Having a free and well-favored life along with faith, energy and intelligence,
Having attended a worthy master and received the essential instructions,
May I practice the sacred dharma properly
In all my lives without interruption.
Commentary
This next verse is more down to earth. What do you actually need to be able to practice?
In this age of libraries and internet archives, of global travel and global broadcasts, of good education and accessible healthcare, of food and clothing from every corner of the planet, it is easy to overlook that such possibilities were unavailable to almost anyone two hundred years ago, and limited to a very small number of people until a hundred years ago.
You need a reasonably healthy body. You also need a sound mind and some intelligence. These are not qualities that you choose. For the most part, these are qualities with which you are born, or not. You also need to be able to make some choices about what you do in your life, a possibility that is still closed to countless millions of people on this planet. You need to live in a time and a place where spiritual practice is possible. It is possible to practice in totalitarian regimes, in chaotic societies, in war-torn worlds, but it is not easy, not easy at all. You need to have an interest in practice, and the confidence and faith to actually do it. Not everyone does. You need to have access to teachings and access to a teacher or teachers. They, in turn, have to be willing to teach you. Not all of them are.
None of these conditions can be taken for granted.
Then you have to practice. It doesn’t matter how well your life is set up, if you don’t practice, nothing happens. That is why Rangjung Dorje frames his wish the way he does: May I not only have the right conditions, may I practice, too.