"Strive on, monks, without delay,

• Rare is the arising of a Buddha in the world,
• Rare is birth as a human being,
• Rare is the opportune moment,
• Rare is the ‘going-forth’,
• Rare is the hearing of true Dhamma,
• Rare is the association with the good."

These six rare conditions are stated here in an ascending order of importance.

Extremely rare is the arising of a Buddha in the world. Rare as it is, it is much more rare for one to be born as a human being during a Buddha-age. As a human being, it is still rarer to come by the ‘opportune-moment’ with the blessings of the correct environment and freedom from physical and mental disabilities. With all those positive conditions on one’s side, it is rarely that one is able to ‘go-forth’ from home to homelessness in the true spirit of renunciation. Even if one ‘goes-forth’, it is not always that one gets the opportunity of hearing the true Dhamma that holds the prospect of deliverance from suffering. Granted that rare opportunity, one will still be at a loss without proper guidance, unless one runs into that right type of friendship - the association with the good. This is the rarest rare gift a seeker of truth can get.

Like the concentric colour-rings on a target, the first five rare conditions highlight the value of salutary friendship as the immediate condition for one’s deliverance. The Buddha’s personal attendant, Venerable Ananda, on whom fell the duties of a receptionist, once tried to give expression to his impressions of the value of salutary friendship.

"About the half, Lord, of this Holy Life consists in salutary friendship".

He hardly realized that he is modestly underestimating its value until the Buddha corrected him with the following memorable words:

"Not so Ananda, surely not so Ananda. Indeed the whole of this Holy Life consists in salutary friendship".

So one would not have scored a bull's eye on the target until one has secured that salutary friendship which is so essential for making a success of the Holy Life.