The classic guide to lojong, a Tibetan Buddhist practice for cultivating the heart of compassion.

by Jamgon Kongtrul
translated by Ken McLeod

Translator’s Preface (excerpt)

It is difficult for most of us to employ true intelligence and compassion in all circumstances. Our own interests, our own concerns for ourselves, constantly cloud and condition our perceptions of and responses to events around us. When our clinging to self is strong, we do not surrender it easily or willingly, and our attempts to use compassion and intelligence are clumsy and cause us regret or guilt. If, however, we understand that ego is a sham, that the self we cling to is in fact nothing, and we become familiar with the habit of letting go of our own interests in a situation, we become more capable of surrendering ego, just as we are able to throw away without regret an old sweater that never fit us anyway.

This understanding and familiarization are developed in the sitting meditation that employs the techniques discussed in this work. Sitting meditation is essential, for it is the only method by which this approach to the world can be developed. Yet, if our day-to-day actions do not reflect our practice, our meditation is not effective: that is, not only should we become more tolerant, less arrogant, more open and responsive, but also we should feel genuinely at peace with ourselves, naturally happy and cheerful even in difficult situations, and our actions should not cause us regret or shame. Consequently, a major part of the book consists of guidelines for meeting ordinary situations in life.

Continual practice of meditation and attention to everyday conduct go together—they are two aspects of practice rather than two unrelated activities. For instance, people whose training in this technique is well developed will, whenever they encounter someone who is troubled or in pain, spontaneously imagine that they take on the suffering of that person. When we work with both aspects, the habits of ego-clinging fall away, and true intelligence and compassion, the realization of non-self and non-referential compassion, will arise.

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The Great Path of Awakening

Guru Buddha Bodhisattva Bhyonama

With undivided faith, I place upon my head
The lotus feet of the Perfect Sage,
Who first set in motion the wheel of love
And triumphed completely in the two aims.

To the renowned sons of the Victorious One I bow,
To Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and the others
Who set out in the ship of courageous compassion
And now liberate beings from the ocean of suffering.

The spiritual friend unsurpassable
Reveals the noble path of compassion and emptiness.
He is the guide of all victorious ones.
I prostrate myself at my guru’s feet.

I shall explain here the one path
On which the Victorious One and his children have traveled
Easy to understand, it is not corrupted.
Easy to practice, it is entered with enthusiasm.
Yet it is profound, so buddhahood is attained.

In order to present a commentary on The Seven Points of Mind Training, which are particularly excellent pith instructions for cultivating bodhicitta, I shall discuss three topics: the source of this transmission, the need for this training, and the actual instructions.

The Source of the Transmission

THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS LORD ATISHA studied for lengthy periods under three great masters: Dharmakirti, a master of bodhicitta who had received this oral transmission of the pith instructions of the mighty Sage and his sons; Guru Dharmarakshita, who realized emptiness by relying on love and compassion and actually gave away some of his own flesh in an act of generosity; and Yogin Maitreya, who really could take the sufferings of others onto himself. With tremendous diligence, Atisha carried his studies to completion, and bodhicitta filled his mind. He came to Tibet as a lord of the dharma. Although he had innumerable teachings that he could have presented, he chose to present only the methods that are discussed here. Of limitless numbers of students of the three kinds whom he established in enlightenment and freedom, his three principal disciples were Ku-tön Tsön-dru, Ngo Lek-pe Sherab, and Drom-tön Gyal-we Jung-ne. Drom-tön Rinpoche was held to be Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of awakened compassion. Three traditions of teaching originate with him and his three principal disciples, emanations of the lords of the three buddha families: the Canonical Texts, the Key Instructions, and the Pith Instructions.

These teachings were transmitted by a succession of great spiritual teachers. The tradition of the exposition of the Six Canonical Texts of the Kadampas fell to the Gelukpa; the presentation of the Key Instructions on the Four Truths fell to the Dakpo Kagyu; and both schools preserved the teachings of the Pith Instructions on the Sixteen Essences. The renowned Kadampa tradition holds the teachings of the Seven Dharmas and Deities: the four deities that adorn the body; the three containers that adorn speech; and the three disciplines that adorn mind. Although this precious tradition contains limitless instructions that stand firmly in the sutra tradition yet have some connection with the tantra tradition, they all definitely show only the path of joining compassion and emptiness. Since the specialization of this teaching is principally in the area of relative bodhicitta, the majority of notable individuals who have held this transmission have skillfully presented instructions for exchanging oneself with others and their success with them. From among the many different traditions of commentaries on this technique, The Seven Points explained here come from the tradition of spiritual instruction of Chekawa Yeshe Dorje.

The Need for Mind Training

DON’T EVEN CONSIDER the ephemeral happiness that results from birth in the higher realms of gods and men. Although the enlightenment of shravakas and pratyekabuddhas can be realized, it is not a final nirvana or transcendence of misery . Consequently, we should strive only for the state of completely perfected buddha hood. There are no methods to effect this attainment other than those which rely on two forms of meditation: relative bodhicitta, which is training the mind in love and compassion, and ultimate bodhicitta, which is resting evenly in a non-discursive state free from conceptual elaborations. Nagarjuna says:

If the rest of humanity and I
Wish to attain insurpassable awakening,
The basis for this is bodhicitta
As stable as the King of Mountains:
Compassion, which touches everything,
And pristine wisdom, which does not rely on duality.

Moreover, whatever accumulations of merit and wisdom we may have, the root of spiritual development in the mahayana, the six perfections, non-abiding nirvana, and so on, is simply the arousal of bodhicitta. It arises on the basis of love and compassion. Even when full buddhahood is attained, there is nothing to do except to work for the welfare of others with non-referential compassion. True ultimate bodhicitta will not arise in the course of experience of beginners, but relative bodhicitta will definitely arise if they train in it. With the development of relative bodhicitta, ultimate bodhicitta will be realized naturally.

So, for these and many similar reasons, we must meditate energetically on relative bodhicitta at the beginning if we are to achieve any meaningful results with respect to bodhicitta. For someone who wishes instruction on this subject, the basic method for training is, as Shantideva says:

He who desires shelter quickly
For himself and for all others
Should use this sacred mystery,
The exchanging of oneself for others.

Consequently, only the method of meditation of exchanging oneself for others is explained in what follows. All other methods of mind training are simply elaborations of this theme.

The Actual Instructions

THE THIRD SECTION is divided into two parts: the actual explanation of the teachings of this tradition and additional instructions from the transmission lineage.

