Seven%20Points%20of%20Mind%20Training%20-%20GPF%20book[1].pdf

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Chapter 5

T HE S EVEN P OINTS OF M IND T RAINING

N OW I WILL TEACH ON THE Lojong Ton Dunma , which has been

translated into English as the “Seven Points of Mind Training.”

“Mind training” sounds a little strange. It is a translation of the

Tibetan word Lojong . Lo means thought or perception and jong means

purifying. It is not brainwashing, or any of those kinds of mind

training. It is trying to see clearly by putting ourselves in other people’s

shoes. In this way we come to understand why others behave in certain

ways. We come to understand that, just like us, nobody else wants to

suffer. We come to understand that it is not only we who suffer, it is

not only we who would like to be happy – everybody wants to be

happy. This is a simple thing, a very simple thing that we can find

out through practice. The Seven Points of Mind Training is a text

with seven chapters; each of these chapters is on a particular subject

but they are all related to each other. It is focused on the practices of

bodhichitta, compassion, loving-kindness, impartiality and joy.

The lineage of this teaching was taken to Tibet by the great Indian

master Atisha Dipankara who received it from his master Jowo

Serlingpa. Many historians think Serlingpa was responsible for, or

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involved in, the building of the great stupa at Borobudur in Indonesia.

This teaching is Serlingpa’s. He gave it to Atisha Dipankara, who

then took it to Tibet where it was passed down through the Kadampa

lineage. Within the Kadampa tradition, Atisha’s disciple Geshe

Dromtonpa held this lineage and passed it on to three of his great

disciples, especially Geshe Potowa. In our lineage the first Jamgon

Kongtrul Lodro Thaye made commentaries on this text, but it had

been one of our main practices even earlier than that.

We can look at the “Seven Points” of this text’s title as its seven

chapters, and they all describe the practice of bodhichitta. They

describe how our mind – which at the moment is stained and defiled

by ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy and so on – can become

pure. How our mind is essentially stainless and through practicing

Lojong its temporary stains or obscurations are purified and its

essential stainlessness is revealed. In order to purify something, there

has to be an essence that remains after the process of purification.

When we purify our minds the pure essence that remains is “ultimate

bodhichitta.” It is revealed, through the purification methods and

practices that in this case we call “relative bodhichitta.” Relative

bodhichitta is our method of purification and that which becomes

pure and stainless through this practice is ultimate bodhichitta.

Ultimate bodhichitta is the goal of our relative bodhichitta practice

as well as its foundation, its ground.

The process is similar to cleaning dirty clothes. The clothes may

have stains – ink, ketchup, dirt – but they are on or in clothes that

can be cleaned. The clothes are not the stains. If we use soap, water

or other substances we can clean them, revealing the clothes’

cleanliness. If the clothes were made of dirt, you could not clean

them. If you cleaned ink itself, for example, when you finished there

would be nothing left, nothing would be revealed. If the ink had a

diamond in it though, when you cleaned away the ink it would reveal

the diamond.

At the moment we have so much dirt, grease and ink surrounding

us we don’t even look like ourselves, but with a strong hose, soap and

a brush we can reveal ourselves. This is what Lojong does. It doesn’t

mean altering our thinking. Altering our thinking is like

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147

brainwashing. It is not that. Instead we are purifying our perception

so that our true essence can be revealed. In this way it is not really

“mind training.” “Mind training” is a literally correct translation of

Lojong, but it may confuse us. We cannot train ourselves to be

Buddhas, or bodhisattvas. We cannot take a crash course in talking,

acting, looking and thinking like a bodhisattva. We can train to

become a soldier and become very efficient at performing certain

physical activities for a short period of time, but afterwards, through

the stress of these activities, our knees, elbows and necks will be

worse than everybody else’s. Soldiers may have been trained to

perform a specific purpose, but old soldiers need a lot of

physiotherapy. They need their oversized muscles and sprained joints

fixed, they need to be loosened so everything works. If there are lots

of old soldiers around, physiotherapists do a good trade.

Saying “mind training” for Lojong is okay, but it makes me feel

a little uncomfortable. I have even noticed that people introduce me

by describing the monasteries I have “trained” in and the masters I

have “trained” under. Somebody also once sincerely and politely asked

me, “How many years of training does it take to become a Rinpoche?”

