The Dalai Lama and Mind Training
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The Dalai Lama and Mind Training
The main purpose of mind training is to help loosen our self-centeredness and selfishness attitudes. The techniques that the Mind Training tradition presents allow us to challenge our usual view of ourselves—the view that we are the one and only important thing in the world.
His Holiness has taught in detail on the Mind Training tradition over many decades, both within traditional monastic contexts and to international audiences. Mind training is one of the principal subjects that he considers essential to share with all beings across the world.
The Importance of Mind Training
While teaching in the Netherlands in 2018, His Holiness explained why mind training is essential in our lives, and also our Buddhist practice, declaring:
Training the mind makes a difference. Until I was about 13 years old, I had little interest in what I was studying. Gradually I developed an appreciation that it could be useful. After I reached India I reviewed what I had studied before, but my target was now the attainment of enlightenment not just passing an exam. I’ve found that trying to understand emptiness and extending a sense of altruism has the effect of loosening the grip of self-centredness. I believe that if I have benefited from doing this, if you study and practise, you can benefit from it too.[1]
Mind training helps to improve our minds by opening our eyes to the situation of others. It helps us to see from a different perspective, a perspective that is much less self-centered. As His Holiness explains, making a concerted effort to understand emptiness and develop altruism gradually loosens the single-pointed focus on ourselves, allowing us to eventually focus instead on the welfare and happiness of others.
He considers the texts on mind training to be an essential foundation on which we should build our practice. Even when bestowing Tantric empowerments to large public gatherings, whether in traditional Asian settings or in international contexts, His Holiness always makes a point to teach these more fundamental texts as a preliminary introduction to the Buddhist path. He often jokes that since few people are qualified to engage fully with the Tantric teachings, he tricks them by advertising high level teachings, but then for the majority of the actual teaching he focuses on a lengthy series of preliminary teachings.
His Holiness and the Eight Verses of Training the Mind
When teaching before large audiences, His Holiness often includes mind training texts such as the famous Kadampa master Geshe Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind (བློ་སྦྱོང་ཚིག་བརྒྱད་མ།). This is a text that he feels is particularly suitable for Western audiences, especially those who are non-Buddhist. It provides very practical advice on how to deal with challenging situations that occur in our daily lives. It encourages us to find dynamic responses to difficult experiences and to transform our habitual negative reactions into wisdom and compassion for others. His Holiness has taught the Eight Verses numerous times. While teaching it in the Netherlands, he introduced the verses by saying:
Today, I’ll be teaching this small text, the ‘Eight Verses for Training the Mind’, which is mainly about altruism . . . [E]veryone can find it useful, not just Buddhists. Whether you’re Jewish, Christian or Muslim, genuine practitioners all value the practice of loving kindness. Sometimes if the book we’re looking at is thick it can become boring, but this one is small enough to slip into your pocket. I received this teaching when I was about 15 or 16 years old. I memorized the text, recite it daily and have found it useful.[2]
The Eight Verses spans just a few pages and is easily carried around with us as a source of practical advice. Despite its brevity, the meaning of each of its verses is extremely helpful in our daily lives and relevant to people of every religious tradition, as well as to those with no religious beliefs at all.
While teaching the Eight Verses in Manchester, England, His Holiness commented on the benefits of studying this kind of text and encouraged incremental progress, advising us to take it one step at a time:
Even if we cannot remove all of the disturbing emotions, if we apply the advice given in these eight verses, we will at least find a degree of peace.[3]
Here, His Holiness is making the point that you don't have to be some advanced practitioner to get something out of this text. Whether you're just starting out or have been at it for years, applying even a little of this advice can bring some relief—you don't need to have mastered every teaching, or removed every disturbing emotion, to feel the benefit.
Additionally, His Holiness also jokes about the author of this text, Geshe Langri Thangpa, remarking that he felt so strongly for the suffering of others that he was known for his sad face. But here, he suggests that cultivating compassion for the suffering of others does not inevitably lead to a sorrowful or doleful demeanor:
Geshe Langri Thangpa constantly cultivated bodhichitta and was so moved by the suffering of sentient beings that he regularly wept and was known for his doleful expression. I too have cultivated bodhichitta for more than 50 years on the basis of teachings I received on Shantideva's 'Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life'. However, I don’t pull a long face like Langri Thangpa because the 'Guide' advises:
- Your own nature mastered in this way;
you should always have a smiling face.