The Explanation Of The Seven Points Of Mind Training

The seven points are:

1. The preliminaries, which teach the support for dharma
2. The actual practice, training in bodhicitta
3. The transformation of adverse conditions into the path of awakening
4. The utilization of the practice in one’s whole life
5. The extent of proficiency in mind training
6. Commitments of mind training
7. Guidelines for mind training

The Preliminaries Which Teach The Support For Dharma

As to the first point, the root text gives:

First, train in the preliminaries.

There are two points here, the preliminary to a period of meditation and preliminary instruction.

Preliminaries to a Period of Meditation

First, at the beginning of every period of meditation, imagine your root guru sitting on a lotus-and-moon seat above your head. His body is radiant and his face happy and smiling as he regards all beings with non-referential compassion. In him, all the root and lineage gurus are present.

With intense respect and devotion, repeat the lineage prayer if you wish and, in particular, the following prayer a hundred or a thousand times.

I pray for your blessing, my guru, great and completely worthy spiritual friend. I pray that you will cause love, compassion and bodhicitta to arise in my mind.

Then, imagine that your guru descends through the aperture of Brahma and sits in your heart in a pavilion of light, like an open shell. This exercise in intense respect and devotion is known as guru yoga. It is important to begin every period of meditation this way.

Preliminary Instruction

Second, with respect to preliminary instructions, if the four contemplations —that is, the difficulty of obtaining a free and well-favored existence, death and impermanence, consideration of the shortcomings of samsara, and action as seed and result— are new to you, they are fully explained in the graded-path texts. You need to work at these contemplations so that they definitely become part of your thinking. Here is a concise presentation of the basic points for those who would like one.

In order to obtain the framework for the practice of dharma, this precious human existence, which, in being free and well favored, offers excellent opportunities, one must practice excellent virtue, since this is its karmic seed. Since the proportion of sentient beings that do practice virtue thoroughly is very small, the result, a free and well-favored existence, is difficult to obtain. When one considers the numbers of other sentient beings, such as animals, it is evident that human existence is just a remote possibility. Therefore, you should, above all else, work at dharma wholeheartedly so that the human existence now obtained is not wasted.

Furthermore, since life is uncertain, the causes of death are numerous, and one can’t even be sure that death won’t come today, one must exert oneself in the dharma right away. At the time of death, except for virtuous and non-virtuous actions, nothing will follow, not wealth, food, possessions, nor land, body, or status. Since these are not even as helpful as a straw, there is not the slightest need for them.

After death, the power of karma causes one to experience birth in one of the six classes of beings. Whichever it is, there will be nothing but suffering, not even a strand of happiness.

Since happiness and suffering infallibly develop from virtuous and non-virtuous actions, one should not do anything evil even at the risk of your life. One should practice only virtuous actions with great diligence.

You should energetically train yourself in this kind of thinking. At the end of every period of meditation, perform the seven-branch prayer as many times as you are able to. In post-meditation periods, put the points of your reflections into practice. These instructions apply to all forms of preparation and actual practice.

The Actual Practice Training In Bodhicitta

As for the second point, there are two sections in the actual practice: the associated meditation on ultimate bodhicitta and the principal meditation on relative bodhicitta.

Ultimate Bodhicitta

The first section is again divided into two topics: instruction for a period of meditation and instructions for post-meditation practice.

MEDITATION

With respect to the first topic, after the practice of guru yoga described above, you should sit with the body straight and, as you breathe in and out, count without disturbance twenty-one breaths over and over again. This exercise will render you a suitable vessel for meditation practice. For the actual practice:

Regard all phenomena as dreams.

Actual phenomena —that is, the world and its inhabitants— are objects that we grasp at with our senses. These appearances are simply our mind’s manifestations of confusion. In the end, they are not actually existent in any way whatsoever, but are like the appearances in a dream. By thinking along these lines, train yourself to have some feeling for looking at the world this way.

Should you wonder if mind in itself is real,

Examine the nature of unborn awareness.

When you look directly at the presence of mind, no color, no shape, no form is perceived. Since mind has no origin, it has never come into existence in the first place. Now it is not located anywhere, inside or outside the body. Finally, the mind is not some object that goes somewhere or ceases to exist. By examining and investigating mind, you should come to a precise and certain understanding of the nature of this awareness, which has no origin, location, or cessation.

Thoughts about this remedy for the tendency to cling to existence may come up. For example, you may think, “Mind and body all are empty” or “Nothing is helpful or harmful in emptiness.” If this happens, then

Even the remedy is freed to subside naturally.

When you look at the presence of the remedy itself, these thoughts about the absence of true existence, there is nothing for mind to refer to and they subside naturally on their own. Relax in this state.

These lines present the key instructions on the meaning of existence from the point of view of investigative meditation.

Rest in the nature of all, the basis of everything.

This instruction presents the actual method of placing the mind. When there is no involvement with the activity of the seven groups of consciousness, there is still the nature of all phenomena, the natural state, which is the basis of everything. It is pointed out by the term “noble buddha-nature.” Let go and rest, without the slightest idea of a nature existing as something, with absolutely no mental clinging, in a state distinguished by non-discursive clarity and pure simplicity. In summary, for as long as you are able, follow no train of thought, but rest evenly in a state in which mind in itself is clear and free of discursiveness. This is placing meditation. Then, complete the period of practice with the seven-branch prayer as before.

POSTMEDITATION

The instruction for post-meditation practice is:

In post-meditation practice, be a child of illusion.

After meditation, do not allow the experience of resting evenly to dissipate, no matter what form of activity you engage in. Continually foster the feeling of knowing that all appearances, yourself, others, animate or in animate, appear though they seem to be nothing —be like a child of illusion.

Relative Bodhicitta

Second, meditation on relative bodhicitta is explained in three parts: teachings on the preparation, on the actual practice, and on post-meditation practice.

PREPARATION

First do the preliminary practice of guru yoga as it was described above. Then you should meditate on love and compassion. They form the basis for taking and sending. Start by imagining that your own mother is present in front of you. Think about her carefully with such reflections on compassion as these:

This person, my mother, has looked after me with great effort right from the moment I was conceived in her womb. Because she endured all the hardships of illness, cold, hunger, and others, because she gave me food and clothing and wiped away my filth, and because she taught me what is good and steered me away from evil, I met the teachings of Buddha and am now practicing the dharma. What tremendous kindness! Not only in this life but in an infinite series of lives she has done exactly the same thing. While she has worked for my welfare, she herself wanders in samsara and experiences many different forms of suffering.

Then, when some real compassion, not just lip service, has been developed and instilled, learn to extend it step by step:

From time without beginning, each sentient being has been a mother to me in just the same way as my present mother. Each and every one has helped me.

