In our modern times, if people are asked what the essence of life is, we often hear, "To go to school, to get a job, to buy a house, to get married, to have children, and to have a long, healthy, and prosperous life."

Even though these aspirations are usually motivated by the desire for constant happiness, we instead often experience transitory happiness and unsatisfactoriness.

Knowing that we can't take any family, friends, or possessions with us when we die, and given the rare opportunity that we have, is this all that we would like to achieve while we still have our precious human life?

Knowing that we've experienced problems and suffering before, can we be certain that we won't experience something similar, or something even worse after we die?

If we really contemplate all of this, we begin to look for something that we can put into practice that will prevent us from experiencing future suffering. And that is exactly what the Dharma is for.

-- Chamtrul Rinpoche