lojong intro and point 1: the preliminaries

introduction

lojong is a Buddhist practice that involves working with slogans or short phrases in order to develop bodhichitta (enlightened heart and mind). the Tibetan word lojong consists of two parts: lo, meaning attitude, mind, intelligence, or perspective; and jong, meaning to train or remedy. lojong is usually translated as mind training. this training can be engaged during our formal practice. however, the most transformative practice is right in the present moment, when the mind engages in the habit of dualistic thinking and interpretation. lojong practice is particularly helpful when we are dealing with adversity. at such times it is liberating to bring our attention to our own mind and work with it directly. for those who are more familiar with Buddhist teachings, the slogans act as reminders of the most profound of these teachings.

the two main teachers we will reference in our lojong programs are Traleg Kyabgon and Alan Wallace. Wallace sees the lojong as a form of attitudinal healing. Kyabgon describes it as a kind of strength training for the mind, a practice to make us feel less of a victim to our circumstance and more like the author of our lives.

Buddhism sees intelligence as having emotional and intellectual aspects. intelligence is understood to be mind’s capacity to think clearly as well as feel and experience emotion. the purpose of mind-training, then, is to make intelligent use of our emotional nature. this becomes possible when we’re able to shift our perspective and see things in a different way. yesterday’s adversity becomes today’s practice. as the lojong addresses both intellect and emotion, this program has direct relevance to working with emotion.

the seven points of mind training make us more intelligent by reorienting the way we think, what we think about, and how we utilize our emotions.

Traleg Kyabgon

the lojong teachings belong within the Mahayana (Great Vehicle) teachings of Buddhism. these teachings focus mainly on using our everyday circumstance for our spiritual development. our pain is mainly caused by ego-fixation, not external circumstance. we desire certain outcomes, try to avoid others, and pay no attention to the rest. all our emotional and thought disturbances arise from this egoic fixation. the aim of lojong is to tame this fixation. the Mahayana view is that we don’t need to be scared of our imperfections or try to hide them. instead, we can regard them— like all other experience— as manure for the field of bodhi (awakening).

real change doesn’t originate from a worldly or intellectual decision that says, “I will stop doing this and begin to do that,” or “I will try to see things in this or that way.” it comes from a transcendental view of knowledge that allows us to sustain a panoramic perspective of our predicament.

Traleg Kyabgon

during the practice, we hold the slogan or instruction in mind. this allows us to see more than we habitually do. we glimpse a different perspective, or have an insight. this very insight is what takes us out of the unharmonious state and restores a state of harmony. the experience is like finding the right tool to fix a particular problem. we know what to do and where to keep the attention, and the “problem” resolves itself without our intervention or habitual action. over time, and with repetition, we begin to remember the slogans in difficult circumstances, and we become used to intervening in our own thinking and feeling processes, not because there is anything wrong with them, but because they rob us of clarity and compassion.

Tibetan Buddhist practice isn’t just sitting in silent meditation; it’s developing fresh attitudes that align our minds with reality.

Alan Wallace

different lojongs have been composed over the centuries, but the lojong attributed to Atisha, who lived at the end of the first millennium (982 – 1054), is the one most widely taught, and the one we’ll be exploring. the traditional root text is called the Seven Point Mind Training.

below is an overview of the seven points. we will unpack them sequentially. the whole lojong consists of fifty-nine slogans, spread over the seven points:

point one: the preliminaries or foundations of practice (slogan 1)
point two: the actual practice — cultivating bodhicitta (slogans 2 to 10)
point three: transforming adversity into the path of awakening (slogans 11 – 16)
point four: maintaining practice everywhere in our life and for the duration of our life (slogans 17 – 18)
point five: evaluation of mind training (slogans 19 – 22)
point six: commitments of mind training (slogans 23 – 38)
point seven: guidelines for mind training (slogans 39 – 59)

for Wallace, the goal of Buddhist practice is to “realize a state of genuine well-being that flows from a wellspring of awareness that is pure and unobscured.” the state he refers to is not dependent on pleasurable stimuli, but on the direct experience of awareness itself. the object of mind training is to establish and maintain this state in our daily lives. the easiest and quickest way to do this is to use all the events of our life as opportunities to practice, and to find ways of being that are conducive to our own and others’ well-being.

the Seven Point Mind Training is the essence of Dharma, a concise array of methods to achieve genuine happiness no matter what our circumstances. in its fullest dimension, the Mind Training is also a complete path to enlightenment.

Alan Wallace

point one: the preliminaries

1. first, train in the preliminaries

the “preliminaries” are the beginning and foundation of the path. they are also known as the “four thoughts that turn the mind.” they turn our mind back to its Source, or its spiritual path.

these four meditations remind us of what is important. they are practiced at the beginning of every practice session (with any slogan). in time, they become embedded in the mind and arise naturally, several times per day. when we engage these practices and teachings it is helpful to cultivate an attitude of interested humility: curious and open, and willing to learn. In his book The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche writes:

“not to listen is to be like a pot turned upside down. not to be able to retain what you hear is to be like a pot with a hole in it. to mix negative emotions with what you hear is to be like a pot with poison in it.”

for each of the four meditations, allow yourself to contemplate the statement. you can do this as part of your formal practice, or on the spot. simply ask yourself what the meaning of the contemplation would be in terms of your current experience.

let’s look at the four meditations:

1. the rare and precious human life of leisure and opportunity

unless we are destitute or live in a war zone, most of us have time for leisure, and we can recognize this as a precious opportunity. we have the opportunity to choose what we want to fill our time with, and we can become deeply aware of this. many people do not have this luxury, and have to eke out a living day to day. we also have the immense opportunity to find the spiritual teachings or teachers who speak to us most directly. all of these benefits arise from having a human life, opportunity, and leisure time.

spiritual practice is not a shortcut to the American Dream, nor is it an embellishment to a comfortable life. Dharma addresses the root causes of suffering and requires that we take a hard look at the preconceptions that maintain our worldview and perpetuate our problems.