With this sort of reflection, first meditate on objects for which it is easy to generate compassion: friends, spouse, relatives, and assistants, those in the lower realms where suffering is intense, the poor and destitute, and those who, though happy in this life, are so evil that they will experience the hell realms as soon as they die. When compassion in these areas has been instilled, meditate on more difficult objects: enemies, people who hurt you, demons, and others. Then meditate on all sentient beings, thinking along these lines:

All these, my parents, not only experience many different kinds of suffering and frustration without intending to, but are also full of potent seeds for future suffering. How pitiable! What’s to be done? To return their kindness, the least I can do is to help them by clearing away what hurts them and by making them comfortable and happy.

Train in this way until the feeling of compassion is intolerably intense.

MEDITATION

Second,

Train in taking and sending alternately. Put them on the breath.

As you think:

All these parents of mine, who are the focus of compassion, are hurt directly by suffering and indirectly by the source of suffering, so I shall take on myself all the different kinds of suffering in all my mothers’ course of experience and the source of suffering, all disturbing emotions and actions,

meditate that all of this negativity comes to you and foster a strong feeling of joy at the same time.

As you think:

Without regret, I send all my virtuous activity and happiness in the past, present, and future, my wealth, and my body to all sentient beings, my parents,

meditate that each individual receives all this happiness and cultivate a strong feeling of joy in each one’s receiving it.

In order to make this imagined exchange clearer, as you breathe in, imagine that black tar collecting all the suffering, obscurations, and evil of all sentient beings enters your own nostrils and is absorbed into your heart. Think that all sentient beings are forever free of misery and evil. As you breathe out, imagine that all your happiness and virtue pour out in the form of rays of moonlight from your nostrils and are absorbed by every sentient being. With great joy, think that all of them immediately attain buddhahood. To train the mind, use this practice of taking and sending with the breath as the actual practice for the period of meditation. Subsequently, always maintain the practice through mindfulness and continue to work with it. Shantideva, who has described this practice extensively, says:

If I don’t completely exchange
My happiness for others’ sorrow,
Buddhahood will not be realized.
There is no happiness in samsara.

POSTMEDITATION

Third, to apply this in post-meditation practice:

Three objects, three poisons, three seeds of virtue.

The three poisons continually arise in connection with three objects. Compulsive attachment arises for objects that are pleasant or useful; aversion arises for objects that are unpleasant or harmful; and stupidity or indifference for other objects. Recognize these poisons as soon as they arise. Then, for example, when attachment arises, think:

May every bit of every sentient beings’ attachment be contained in this attachment of mine. May all sentient beings have the seed of virtue of being free of attachment. May this attachment of mine contain all their disturbing emotions and, until they attain buddhahood, may they be free of such disturbing emotions.

Aversion and other emotions are used in practice by working with them the same way. Thus, the three poisons become three limitless seeds of virtue.

Use sayings to train in all forms of activity.

All the time, repeat these or other suitable sayings and cultivate these attitudes vigorously.

From Shantideva:

While their evil ripens in me,
May all my virtue ripen in them.

From the oral advice of the Kadampa tradition:

I offer all gain and victory to the lords, all sentient beings.
I take all loss and defeat for myself.

From Gyal-se Tokme’s teachings:

While all the suffering and evil of all sentient beings ripens in me,
May all my happiness and virtue ripen in them.

Begin the sequence of exchange with yourself

In order to be able to take on the sufferings of others, begin the sequence of exchange with yourself. Right now, take on mentally all the suffering that will ripen for you in the future. When that has been cleared away, take up all the sufferings of others.

The Transformation of Adverse Conditions Into The Path of Awakening

The third point concerns carrying practice into everyday life.

When evil fills the world and its inhabitants, Change adverse conditions into the path of awakening.

When your world is full of the pain and suffering that are the fruition of evil —when prosperity and wealth are diminishing, troublesome people create difficulties, and so on— you must change the adverse conditions in which you find yourself into the path of awakening. There are three ways to make this transformation: by relying on relative bodhicitta, on ultimate bodhicitta, and on special practices.

Relative Bodhicitta

For the first way:

Drive all blame into one.

Whether you are physically ill, troubled in your mind, insulted by others, or bothered by enemies and disputes, in short, whatever annoyance, major or minor, comes up in your life or affairs, do not lay the blame on anything else, thinking that such-and-such caused this or that problem. Rather, you should consider:

This mind grasps at a self where there is no self. From time without beginning until now, it has, in following its own whims in samsara, perpetrated various non-virtuous actions. All the sufferings I now experience are the results of those actions. No one else is to blame; this ego cherishing attitude is to blame. I shall do whatever I can to subdue it.

Skillfully and vigorously direct all dharma at ego clinging. As Shantideva writes in Entering the Way of Awakening:

What troubles there are in the world,
How much fear and suffering there is.
If all of these arise from ego-clinging,
What will this great demon do to me?

and

For hundreds of lives in samsara
He has caused me trouble.
Now I recollect all my grudges
And shall destroy you, you selfish mind.

Be grateful to everyone.

Work on taking and sending with these consider ations in mind:

In general, all methods for attaining buddhahood rely on sentient beings. Therefore, to the individual who wishes to awaken, sentient beings are as worthy of gratitude as buddhas. Specifically, all sentient beings are worthy of gratitude since there is not one who has not been my parent. In particular, all those who hurt me are worthy of gratitude since they are my companions and helpers for gathering the accumulations of merit and pristine wisdom and for clearing away the obscurations of disturbing emotions and conceptual knowledge.

Do not be angry, not even at a dog or an insect. Strive to give whatever actual help you can. If you cannot help, then think and say:

May this sentient being (or troublemaker) quickly be rid of pain and enjoy happiness. May he come to attain buddhahood.

Arouse bodhicitta:

From now on, all the virtuous acts I do shall be for his welfare.

When a god or a demon troubles you, think:

This trouble now occurs because I, from time without beginning, have made trouble for him. Now I shall give him my flesh and blood in recompense.

Imagine the one who troubles you to be present in front of you and mentally give him your body as you say:

Here, revel in my flesh and blood and whatever else you want.

Meditate with complete conviction that this trouble maker enjoys your flesh and blood, and is filled with pure happiness, and arouse the two kinds of bodhicitta in your mind.

Or:

Because I had let mindfulness and other remedies lapse, disturbing emotions arose with out my noticing them. Since this troublemaker has now warned me of this, he is certainly an expression of my guru or a buddha. I’m very grateful to him because he has stimulated me to train in bodhicitta.

Or, when illness or suffering comes, think with complete sincerity:

If this hadn’t happened, I would have been distracted by materialistic involvements and would not have maintained mindfulness of dharma. Since this has brought dharma to my attention again, it is the guru’s or the Jewels’ activity, and I am very grateful.