You should give up frowning and grimacing,
be the first to speak, a friend to the universe.
- Your own nature mastered in this way;
I try to cultivate bodhichitta all the time and I recite the 'Eight Verses' every day, but I still laugh and smile. I consider all sentient beings to be my friends and think of them with compassion and affection. Combining such an attitude with some understanding of emptiness brings me peace of mind[4]
His Holiness reminds us here of the importance of showing a smiling face to the beings of the world. This is not artificial or hypocritical. Even if we are not feeling well in ourselves, if we are grounded in a feeling of deep empathy and compassion for other beings, we can still understand their pain and produce a smile for them.
His Holiness's Verse-by-Verse Instructions on the Eight Verses of Mind Training
Verse 1
With a determination to achieve the highest aim For the benefit of all sentient beings Who surpass even the wish-fulfilling gem May I hold them dear at all times.[5]
The first verse of the text encourages us to view all beings as dear to us. This feeling should not just be directed toward those who we feel close to, or toward those who help and support us. This must be an attitude that extends to even our worst enemies. We hold them as dear as if we had found a rare treasure capable of granting all our wishes.
Commenting on this verse, His Holiness urges us to turn around our lack of empathy and concern for others. Especially if we are spiritual practitioners, we must recognize the kindness that beings have shown us and hold them in very high esteem:
The original version of this verse was not written as an aspiration but as a statement of resolve, so instead of 'May I hold them dear at all times' it read, 'I shall always hold them dear.' However, later this was turned into a form of aspiration. As I said earlier, normally we are concerned, in fact obsessed with our own well-being, and remain totally oblivious to the well-being of others. When we think of 'others', either we completely ignore them or we are simply not interested. At worst, we are even prepared to exploit them for the fulfilment of our own aims. The author of our text is suggesting that this is the wrong approach for spiritual practitioners. We must try to reverse this attitude so that we regard other sentient beings as precious, like wish-fulfilling jewels, and relate to them with veneration and recognition of their kindness.[6]
Verse 2
Whenever I interact with someone May I view myself as the lowest amongst all And from the very depths of my heart Respectfully hold others as superior.[7]
The second verse highlights one of the main obstacles to the practice of compassion and bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of awakening. Conceit, or any form of self-importance, acts as an immediate impediment to the cultivation of any genuine altruistic intention or wish that others be free from suffering. The most effective remedy against conceit is the cultivation of humility. Therefore, the verse advises us to always hold ourselves as the lowest and others as superior.
In his commentary to this verse, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains that we must connect with all other beings with a sense of respect and reverence for them and continually cultivate compassion and loving-kindness toward them:
The practices presented in this stanza directly relate to the first stanza, in which we learned to cultivate the attitude of viewing all sentient beings as more precious than a wish-granting jewel. Here the author instructs us to cultivate this attitude while maintaining a deep respect for all sentient beings. In other words, we should not have a sense of superiority, thinking that we are cultivating loving kindness and compassion towards all those other unfortunate suffering beings. Instead, we should relate to them with respect and reverence; in fact, when we interact with them, we should regard ourselves as in some ways actually inferior to them.[8]
He goes on to stress the importance of humility for mind training and the bodhisattva path in general and highlights the remarkable humility of the great masters of old, such as the Kadampa masters. Furthermore, he presents a delightful story about the incredible humility of the great nineteenth-century nonsectarian master Patrul Rinpoche:
If we look at the examples of the great Kadampa masters, such as Dromtönpa, we find that their entire lives demonstrate the importance of the practice of humility. They set the ideal example of how, when relating to others, we should regard them as objects of veneration.
I can tell you a more recent story to illustrate this point. The great nineteenth-century Tibetan Dzokchen meditator Dza Patrul Rinpoche always maintained a demeanour of true humility. At one time, when he was giving a series of teachings to a large crowd of students, he experienced a forceful yearning for solitude. So one day he quietly left his residence and disappeared, dressed like an ordinary pilgrim and carrying a walking staff and very little else. When he reached a nomadic camp he sought shelter for a few days with one of the families. While he was staying with them, his hostess asked him to read some texts and, since he looked just like an ordinary pilgrim, in return for his food and lodging she asked him to help with the household chores, which included the disposal of the contents of her chamber pot.
