
Take the landing of aircraft for instance, the airplane flies at high altitude at a certain speed, and when it lands, there is the inertia force of dashing forward, on and on, and will then gradually slow down. It is impossible for an airplane to come to a full stop right after landing, otherwise, that might cause problems. Thus, there are several steel wire ropes laid across the flight deck to rapidly decelerate the aircraft.
If our mind in a way were the fighter aircraft, what kind of pulling force does it require to halt us right on this Dharma ship?
While you are fully occupied with lots of mundane tasks just like the aircraft soaring high up in the air, how fast could you land on the aircraft carrier and listen to the teaching? The carrier can carry us to the shore of the unsurpassable enlightenment. How soon you could land, also takes practice.
Hence, those steel wire ropes are very crucial. The design and making of these steel wire ropes are very sophisticatedly precise. To stop the fighter aircraft running at high speed on the runway, you can imagine how important these ropes are! That is why later on people named it as the fighter pilot’s “lifeline” because if it can’t halt the fighter aircraft, the airplane will land short and race all the way into the ocean. Thus, these steel wires are very important.

Thus, what exactly is this steel wire rope, the rope or the lifeline that can halt us quickly? Is it the blessing power from the teacher? Is it my faith? Is it my aspiration for virtue? Or is it something else?
Are you grabbing onto that rope? Did you see the rope? The rope is crucial because it would quickly halt you in a very short timeframe and make you stay focused on the teaching!
https://bwmonastery.org.sg/global-lamrim-ii/2019/1/31/lecture-no-0019