To sum up, whoever thinks and acts out of a concern to achieve his or her own well-being is a wordly person; whoever thinks and acts out of a concern to achieve the well-being of others is a dharma person. Langri-tangpa has said:

I open to you as deep a teaching as there is. Pay attention! All faults are our own. All good qualities are the lords’, sentient beings. The point here is: give gain and victory to others, take loss and defeat for ourselves. Other than this, there is nothing to understand.

Ultimate Bodhicitta

Second:

To see confusion as the four kayas, The protection of emptiness is insurpassable.

In general all appearances, and particularly adverse conditions, are like the distress experienced when you dream of being burnt in a fire or swept away by a flood. The confused appearances of mind are invested with a reality that they do not have. It is rigorously established that, although these appearances arise, there is not even a particle of true existence in them. When you rest in a state in which appearances simply arise but there is no clinging to them, the dharmakaya aspect is that they are empty in nature, the nirmanakaya aspect is they appear with clarity, the sambhogakaya aspect is that this emptiness and clarity occur together, and the svabhavikakaya aspect is that these are inseparable. This key instruction, to rest evenly without grasping at origin, location, or cessation, points out the four kayas. It is the armor of view, the protection circle of emptiness, and the supreme instruction that cuts off confusion.

Special Practices

As for the third approach,

The four applications are the best method.

The four applications are accumulating merit, confessing evil actions, giving torma to gods and demons, and offering torma to dakinis and protectors. These are the best of all methods for using adverse conditions as a path.

ACCUMULATING MERIT

For the first, you should consider:

I wish to be happy, but suffering and frustration are all that come. This fact reminds me to cease evil actions, which are the seeds of suffering, and to accumulate merit, the seed of comfort and happiness. I shall do so.

Then, gather merit to the best of your ability through physical, verbal, and mental activities such as offerings to your guru and the Three Jewels, service to the sangha, torma offerings to local spirits, offering candles, making clay reliquaries, prostrating yourself, circumambulating, taking refuge, arousing bodhicitta, and, particularly, using the seven-branch prayer and offering mandalas. Pray to put an end to hope and fear:

If it’s better for me to be ill,
I pray for the blessing of illness.
If it’s better for me to recover,
I pray for the blessing of recovery.
If it’s better for me to die,
I pray for the blessing of death.

Confessing Evil Actions

Second, with the same considerations as in the previous section, practice the four forces properly. The force of repudiation is to regret evil actions that you have done. The force of turning away from faults is the resolve not to repeat such actions, even at the risk of life. The force of reliance is taking refuge in the Three Jewels and arousing bodhicitta. The force of full engagement with remedies is the use of prayers that put an end to hope and fear, and the practice of the six kinds of remedies: meditation on emptiness, repetition of mantras and dharanis, the making of images, performing the seven-branch prayer and offering mandalas, the recitation of sutras, and the repetition of special purification mantras.

Giving Torma To Gods And Demons

Third, give torma to troublemakers and direct them to enlightening activity:

It’s very kind of you to chase after me in response to what I’ve done to you in the past and to bring this debt to my attention. I ask you to destroy me now. I ask you to make all the sufferings, unpleasantness, poverty, ruin, misery, and disease that sentient beings experience ripen in me. Make all sentient beings free from suffering.

If you are unable to do that, give the torma and command them:

When I meditate on love, compassion, and taking and sending, I am doing as much as I can to help you both now and in the future. Don’t obstruct me in the practice of dharma.

Offering Torma To Dakinis And Protectors

Fourth, offer torma to the protectors and direct them to be active in calming disruptive conditions and establishing conditions conducive to the practice of dharma. In particular, use the prayers given above to put an end to hope and fear.

In order to take unexpected conditions as the path,
Immediately join whatever you meet with meditation.

When illness, demons, interruptions, or disturbing emotions come unexpectedly, or if you see someone else troubled by some unpleasant situation, think, “I shall just practice taking and sending.” In all your virtuous thoughts and actions think:

May all sentient beings come to engage naturally in much greater dharma activity than this.

Do the same when you are happy and comfortable. If you have some evil thought or are forced to engage in some form of evil activity, think:

May every evil thought and action of every sentient being be gathered in this one.

In summary, maintain the motivation to help others whatever you are doing: eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting. As soon as you encounter a situation, good or bad, work at this practice of mind training.

The Utilization Of The Practice In One’s Whole Life

The fourth point, to teach a summary of practice for one’s whole life, has two sections: what to do during one’s life and what to do at death.

What to Do During One’s Life

As to the first section:

A summary of the essential instructions: Train in the five forces.

The five forces summarize the crucial points of practice and, in a single phrase, contain numerous profound key instructions for the practice of the holy dharma. First is the force of impetus, to give a strong impetus to the mind by thinking:

From this moment until enlightenment, at least from now until I die, and especially for the next year and the next month, and definitely from today until tomorrow, the two aspects of bodhicitta will never be absent from my mind.

The second is the force of familiarization. Whatever occupation or activity you are engaged in —virtuous, non-virtuous, or indeterminate— maintain mindfulness and awareness strictly and train again and again in keeping the two aspects of bodhicitta ever in mind. In a word, study and train in bodhicitta as your principal form of virtuous activity.

The third is the force of virtuous seeds. Always concentrate your full energy —physical, verbal, and mental— on virtuous activity. Never be content with your efforts to arouse and strengthen bodhicitta.

The fourth is the force of repudiation. Whenever ego-cherishing thoughts come up, abandon them completely by thinking:

Previously, for time without beginning, you have made me wander in samsara and experience different kinds of suffering. In addition, all the suffering and evil that occur in this life are brought on by you. There is no happiness in your company, so I shall now do everything I can to subdue and destroy you.

The fifth is the force of aspiration. At the end of any virtuous activity, pray sincerely and dedicate all virtue to these objectives:

May I, on my own, guide all sentient beings to buddhahood. In particular, from now until I attain enlightenment, may I never forget the two aspects of precious bodhicitta, even when I am dreaming. May the two aspects of bodhicitta grow stronger and stronger. Whatever adverse conditions I encounter, may I take them as aids to bodhicitta.

What to Do at Death

Second, what are the instructions for the moment of death in this tradition of teaching?

The mahayana instructions for how to die Are the five forces. How you act is important.

When a person who has trained in this teaching is stricken by terminal illness, he or she should practice the five forces. First, the force of virtuous seeds means to give away all possessions without a trace of attachment, clinging, or concern. In general, they can be given to one’s gurus or to the Jewels. In particular, they can be given wherever the person thinks they will be most helpful. The force of aspiration means to make enlightenment the single focus of aspiration by practicing the seven branch prayer if possible or, if not possible, by praying:

Through the power of whatever virtuous seeds I have gathered in the three times, may I never forget but train and strengthen precious bodhicitta in all future experiences in existence. May I meet the pure gurus who reveal this teaching. I pray that these aspirations be realized through the blessing of my gurus and the Jewels.