One day, while he was away from the camp attending to this task, some of his well-dressed monk students came looking for him. When his hostess heard their description of him, she suddenly realised this was the same person she had asked to throw away the contents of her chamber pot. It is said she was so embarrassed that she just ran away! Such was the humility of this great teacher, who had many thousands of students.[9]
Patrul Rinpoche was so beyond any of the worldly concerns such as fame and reputation that he was prepared to serve a nomadic woman, carrying out even the most menial of chores, even though he was already a renowned teacher and had a whole retinue of students. This is the true meaning and practice of humility.
Verse 3
In all my deeds may I probe into my mind, And as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise, As they endanger myself and others, May I strongly confront them and avert them.[10]
In commentary to this verse, His Holiness deeply impresses on us one of the central practices of the Buddhist way—the awareness of the moment when negative states of mind arise in us, and the ability and know-how to challenge them and eventually defeat them. While teaching the Eight Verses in Washington DC in 1998, His Holiness remarked on the importance of this:
When we talk about Dharma in the context of Buddhist teachings, we are talking about nirvana, or freedom from suffering. Freedom from suffering, nirvana, or cessation is the true Dharma. There are many levels of cessation--for example, restraint from killing or murder could be a form of Dharma. But this cannot be called Buddhist Dharma specifically because restraint from killing is something that even someone who is nonreligious can adopt as a result of following the law. The essence of the Dharma in the Buddhist tradition is that state of freedom from suffering and defilements (Skt. klesha, Tib. nyon mongs) that lie at the root of suffering. This verse addresses how to combat these defilements or afflictive emotions and thoughts. One could say that for a Buddhist practitioner, the real enemy is this enemy within--these mental and emotional defilements. It is these emotional and mental afflictions that give rise to pain and suffering. The real task of a buddhadharma practitioner is to defeat this inner enemy.[11]
His Holiness stresses the need to aim not just for the temporary cessation of a few afflicted mental states but for the goal of the complete abandonment of all suffering, the attainment of the liberated state of nirvāṇa. This involves our understanding that our real enemy is not someone outside but instead these afflicted internal mental states. They must be challenged and overcome if we are to progress in our practice.
The Dalai Lama then goes on to remind us that real Dharma practice involves applying the antidotes to those defiled mental states:
Since applying antidotes to these mental and emotional defilements lies at the heart of the Dharma practice and is in some sense its foundation, the third verse suggests that it is very important to cultivate mindfulness right from the beginning. Otherwise, if you let negative emotions and thoughts arise inside you without any sense of restraint, without any mindfulness of their negativity, then in a sense you are giving them free reign. They can then develop to the point where there is simply no way to counter them. However, if you develop mindfulness of their negativity, then when they occur, you will be able to stamp them out as soon as they arise. You will not give them the opportunity or the space to develop into full-blown negative emotional thoughts. The way in which this third verse suggests we apply an antidote is, I think, at the level of the manifested and felt experience of emotion. Instead of getting at the root of emotion in general, what is being suggested is the application of antidotes that are appropriate to specific negative emotions and thoughts. For example, to counter anger, you should cultivate love and compassion. To counter strong attachment to an object, you should cultivate thoughts about the impurity of that object, its undesirable nature, and so on. To counter one's arrogance or pride, you need to reflect upon shortcomings in you that can give rise to a sense of humility. For example, you can think about all the things in the world about which you are completely ignorant. Take the sign language interpreter here in front of me. When I look at her and see the complex gestures with which she performs the translation, I haven't a clue what is going on, and to see that is quite a humbling experience. From my own personal experience, whenever I have a little tingling sense of pride, I think of computers. It really calms me down![12]
Mindfulness of what we are doing, saying, and thinking is the bedrock upon which our spiritual practice is built. This is particularly true of internal mental states. With mindfulness, we are able to identify when negative thoughts arise in our minds, and through immediately applying the antidote to them, we can cut off all the faulty actions and speech that follow from unconstructive thoughts.
Verse 4
When I see beings of unpleasant character Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering May I hold them dear, for they are rare to find, As if I have discovered a jewel treasure![13]
Verse 4 encourages us to rise above our feelings of distance and aversion to those whom we find unpleasant in character or appearance. We may find ourselves recoiling from those who look unusual or even threatening, and we find it hard to come face to face with those suffering terrible circumstances. Langri Thangpa reminds us that instead of pulling back, we must hold these people dear as though we have discovered an immense treasure:
In commentary to this verse, His Holiness explains what is meant by "beings of unpleasant character" and those "oppressed with suffering":
This verse refers to the special case of relating to people who are socially marginalized, perhaps because of their behavior, their appearance, their destitution, or on account of some illness. Whoever practices bodhichitta must take special care of these people, as if on meeting them, you have found a real treasure. Instead of feeling repulsed, a true practitioner of these altruistic principles should engage and take on the challenge of relating. In fact, the way we interact with people of this kind could give a great impetus to our spiritual practice.[14]
True practitioners who value the altruistic mind should never feel a sense of revulsion for the destitute or marginalized. Instead, they should embrace them and take particular care of them. As His Holiness says, we must treat them as though we have found a treasure of great value. Relating to them in this way will bring tremendous power to our practice.