It does not happen like this. I wasn’t “trained.” I learnt, received

transmissions, practiced and purified myself. Even though I have

voiced my worries about using this word “training,” as so many people

have translated the Tibetan term “Lojong” as “mind training” I will

continue to use it. I just wanted to make it clear that you cannot

train somebody to be a Buddha.

The Seven Points are briefly:

1. A bodhisattva’s preliminary practices.

2. A bodhisattva’s main practice.

3. How a bodhisattva should transform negative circumstances

into positive circumstances.

4. A summary of an entire life’s practice.

5. Assessing how well your practice is progressing.

6. What bodhisattva practitioners shouldn’t do.

7. What bodhisattva practitioners should do.

These last two points end up being the same thing; if you do one

thing, you don’t do another and if you don’t do something you do

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something else. They are similar instructions, but in this text they

are taught separately so their points can be described clearly. This

makes the “Seven Points of Mind Training” as a whole a simple,

clear, complete work.

I will not go into great detail on these seven points because I am

only going to teach them for a day but I will not, hopefully, have to

leave out any important, crucial points.

1: T HE P RELIMINARIES ,

W HICH A RE A B ASIS FOR D HARMA P RACTICE 28

First, train in the preliminaries.

Bodhichitta: The first of these seven points is the preliminaries. The

first of these preliminaries is the development of aspiring bodhichitta

and the taking of the aspiring bodhisattva vow. Aspiring bodhichitta

is the wish to practice the bodhisattva’s way and as a result reach

Buddhahood. The second part of the development of bodhichitta,

the actual bodhichitta and the actual bodhisattva vow, involves

engaging in the activities of a bodhisattva, dedicating ourselves to

their practices. Aspiring bodhichitta is like thinking, “I would like

to go to the moon.” Actual bodhichitta is like putting on a space

suit, getting inside a space shuttle, pushing the start button and

traveling to the moon.

In the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Shantideva says, “Wishing to

depart and setting out upon the road, this is how the difference is

conceived.” That is to say that aspiring bodhichitta is like wishing

to go somewhere and actual bodhichitta is like taking off on your

first steps, actually moving in that direction. When you go to the

moon you cannot walk there, you have to strap yourself tightly to

a seat, but it is the same process. Likewise, as a preliminary practice,

a person should take both the aspiring and actual bodhisattva vows.

In our lineage these vows are sometimes taken separately and

sometimes together.

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149

There are many aspiring and actual bodhisattva vows, but the

basic aspiring vow is “Not to exclude any sentient being from your

bodhichitta.” This means, for example, that even if somebody tried

to chop us into pieces, we might be very upset and angry, but if we

had the chance to make that person a Buddha right then we would

do so without hesitation. We should not tell someone we would not

lead him or her to Buddhahood because they cut us into pieces: this

would be breaking the aspiring bodhichitta vow. We are not vowing

not to shout, scream, kick, push and try to run away from them, we

are vowing not to exclude them from our sacred vow to attain

Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.

The people who have been most kind to us and those who have

hurt us the most are all included within this commitment. If someone

who has been horrible to us has a chance to become a Buddha right

now, and a person who has been most kind to us does not, we need

to help the person who has been horrible to us. When we have the

aspiring bodhichitta vow we cannot say, “He could become a Buddha

right now but I am not going to help him do that because he was

nasty to me. Instead I will find a way to make my dear friend a

Buddha first.” We cannot engage in divine corruption.

This is the main aspiring bodhisattva vow. The actual bodhisattva

vows are many, but I think that the practice of the six paramitas

somehow covers them.

The next set of preliminaries is the four contemplations. These

are:

The Precious Human Life.

Death and Impermanence.

Karma, Cause and Result.

The Suffering of Samsara.

Precious human life: The first of these contemplations, the precious

human life, is very important. We all have a precious human life but

we take it for granted. We overlook or dismiss our basic privileges

and potentials. Appreciating what we are and what we have should

be the first thing we concentrate on. Someone once asked me, “How

can you say ‘a precious human life’? Every day the human population

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