The force of repudiation is to think:

This ego-cherishing has led me to suffer for countless existences, and now I experience the suffering of dying. Ultimately, there is nothing that dies, since neither self nor mind have true existence. I’ll do whatever I must to destroy you, ego-clinging, who constantly think in terms of “I’m ill, I’m dying.”

The force of impetus is to think:

I will never be without the two kinds of precious bodhicitta, not at death, nor in the intermediate state, nor in any future existence.

The force of familiarization is to bring clearly to mind the two bodhicittas that have been practiced previously.

While the main point is to practice these forces single-mindedly, the accompanying actions are also important. Physically, one should sit in the seven-point posture or, if unable to do that, lie down on the right side and rest the cheek on the right hand while blocking the right nostril with the little finger. While breathing through the left nostril, one should begin by meditating on love and compassion and then train in sending and taking, in conjunction with the coming and going of the breath. Then, without clinging mentally to anything, one should rest evenly in a state of knowing that birth and death, samsara and nirvana, and so on, are all projections of mind, and that mind itself does not exist as anything. In this state, one should continue to breathe as well as one can.

There are many highly regarded instructions on how to die, but none, it is said, is more wonderful than this one.

An instruction for death that employs a salve states: Apply to the crown of the head an ointment compounded of wild honey, ash from burning unspoiled seashells, and filings from an iron magnet.

The Extent Of Proficiency In Mind Training

The fifth point teaches the extent of proficiency in mind training.

All dharma has a single purpose.

Since the purpose of all dharma, both mahayana and hinayana, is simply to tame ego-clinging, as you practice dharma or work at mind training, ego-clinging should decrease. If your efforts in dharma do not counteract ego-clinging, your practice is meaningless. Since this is the one criterion that determines whether dharma practice is effective or not, it is said to be the yardstick by which a dharma person is measured.

Of the two judges, rely on the principal one.

For other people to see you as a dharma person is one judge, but ordinary people do not know what is hidden in your mind and may just be taking joy in certain improvements in the way you act. One sign of proficiency in mind training is that there is never any shame or embarrassment about your state of mind. Consequently, do not be attached to the judgment of others, but rely principally on the judge of mind itself.

Always have the support of a joyful mind.

When there is never any fear or despair no matter what adversity or suffering is encountered, when difficulty is taken as an aid to mind training and you always have the help of a joyful mind, then you have acquired proficiency in mind training. When adverse conditions come, meditate joyfully and, in addition, learn to take joyfully all the adversity others experience.

You are proficient if you can practice even when distracted.

A skilled horseman does not fall from his horse, even when he is distracted. In the same way, if you are able to take adverse conditions that suddenly develop as aids to mind training even without expressly directing your attention to do so, then you are proficient in mind training. The two bodhicittas arise clearly and effortlessly along with everything that appears —enemies, friends, troublemakers, happiness, or suffering.

These four lines describe signs that your training in bodhicitta has been effective and that proficiency has developed. They are not signs that you need not train further. Until buddhahood is attained, you should train to strengthen bodhicitta.

Commitments of Mind Training

The sixth point concerns the commitments of mind training.

Always practice the three general principles.

Of the three general principles, the first is not to break the promises you have made in mind training, that is, not to be tarnished by any fault or failing in any vow you have taken, including even the most minor precepts of individual liberation, bodhisattva, or vajrayana ordinations.

The second principle is not to act scandalously, that is, to refrain from scandalous acts such as destroying shrines, disturbing trees and other plants, polluting streams or rivers, associating with lepers and beggars, and other ways you might behave in the hope that others will think that you have no ego-clinging. Instead, make your way of life and practice utterly pure and faultless.

The third principle is to avoid being one-sided. For instance, although you may be patient with the trouble people cause, you may not be patient with the trouble caused by gods or demons, or vice versa. Or you may be able to handle those situations but be impatient with such sufferings as illness or disease. Maybe you can be patient in all sorts of difficult situations but let your practice of dharma lapse when you are happy and comfortable. The commitment is to avoid any bias or one-sidedness in mind training, so always practice that.

Change your attitude, but remain natural.

To change and reverse your previous attitude of concern with your own welfare and lack of concern for the welfare of others, take only the welfare of others as being important. Since all mind training should be practiced with little fanfare but great effectiveness, remain as natural as possible, keeping your manners and conduct like those of your friends and associates in dharma. Work at maturing your own experience without making others aware of your efforts.

Do not talk about weak points.

Don’t discuss unpleasant subjects: other people’s faults in wordly matters (such as physical or mental disabilities) or their faults in spiritual matters (violations of ordination, for instance). Talk cheerfully about pleasant topics in a gentle and friendly manner.

Don’t think about the affairs of others.

Do not think about other people’s affairs: in general, the faults of any sentient being, but in particular, the faults of anyone who has entered the practice of dharma. Rather, think:

Seeing this fault is due to the impurity in my own outlook. Such a fault is not in this person. I am like those people who saw faults in Buddha, the enlightened one.

Thus, terminate this faulty attitude in your own mind.

Work on the stronger disturbing emotions first.

Examine your personality to determine which disturbing emotions are strongest. Concentrate all dharma practice on them in the beginning, and subdue and clear them away.

Give up all hope for results.

Give up the hope of subduing gods and demons by meditating on mind training, or the hope that you will be considered a good person when you try to help someone who has hurt you. These are hypocritical attitudes. In a word, give up all hope for any result that concerns your own welfare, such as the desire for fame, respect, happiness, and comfort in this life, the happiness experienced in the human or god realms in future lives, or the attainment of nirvana for yourself.

Give up poisonous food.

Since all virtuous thoughts and actions motivated by clinging to a concrete reality or to a self-cherishing attitude are like poisonous food, give them up. Learn not to cling, but to know the phantom-like nature of experience.

Don’t rely on consistency.

A person who is consistent in his affairs doesn’t forget the people who concern him, no matter where he is or how much time has gone by. When someone causes you trouble and has made you angry, you might never let go of that resentment. Stop it. Take a helpful attitude or action in response to someone who causes trouble.

Don’t be excited by cutting remarks.

In general, don’t take joy in disparaging others. In particular, when another person says something bad about you, don’t respond by talking maliciously about him to others. In fact, even if some injury has resulted, strive always to praise the good qualities of others without blaming this or that person.

Don’t wait in ambush.

When someone has caused you trouble, the tendency is to fix it in mind and never forget it though many years go by. When there is an opportunity to ambush the person and to return the injury, revenge is taken. Give up this approach and be as helpful as you can in your response to troublesome situations. For the kind of trouble caused by demons, don’t cling to the problem, but work only on love and compassion.

