Intermediate Buddhism: The 7 Points Of Mind Training

The 7 Points of Mind Training begins with the foundation of self-love. Awakening the heart of compassion is an invitation to connect to all beings with an open and tender heart. The first step is to get in touch with the bottomless well of love which is the nature of each one of us. In order to truly immerse ourselves in our own kindness and care, we need to turn this care toward ourselves. Training in the habit of love is the method to find the depth of our own hearts in order to orient ourselves toward the world with a caring attitude. Today has only one slogan: 1. First, train in the preliminaries.

The next step in living a harmonious and meaningful life is to train to tolerate our own experience, and to care about it. The reason we’re often not there for others is that we’re not here for ourselves. Compassion is a natural instinct, but we may not be trained to turn toward our difficulties. Instead we may think our pain is wrong or overwhelming, and we avoid it or pretend that it isn’t there. The practice of self-compassion is the doorway. To support our orientation toward that which is unwanted, today’s teachings introduce the Buddhist concept of emptiness. Today's slogans are: 2. Regard all dharmas as dreams. 3. Examine the nature of awareness. 4. Self-liberate even the antidote. 5. Rest in the openness of mind. 6. In life, realize the illusory nature of the world and let go. 7. Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath. 8. Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself. 9. Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds 10. In all activities, train with slogans.

Today takes us right to the heart of the Lojong teaching, as we learn to use our difficulties as the path to our happiness. We need to first acknowledge that everyone has problems- it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with us. And then we need to get past the habit of blaming in order to see where we have been potentially making our own situation worse. We will practice today dealing with a difficult situation. With gratitude, generosity and openness we find the possibility for compassionate and constructive communication. Today we study the following slogans: 11. Transform all problems into the path. 12. Drive all blames into one. 13. Be grateful to everyone. 14. Practice openness in the midst of confusion. 15. Be generous and don’t harm. 16. Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation.

Today we realize that practice isn’t something we do for a few minutes each morning and then go on to other things. Rather, it’s an attitude with which we can approach everything. The Buddhist list of the 5 strengths describe how to cultivate the spirit that we need to energize ourselves on the path, to live well. And whatever will help us to live well will also help us to feel good about our lives when we look back at the end of our lives, and ultimately to die well. Today we practice offering compassion to those we love. Today's slogans are the following: 17. Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions. 18. Practice for death as well as for life.

Today’s teaching gives us guidance to broaden and deepen our practice. We need to be able to assess for ourselves how it’s going, and trust our own evaluation. We want to delight in our progress in order to motivate ourselves for future practice. And we also learn that when things aren’t going smoothly, we are likely overly oriented toward ourselves, and that turning toward the perspectives and experiences of others is the key to living in harmony. To help with this, we practice offering compassion to those we don’t know well. Today's slogans are as follows: 19. All dharma agrees at one point. 20. Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one. 21. Always maintain only a joyful mind. 22. If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.

Today we discuss the discipline of relationship. To live in harmony, we need to learn to take responsibility for our own emotions. If we stop criticizing and disparaging others - which only makes them act worse - our kindness might help them heal. For the happiness of ourselves and others, we need to release our resentments and treat all beings with respect. We’re training ourselves to be different, which will free up others to be different in return, so that we can cease co-creating our problems. To support this, we practice offering compassion to folks we find difficult. Today we have 16 slogans: 23. Always abide by the three basic principles. 24. Change your attitude, but remain natural. 25. Don’t talk about injured limbs. 26. Don’t ponder others. 27. Work with your biggest problems first. 28. Abandon any hope of fruition. 29. Abandon poisonous food. 30. Don’t be so predictable. 31. Don’t malign others. 32. Don’t wait in ambush. 33. Don’t bring things to a painful point. 34. Don’t transfer the ox’s load to the cow. 35. Don’t try to be the fastest. 36. Don’t act with a twist. 37. Don’t make gods into demons. 38. Don’t seek others’ pain as the limbs of your own happiness.

Today we work toward compassionate communication. We begin by considering our deepest, most meaningful intention. We realize that only we can change our own minds, and we commit to examining our mind to see where we may be making things worse. We need to uncover and get past our biases and misperceptions and face our resentments. We have to let go of self-pity, jealousy, shallowness, and thoughtlessness. We close with the practice of compassion for all beings. We need to cultivate an awakened heart-mind not for the approval of others, but for the healing of ourselves and the world. Today we finish with the following 21 slogans: 39. All activities should be done with one intention. 40. Correct all wrongs with one intention. 41. Two activities: one at the beginning, one at the end. 42. Whichever of the two occurs, be patient. 43. Observe, even at the risk of your life. 44. Train in the three difficulties. 45. Take on the three principal causes. 46. Pay heed that the three never wane. 47. Keep the three inseparable. 48. Train without bias in all areas. 49. Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment. 50. Don’t be swayed by external circumstances. 51. This time, practice the main points. 52. Don’t misinterpret. 53. Don’t vacillate. 54. Train wholeheartedly. 55. Liberate yourself by examining and analyzing. 56. Don’t wallow in self-pity. 57. Don’t be jealous. 58. Don’t be frivolous. 59. Don’t expect applause.