(9.158cd)Even in fortunate rebirths, we shall have little ability to practise virtue,
And our lives of freedom and endowment will quickly pass.

(9.159) We are constantly striving to avoid sickness and death,
Fend off hunger, find some rest, or just get to sleep.
We receive harm from inner and outer obstacles,
And waste our lives in meaningless company.

(9.160) Thus, our life passes swiftly without any meaning,
And we find it very hard to realize emptiness.
In such a state, where is there a method to reverse
The deluded wanderings of the mind, with which we are so familiar?

This is how our existence could be for a long time in the future if we do not follow the path of wisdom.  It is a very sad, pathetic actually, meaningless existence.  By not training in this wisdom, rather than experiencing freedom, we bind ourselves to a world of suffering, we bind ourselves to a life that is at best just hard work.  We left behind worldly life because we saw what it was like, didn’t we?   But we have not left behind worldly life completely, have we?   If we are not looking towards the door of emptiness, let alone moving towards that door, then it’s a sign that we believe there’s something worth staying in for.   But what is there worth staying for?  What?  If we check it is a bunch of little things that when we look at the price of keeping these little things, we realize it is ridiculous.  Yet, we still choose it!  Our strategy is to try to ‘get away with as much samsara as we can’.  But actually, we should do the opposite, have as little as we can.  This shows how confused we are.

But the question is when are we going to stop?  What did Buddha say to Angulimala in the play?  When are we going to stop?  When we die, probably. But even then, it starts all over again, doesn’t it?

Atisha says, “friends, there is no happiness in this swamp of samsara, so move to the firm ground … of liberation.”   We must take our self, this self out of samsara, and place it firmly in nirvana.  We need to do this while we still have the opportunity, as Shantideva explains.