Alan Wallace

most of the time we don’t feel appreciation or gratitude because we’re so caught up in dealing with worldly activities. we have many preconceptions, including what Buddhism calls the eight worldly dharmas (or eight worldly teachings). these are four pairs of opposite situations that we are deeply invested in having or avoiding, namely:

we all want gain, pleasure, praise and fame, and we all fear loss, pain, blame, and a bad reputation. from the perspective of Buddhism, all of these states are part of being human, so we will all experience them at one or more times in our life. we don’t need to identify one half as good and the other half as bad, as they are all just experience. if we don’t see this, we create our own pain, and set ourselves up for disappointment. none of the states are a true cause of happiness, and none of them prevent happiness.

the preciousness of our life is also represented by the fact that life will provide us with endless opportunities to practice, keep the heart open, and to find compassion and true happiness.

2. death and impermanence

now we’re invited to meditate on death and impermanence, as a reminder that our life is not as stable as we may think it is. we’re invited to examine our unexamined assumption of immortality. everything that is conditioned is also impermanent. when we overlook impermanence, we become more easily attached, trying to hold onto that which is passing, and identifying with our feelings and thoughts. we have to learn that observation of feeling and thought is more important. it is easier to let go of that which is observed than that which we are identified with. for example, it is easier to let go of anger when we see our own anger than it is when we are identified with our anger, because in the latter case we see life through our anger.

mindfulness of feelings is a key to understanding subtle impermanence. the practice of observing feelings starts with very sharp attention. what is the nature of feelings? what is involved in the arising of a pleasurable feeling? when the stimulus is withdrawn, what happens to the feeling?

Alan Wallace

when we meditate on death and impermanence, we can reflect on what is worth pursuing and what we can let go from our lives. we can look deeper into our thoughts, feelings, and actions. we can recognize what transforms our negative emotions into more positive ones, and stop chasing experience. when we look deeply into ourselves, it is very clear that our deepest joy does not come from the outside, but from within.

if even mountains are subject to change and dissolution, how much more so is my body, which is susceptible to disease, breakdown, the elements, accidents, and all kinds of harm? I must utilize my opportunities now, before that chance is lost forever.

Traleg Kyabgon

3. the unsatisfactory nature of the cycle of existence (samsara)

the high have mental suffering;
for the common it comes from the body.
day by day, both kinds of suffering
overwhelm people in the world.
Shantideva

now we meditate on the pervasiveness of discontent and suffering. we can recognize the different forms of suffering, including 1. the suffering of suffering — illness, pain, and disappointment; 2. the suffering of change — loss, dissatisfaction; 3. the suffering of conditioned existence — that is, the suffering of vulnerability and our proneness to problems.

then we can reflect on how we create our own suffering by being attached, feeling angry, or being indifferent. we can look into the emotions that arise from these reactions, and how much this robs us of joy. we can begin to recognize that, in our righteousness, judgment, arrogance, inflexibility, and pride, we are investing in an entity— the self— that only exists in our thoughts.

the primary delusion of our self as an inherently existent, autonomous entity is the source of all mental afflictions.

Alan Wallace

4. karma

the result of wholesome action is happiness; the result of unwholesome action is suffering, and nothing else. these results are not interchangeable: when you plant buckwheat, you get buckwheat; when you plant barley, you get barley.

Jamgön Kongtrül

karma is the Sanskrit word for action. in a more general sense, it refers to the nature of actions and how their consequences play out over time. it is the cause-and-effect law of life. Buddhism teaches that certain types of action give rise to good consequences, and others to bad consequences. for the Buddhist, every action, including mental actions, leaves seeds or imprints on the continuity of experience. whether we’re involved in joyful activity or traumatizing circumstance, the experience embeds as memory, leading to many emotional and behavioral tendencies. these tendencies become patterns, beliefs, and habits. they also move from one life to another as conditioning. no God or Buddha is responsible for what happens to us during our lifetime. our circumstance is fundamentally seeded through previous actions.

we’ll be looking more closely at karma in the being-knowing section. for the moment, we can keep it simple by giving the ten virtues and ten non-virtues described in Buddhism. you will notice that they speak directly to our everyday being.

virtuous and non-virtuous action both result in karma. the imprint or seed can lie dormant for a long time, even lifetimes, before a catalyst triggers its ripening. in that moment, we will act based on our memory pattern. if the earlier action led to more harmony, then there will be more harmony, and if the intent was harmful, we will be more likely to repeat such harm.

due to the influence of past lives, sentient beings are strongly conditioned even before conception. therefore cultivating wholesome tendencies is a top priority of Dharma practice.

Alan Wallace

if we live with these preliminaries we will soon feel their power. whenever we find ourselves in difficult situations it is helpful to be reminded that what we experience is normal, and part of life. we are reminded that our experience is impermanent, that our suffering is part of this human experience, and that who we choose to be will become our future. when these four thoughts become part of our being we can begin to see the enormous opportunity that lies at the heart of our difficulties. later, we will deal with some slogans specifically chosen for their capacity to help us in adversity. in the next program we’ll focus on point two, which is the heart or core practice of lojong.