Well then, as it is said:
At this time, (1) hell, (2) hungry ghosts, (3) animals,
(4) long-lived gods, (5) barbarous people, (6) people with wrong views,
(7) a world in which no Buddha has appeared, and (8) stupid people
I have gained freedom by being liberated from these eight kinds of bondage.
The Outer preliminaries are enumerated by the four thoughts that turn the mind towards dharma. Without a deep and penetrating understanding of these four thoughts, progress cannot be made. They are the foundation upon which refuge is laid; and refuge is the very door to enter into the dharma.
By penetrating understanding I do not mean a sophisticated intellectual analysis. Penetrating here means allowing the four thoughts to penetrate into the fabric of my life. Reflecting upon my own life, I think this is a mistake I make repeatedly; sometimes I feel like a dharma practitioner in name only considering how little I truly reflect upon these four thoughts. Were I to allow these thoughts to penetrate me I would not have a practice as inconsistent as mine happens to be at this time. Again; the reason I write this is as an aid to my budding reflections. If these reflections aid you as well noble reader, this is a good thing; help others reflect the same way so that we may increase our collective reflection.
The first of the four thoughts that turn the mind towards Dharma is a Reflection on the Freedoms and Advantages. The Freedoms are said to be eight in number. Freedom can be understood as "Freedom from" or "Freedom to". One can understand this as the Freedom to practice dharma; however, the list of eight don't sound like states of freedom. Rather, Freedom here seems aptly understood as "Freedom From"; i.e., the freedom from those conditions in which one would be unable to practice dharma.
Sentient beings are said to cycle through rounds of birth in different realms based upon the dominance of five states of mental delusion, the five posions: ignorance, anger, desire, pride and jealousy. Each of these is projected outward into a realm we find ourselves born into:
Five Poisons Realm
Ignorance Animal
Anger Hell
Desire Hungary Ghost
Pride Gods
Jelousy Demigods
The realm of human beings is said to be a mixture of all these. Looking at the eight Freedoms, it appears that the gods and demigods are closely related; both are long lived with the difference between the two being a difference of degree. The demigods, having less than the gods are intensely jealous and wage constant war to overthrow them; the picture in my mind is Clash of the Titans. However, the gods and demigods appear together under the term "long-lived gods". So four of the states of rebirth freedom from which it is necessary to possess are being born as an animal, in a hell realm, hungry ghost, or as a long lived god. This is because these states are so infused with the correspoinding posionous emotion that we simply do no think of dharma, or have exposure to it. Even the gods for the most part are dominated by the good life of pleasure wealth and health.
Of the other four, one is being born in an eon in which a Buddha has not come. It is said that Buddha's come in alternating eons. We could be born a multitude of times in such an era without the possible of finding the dharma simply because a Buddha had not come into being in such an eon. The other three are births as a human being but without the proper intellectual or sensory faculties to apprehend the dharma, birth in a borderland where dharma is simply not taught (imagine a warzone); and the last is having wrong views.
May I strive daily to reduce the five poisons in my mindstream and cherish the teachings of great masters who come for the benefit of myself and all other sentient beings. May I aspire to there example until I too may lead all parent sentient beings to a state of liberation from all suffering.
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