without counting the costs to ourselves. We are filial to our parents and respectful to our teachers and elders. We are compassionate and do not kill any living beings. We are generous and do not steal. We are honest and do not lie. We are faithful to our husbands or wives. We do not use language that is harsh, divisive, or enticing. We do not gossip. To be good means to do all these. So due to our exemplary thoughts, speech and behavior, our lives become better and better.

Then, at some point, because we had been thinking selflessly and had created and accumulated goodness our lives become very comfortable. Having relative position and wealth, we begin to think that it is our right to just enjoy ourselves. We forget about being good. We stop helping others. We become selfish. We start to enjoy the benefits that we have accumulated over many lifetimes, happiness, intelligence, and prosperity.

We gradually use up our store of good fortune which we created. Just as we rose through the cycle of rebirth, we now begin to descend. Our greed leads us to the hungry ghost realm. Our ignorance leads us to the animal realm. Our anger leads us to the hell realms. We rise and then we fall. And then we rise again, only to fall once again.

We have done this over and over and over again.