(1) It is indispensable to have an intellect endowed with
the power of comprehending and applying the Doctrine to
one's own needs.
(2) At the very beginning [of one's religious career] it is
indispensably necessary to have the most profound aversion
for the interminable sequence of repeated deaths and births.
(3) A guru capable of guiding you on the Path of Emancipation
is also indispensable.
(4) Diligence combined with fortitude and invulnerability
to temptation are indispensable.
(5) Unceasing perseverance in neutralizing the results of
evil deeds, by the performance of good deeds, and the fulfilling
of the threefold vows, to maintain chastity of body,
purity of mind, and control of speech, are indispensable.
(6) A philosophy comprehensive enough to embrace the
whole of knowledge is indispensable.
(7) A system of meditation which will produce the power
of concentrating the mind upon anything whatsoever is indispensable.
(8) An art of living which will enable one to utilize each
activity [of body, speech, and mind] as an aid on the Path is
indispensable.
(9) A method of practicing the select teachings which will
make them more than mere words is indispensable.
(10) Special instructions [by a wise guru] which will enable
one to avoids misleading paths, temptations, pitfalls, and
dangers are indispensable.
(11) Indomitable faith combined with supreme serenity of
mind are indispensable at the moment of death.
(12) As a result of having practically applied the select
teachings, the attainment of spiritual powers capable of transmuting
the body, the speech, and the mind into their divine
essences is indispensable. [1]
[1] As a direct result of practically applying the Doctrine, the
devotee should attain that spiritual yogic power whereby the gross
physical body is transmuted into the radiant body of glory, elsewhere
in our texts called the "rainbow body" and the erring human speech
into the infallible divine speech, and the unenlightened human mind
into the supramundane mind, of a Buddha.
These are The Twelve Indispensable Things.
