This is the second practice of this part, and the last page of it.

The three factors are not stages you finish one after another. They work together, like the legs of a stool. Take one away and the stool falls.

Death without birth leaves you empty. You see the selves and fight them, but there is no energy and no light to take their place. Birth without death feeds the selves. The kept energy becomes a stronger pride, a sharper anger. And both without sacrifice turn the work inward until it becomes another private ambition.

Together they balance. The selves die, and the energy that fed them is freed. That energy is kept and builds something new. And what is built is given away, which keeps the giver humble, which helps the next self die.

Most people lean on one factor and neglect another. Some love the inner work and never help anyone. Some help everyone and never look at themselves. Some practice the energy and ignore the selves. A simple weekly look shows which leg is short.