Don’t make things painful.

Don’t speak in a way that causes pain for others, either by making pointed remarks and exposing their faults or, in the case of nonhuman beings, by using mantras that drain their life.

Don’t put the horse’s load on a pony.

To give someone else an unpleasant job that is your responsibility or, by resorting to trickery, to shift a problem you have encountered to someone else is like putting a horse’s load on a pony. Don’t do this.

Don’t aim to win.

In a horse race, the aim is to be the fastest. Among dharma people there are often hopes of receiving more attention or being more highly regarded than others, and little schemes are made up to find ways to acquire possessions. Give these up. Have no concern about receiving or not receiving recognition or prestige.

Don’t revert to magic.

If you accept a setback for the time being out of a desire for future benefits for yourself or if you practice mind training expecting to cure illness and mental disturbances and ward off adverse situations, your practice is mistaken, like someone contriving magical rituals. Don’t act this way. Whatever happiness or sorrow comes, meditate without arrogance, hesitation, fear, or hope. Gyal-se Tokme has said:

Mind training done with that kind of attitude should be considered a method for helping demons and disturbances. If you practice that way, it’s no different from evil. Dharma work must counteract discursive thought and disturbing emotions.

With this example, consider the topic of mistaken dharma practice. Mistaken outlooks are outlooks based on eternalism or nihilism; mistaken meditation is meditation that clings to some sublime state; mistaken conduct is conduct that is not consistent with the three ordinations. Mistaken dharma denotes anything that is contradictory to the ethics or outlook authoritatively taught in the holy dharma, regardless of whom it comes from, you or someone else, the very best or the very least. It will propel you into samsara and the lower realms. It’s like taking the wrong medicine for an illness or applying the wrong disciplinary measures.

There are individuals who call certain composed and revealed works “mistaken dharma” without examining the words or thoughts in a single chapter to see whether they are pure or mistaken. It would appear that they issue their pronouncements out of attachment to their own systems or from personal differences. It is said that no one but a buddha is able to evaluate the worth of an individual. So, even though you may not like a person who has arrived at a proper outlook and ethics, your dislike doesn’t make the dharma mistaken. For example, a merchant may sell gold or glitter, but it doesn’t make him a better or worse merchant. Buddha said over and over again:

Don’t rely on individuals; rely on the dharma.

I make this digression here because it is so important to understand this point.

Don’t reduce a god to a demon.

If, as you meditate on mind training, your personality becomes stiff with pride and arrogance, it’s as though you have reduced a god to a demon; dharma has become non-dharma. The more you meditate on mind training and dharma, the more supple your personality should become. Act as the lowest servant to everyone.

Don’t seek pain as a component of happiness.

Don’t think: “If that patron or person should become ill or die, I would receive a lot of food and money” or “If this fellow monk or these dharma companions were to die, I would obtain their images and books” or “If my colleagues were to die, all the merit would come to me alone” or “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all my enemies were to die!”

In a word, you must refrain from hoping for suffering to come to others as a way of extending your own comfort and happiness.

Guidelines For Mind Training

The seventh point presents guidelines for mind training.

All active meditation is done in one way.

Continue practice into everyday life with a single meditation, always keeping in mind the intention to help others in all activities, eating, dressing, sleeping, walking, or sitting.

All corrections are made in one way.

Analysis itself is used to correct mistakes in analysis. If, when you are meditating on mind training, adverse conditions develop, people criticize and insult you, demons, devils, enemies, and disputes trouble you, your disturbing emotions become stronger, or you have no desire to meditate, think:

In the whole universe, there are many sentient beings who have problems like mine; my compassion goes out to all of them,

and:

In addition to this unwanted situation, may all the unwanted circumstances and suffering of all sentient beings be collected here,

and use the single corrective of exchanging yourself for others.

At the beginning and at the end,
Two things to be done.

At the beginning, as soon as you wake up in the morning, generate very strongly the impetus:

Today, I shall keep the two bodhicittas with me.

During the day, maintain them with continuous mindfulness. At the end, when you go to sleep in the evening, examine your thoughts and actions of the day. If there were infringements of bodhicitta, enumerate the instances and acknowledge them, and make a commitment that such will not occur in the future. If there have been no infringements, meditate joyfully and pray that you and all other beings may be able to engage in bodhicitta even more effectively in the future. Practice these two activities regularly. Take the same approach to any infringements or violations of ordination.

Whichever of two occurs, be patient.

If you become utterly destitute and are suffering greatly, consider your previous karma. Without being resentful or depressed, take up all the sufferings and evil of others and work hard at ways to clear away evil actions and obscurations. If you find yourself very happy and comfortable, surrounded by great wealth and servants, don’t succumb to carelessness or indifference. Use the wealth for virtuous projects, use your power constructively, and pray for all sentient beings to have the same comfort and happiness. In short, whichever occurs, happiness or suffering, be patient.

Observe these two, even at the risk of your life.

Since all present and future happiness comes from carefully observing the general precepts of dharma contained in the three ordinations and the particular precepts of mind training with their corresponding commitments, observe both these sets of precepts even at the risk of your life. Moreover, whatever you do, observe them not from a concern and consideration for your own welfare but only with the intention of being helpful to others.

Learn the three difficult points.

At first, it is difficult to recognize disturbing emotions. Then, it is difficult to overcome them. In the end, it is difficult to cut their continuity. Therefore, you should train in these three points. First, recognize disturbing emotions for what they are as soon as they arise. Then, stop them by taking corrective measures. Finally, be decisive in your attitude that such disturbances will never arise again.

Take up the three primary resources.

The primary resources for working at dharma are a good guru, the proper practice of dharma with a workable mind, and suitable conditions for dharma practice —food, clothing, and so on. If these three are all available to you, take joy in that and pray that they be available to others, too. If they are not all available, meditate on compassion for others and take on yourself the deficiencies that all sentient beings experience in these primary resources. Pray that you and all others may have them.

Don’t allow three things to weaken.

Learn not to let these three things weaken. Faith and respect for your guru must not weaken since all the fine qualities of mahayana dharma depend on him. Enthusiasm for meditation on mind training must not weaken since mind training is the very core of the mahayana. Observation of the precepts of the three ordinations must not weaken either.

Make the three inseparable.

Make the three faculties —body, speech, and mind— always inseparable from virtuous actions, and refrain from evil.

Train in all areas without partiality.
Overall deep and pervasive proficiency is important.

Without partiality for certain areas, mind training by itself should pervade everything, good or bad, which arises as an object of experience: other sentient beings, the four elements, or non-human beings. Deeply trained proficiency, not just lip service, is important.

Always meditate on volatile points.

