(His Eminence Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, King of samadhi, p. 47)
"To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life." Cecil Rhodes
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"Take the example of Prince Charles, who was born as Queen Elizabeth's son. Why was he born as her son? It was only possible through his own good karma. There is no one who issued the decree, "He is allowed to be the Prince of England and you are not allowed to be- born in that position." No one makes this decision. It is the automatic result of people's individual karmic accumulation created from the past. He had somehow gathered the merit to become Prince of England while other people did not. In the same way, when we see children dying of starvation in Africa, it raises the question, "Why were they born in Africa? Why do they have to suffer this way?" It is because they were reborn as human beings at this particular time and place in Africa. Did anyone force them to be reborn there? Did someone say, "Now you must be reborn in a place in Africa where you will starve to death"? No, no one forces living beings to be reborn in this way. The fact that people are born into such circumstances is because of lacking merit. From that standpoint, it is definitely very important to accumulate merit. Having merit, one can be born the Prince of England; lacking merit, one may be born as a starving child in Africa. Think about this and see that there is a definite need to create merit."