Meditate by skillfully bringing out extra love and compassion for subjects that present difficulties in mind training: aggressive enemies, troublesome obstacles, particularly those who act perversely and respond to your help by making trouble, people who compete with you, casual friends, people who are troublesome even though there is no bad feeling, or those with whom you just don’t get along. In particular, avoid anything that will cause trouble with people with whom you have a close relationship —your guru or your parents, for instance.

Don’t depend on external conditions.

Have no regard for conducive or adverse conditions, strong or weak health, wealth or poverty, good or bad reputation, troubles or absence of troubles. If conducive conditions come about, train the mind right then. If conducive conditions are not present, then work on the two bodhicittas right then. In a word, don’t be concerned with your situation or other factors; never let go of your practice of mind training.

This time, practice the important points.

From time without beginning, you have taken existence in innumerable forms, in all of which nothing meaningful has been done. A similar coincidence of the conducive conditions in this life will not come about in the future. Now that you have obtained a human existence and met the pure dharma, you should put the main points into practice in order to realize objectives of permanent significance. So aims for future lives are more important than aims for this life. For the future, freedom is more important than samsara. The welfare of others is more important than your own. Of practicing and teaching the dharma, practicing is the more important. Training in bodhicitta is more important than other practices. Further, intensive meditation on your guru’s instructions is more important than analytical meditation based on texts. Sitting on your mat and training are more important than other forms of activity.

Don’t make mistakes.

Avoid six mistakes.

1. To endure patiently the suffering of subduing enemies, protecting friends, and working to make money and not to endure patiently the difficulties of dharma practice is mistaken patience.
2. To want wealth, happiness, and comfort in this life and to have no inclination to practice dharma thoroughly is mistaken inclination.
3. To enjoy the taste of wealth and possessions and not to enjoy the taste of hearing, reflection, and meditation on the dharma is mistaken enjoyment.
4. To have compassion for a person who puts up with hardship in order to practice dharma and not to have compassion for those who do evil is mistaken compassion.
5. To engage people who look to you in bettering only their position in this life and not to engage them in dharma is mistaken care.
6. To take joy in other people’s unhappiness and in the sufferings of your enemies and not to take joy in virtue and happiness in nirvana or samsara is mistaken joy.

Avoid these six mistakes completely.

Don’t fluctuate.

A person who sometimes practices and sometimes doesn’t has not developed a definite understanding of dharma. Don’t have a lot of projects on your mind, but do mind training single-mindedly.

Train wholeheartedly.

Without indulging any distraction, train yourself only in mind training, being completely involved with this one concern.

Find freedom through both examination and investigation.

You must find freedom from disturbing emotions and ego-clinging by constantly examining and investigating your course of experience. Therefore, turn your attention to an object that gives rise to disturbing emotions. Examine carefully whether they arise or not. If they do arise, apply remedies vigorously. Again, look at ego clinging to see what it is like. If it appears that no ego clinging is present, examine it again in reference to an object of attachment or aversion. If ego-cherishing then arises, immediately stop it with the remedy of exchanging yourself for others.

Don’t make a fuss.

Don’t make a big fuss even when you are kind to another person, because you are, in fact, just working at regarding others as more important than yourself. Since all the time and hardship you put into being well educated, moral, and practicing the dharma benefit you, there is no point in making a fuss about it to others. Don’t trade boasts with others. In the counsels of Ra-treng, it says: “Don’t expect much of people; pray to your yidam.”

Don’t be caught up in irritation.

Don’t take a jealous attitude toward others. When others disparage you in public or cause trouble for you, don’t react or let your mind and feelings be disturbed. Potowa said:

Because all of us, though we are dharma persons, have not made dharma a remedy for ego clinging, we are more sensitive than a newly healed wound. We are more caught up by irritations than Tsang-tsen. This is not effective dharma. Dharma, to be effective, must remedy ego-clinging.

Don’t be temperamental.

Don’t trouble the minds of your companions by showing your pleasure or displeasure on every little matter.

Don’t expect thanks.

Don’t hope that others will express their gratitude in words of thanks for your own practice of dharma, your helping others, or your practicing virtue. In a word, get rid of any expectation of fame or prestige.

All these points of advice are means that will strengthen mind training and prevent it from weakening. In summary, Gyal-se Rinpoche said:

Throughout our lives we should train well in the two kinds of bodhicitta, using both meditation and post-meditation practices, and acquire the confidence of proficiency.

Make an effort to follow this instruction.

Concluding Verses

This quintessential elixir of instruction,
Which changes the five kinds of degeneration
Into the way of awakening,
Is a transmission from Serlingpa.

Since the five kinds of degeneration —the times, sentient beings, life, emotions, and outlook— are steadily advancing, happy situations conducive to dharma are few, and disruptive and adverse conditions proliferate. While the remedies in other teachings may not be effective, for someone who uses mind training, virtuous activity increases directly with the proliferation of adverse conditions, just as the flames of a fire become stronger and stronger as more and more wood is piled on. This teaching has a special feature that others lack. It changes all disturbing emotions and adverse conditions into the way of awakening. These instructions are like the quintessence of an elixir and will enrich the course of experience and be helpful to everyone whatever his or her capabilities. They are profound teachings transmitted from Lord Serlingpa, the very kindest of Lord Atisha’s three principal gurus.

The awakening of the karmic energy of previous training
Aroused intense interest in me.
Therefore, I ignored suffering and criticism
And sought instruction for subduing ego-clinging.
Now, when I die, I’ll regret nothing.

When the karmic energy from the previous existences of the great spiritual teacher Chekawa was awakened, his only interest was this teaching. Through great hardships, he sought and received the root of all dharma, the key instructions for subduing ego-clinging, from the great father-son lineage of Atisha. When he had trained well in these methods, he cherished others more than himself, and never again did any concern for his own desires arise. Because he had acquired confidence through realizing the purpose of entering the dharma, he regretted nothing.

The last two verses above are the concluding comments of Chekawa, the author of this tradition of teaching.

Additional Instructions From The Transmission Lineage

The second section is a selection of additional instructions from the transmission lineage. This deep teaching on mind training is helpful if you are on your own. Mind training by itself is capable of bringing all happiness and suffering into practice. In addition, when profound dharma stirs up evil karma, your mind is also stirred up. When you are active, you want to sit still; when you sit still, you want to be active. If this kind of problem comes up, meditate in this way:

When I am in this kind of mood
My mat is by far the best place to be.
This present mental state is fine.
Moreover, by putting up with this unpleasantness,
I won’t be born in the hell realms. How wonderful!
I won’t be baked or roasted. How wonderful!

And:

Further, I should think well of fear and alarm
And have a healthy sense of shame,
Accept mean food and bear hardships,
Wear poor clothes and accept a low position,
Work at remedies, and disregard happiness and suffering.

According to these teachings from The Stages of the Awakening Warrior, self-criticism should get to the point.

When you are ill, illness is the nurse. So, when you are agitated, thinking that your doctors, nurses, relatives, and others should try harder to cure you, think:

No one else is to blame for this illness; ego clinging alone is responsible.

If medicine and nursing do help, to think that the right treatment wasn’t tried earlier is to take the wrong attitude. Rather think:

No one is free from this kind of affliction. Now, ego-clinging, this is what you wanted, so be satisfied.

In addition, learn to take on the illness and disturbances that trouble others.

Here are some of Lord Serlingpa’s teachings:

Flatten all thoughts.
All remedies are weapons to strike with.
Concentrate all plans into one.
All paths have one goal.
These four teachings are enlightening remedies.
You will need them to subdue the uncivilized.
In these degenerate times, they are needed to cope with evil associates and mistaken practices.

As soon as thoughts arise, flatten them in mind training or emptiness. Remedies aren’t just meditations to be used when it’s convenient. As soon as disturbing emotions arise, jump on them, round them up, isolate and crush them. Don’t plan many different projects for the present or future. Concentrate only on what helps your mind and on doing the best you can to destroy ego-clinging. Since freedom from ego-clinging is buddhahood, this single goal is enough. There is no need to enumerate the stages on the path. These four teachings summarize all the remedies concerned with enlightenment.

Adverse conditions are spiritual friends.
Devils and demons are emanations of the victorious ones.
Illness is the broom for evil and obscurations.
Suffering is the dance of what is.
These four teachings are for really disruptive emotions.
You will need them to subdue the uncivilized.
In these degenerate times, they are needed to cope with evil associates and mistaken practices.

You don’t have to avoid adverse conditions, since they perform the function of a spiritual friend. By using adverse conditions, you can gather the accumulations, clear away obscurations, be reminded of dharma, and derive benefit from your understanding. There is no need to be frightened of visions and hallucinations associated with gods or devils or of the trouble that demons cause. Because they help to increase your faith and virtue, they are emanations of your guru or of buddhas. Since previous evil karma is stirred up when you practice the holy dharma properly, various physical illnesses come again and again. When this happens, work at being joyful when ill, since it is repeatedly said in the sutras that even a slight headache, to say nothing of a serious illness, is like a broom sweeping away dust. Sickness clears away all the evil and obscurations gathered from time without beginning. When suffering comes, if you look at just what it is, it arises as emptiness. However much you suffer, the suffering is just the dance of what is, so you shouldn’t be depressed. It’s good if all these things happen, since they can be taken as aids to putting dharma into practice. Thus, the key point is not to avoid these four instructions for really disruptive emotions. Put them into practice.

There’s a great yoke for happiness.
There’s a great lift for suffering.
The unwanted is the first wish.
The worst portents are joyfully accepted.
These four teachings are correctives for other remedies.
You will need them to subdue the uncivilized.
In these degenerate times, they are needed
To cope with evil associates and mistaken practices.

When you are happy and comfortable in body and mind, the desire to do something not concerned with dharma comes up. When you look at just what this feeling of happiness is, there is nothing substantial to it. Take this situation into practice by giving this mere appearance of happiness to all sentient beings. Not to succumb to this appearance of happiness, just to rest in a natural state, is the yoke for happiness. When you are suffering, don’t despair. When you look at just what it is, it disappears as being empty. In addition to the appearance of suffering, take on the suffering and unhappiness of all sentient beings and rest in a natural state. This practice is the lift for suffering. When everything you don’t want or don’t wish for descends on you, in being an aid to destroying ego-clinging it is, in fact, your first wish, your first concern. Let your mind rest happily at ease as you think:

This is what you wanted, ego-clinging. May it completely destroy you.

When there are bad portents or when hallucinations occur, you wonder a lot about what is happening and what you should do. At such times, think:

This had to happen. It’s good that it has come up. May all bad portents be heaped on top of this ego-cherishing,

and rest without self-indulgence or hesitation. These four teachings are correctives for situations other remedies can’t handle.

Ego is the root of faults.
This is a teaching to throw it out.
Others are the source of fine qualities.
This is a teaching to accept them completely.
These two teachings summarize remedies.
You will need them to subdue the uncivilized.
In these degenerate times, they are needed
To cope with evil associates and mistaken practices.

To be brief, because the whole basis of mind training is contained in the two principles of throwing out concern for your own welfare and taking complete hold of the welfare of others, these teachings summarize this course of instruction. For this reason, take it as the basis for practice.

Turn error right around and look right in.
Relax completely and rest comfortably.
Not being held, they will go freely.

If you follow any thought or emotion, major or minor, and let your mind wander outward, your work is in error and you’re no different from an ordinary person. Turn your attention right in and look right at your mind. When you look at it, nothing is seen. Relax completely, let everything go, and rest in that state of emptiness. No matter how many thoughts or emotions there are, when they aren’t held, they go freely on their own and become the accumulation of pristine wisdom. This instruction is the essence of meditation on ultimate bodhicitta.

Conclusion

THIS TRADITION of the seven points includes all the essential points of practice of every tradition of commentary that transmitted instructions for the mind-training practice coming from the oral tradition of Atisha. Of all the innumerable authors and their commentaries, detailed or brief, I have received precisely this interpretation from the written commentaries of the very noble Gyal-se Rinpoche Tokme and the noble and revered Kunga Nyingpo. All the teachings given by notable persons have been gathered and distilled into a single elixir, which is presented here with the principal aim of being easily understood by beginners. Thus, this comprehensive and clarifying work was composed only with the noble intention to help others.

The source of the path of sutras and tantras,
The vital essence of all holy dharma,
Profound yet easily practiced,
Arises wonderfully from all instruction.
It’s difficult to hear deep teaching like this.
It’s difficult to apply it when heard.
To act on this is to be rich in merit.
It’s as rare these days as gold found on the ground.
Now, too much talk is wearisome,
But with the pure wish to help others
I have written this text.
By this virtue, may all beings
Master the two bodhicittas.

At the long-standing urging of my student Karma Tu-tob, who is well versed in the five fields of learning, and at the more recent requests of the incarnate Karma Tabke Namrol, who has undertaken to hold closely to bodhicitta with honest determination, and of Lama Karma Ngedon and others who are worthy in their adherence to practice, and in the face of consistent entreaties by those who wished to clarify their practice, Lodru Taye, a subject of the kind lords Karmapa and Situ, composed this work in the retreat center of the Clear Light Park of Great Bliss and Total Goodness at Pepung Monastery. May infinite numbers of beings benefit.

May virtue grow strong.