Verse 5
When others out of jealousy treat me wrongly With abuse, slander and scorn May I take upon myself the defeat And offer to others the victory.[15]
Langri Thangpa's next verse challenges the competitive feelings that often arise within us in relation to others. This is especially true of those strong feelings that make us wish to dominate, defeat, and triumph over others.
This is a verse that strikes at the heart of how we feel when others treat us badly, put us down, or slander us. This is especially true when they attack us without reason. Our immediate reaction is usually resentment, quickly followed by the wish to retaliate. Langri Thangpa encourages us to instead accept defeat and refrain from seeking a hollow victory over others.
His Holiness encourages us to develop this unique way of turning the tables on our normal reactions to being treated badly. But he also points out that there is a context to these practices, and that the underlying principle is to consider the long-term welfare of others, rather than the short-term hurt we may feel:
This stanza refers to the need on the part of practitioners of Bodhicitta to cultivate a special attitude toward those who make groundless accusations against us and who pour scorn and abuse upon us. It advises that we must willingly take the defeat upon ourselves and offer victory to the other. However, it is important to understand the full context of this practice of accepting defeat and offering victory to others, including an appreciation of the special circumstances under which a different approach may be necessary.
The general principle underlying this advice is that practitioners of bodhicitta must always consider the long-term benefit of others, while at the same time considering the negative consequences of a certain course of action. For instance, rather than allowing someone to continue to indulge in unjust actions which could be detrimental to that individual in the long run, out of compassion it may sometimes be necessary to take strong measures to halt these negative acts. So accepting the defeat and offering the victory does not mean just giving in or responding with apathy. Rather, we should determine the most appropriate course of action in any given situation. The point is that practitioners of bodhicitta should not simply act out of an egoistic emotional impulse, thinking, "If I allow him to do this, he wins and I lose and therefore I must retaliate."[16]
As His Holiness says, this practice does not involve our giving in to bad behavior; rather, it encourages us to always consider the most appropriate way to react in each situation, for the maximum long-term welfare of all.
In the same teaching, His Holiness quotes from Śāntideva's great work The Way of the Bodhisattva, explaining how we will never find a single moment of worldly happiness if we do not exchange our self-centered view for one that cherishes others and holds them to be of supreme importance:
If one fails to exchange thoroughly One's own happiness with others' sufferings, Buddhahood is impossible; Even in cyclic existence there'll be no joy. (Chapter 8, verse 131)[17]
Verse 6
When someone whom I have helped Or in whom I have placed great hopes Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways May I regard him still as my precious teacher.[18]
The next verse encourages us to deal with our reaction when someone we have trusted—someone we've spent a lot of time and energy helping—turns on us and treats us unfairly or harms us.
In commentary to this verse, His Holiness the Dalai Lama points out that worldly people consider it normal, even justified, to get angry with someone who has broken our trust or has treated us in a harmful manner. However, for those who wish to follow the path of the bodhisattvas, these troublesome people must be the object of our patience and compassion:
According to worldly norms of human behavior, when we help someone and place great trust in them and they mistreat us in return, it is seen as reasonable to be angry with them because we have been hurt. However, practitioners of bodhicitta must not give into this type of conventional thinking. Instead, we should learn to view such people in a special way, as objects for our practice of forbearance and loving kindness. We must in fact recognise these people as our spiritual teachers.[19]
His Holiness stresses the importance of refraining from taking offense at these people. The best response is not to feel hurt and angry or view them as annoying. We should instead see them in the exact opposite way: we should learn to regard those who have broken our trust and taken advantage of us as our spiritual teachers, viewing them as a source of learning and an opportunity to practice patience.
Verse 7
In brief, may I offer benefit and joy To all my mothers, both directly and indirectly. May I quietly take upon myself All hurts and pains of my mothers.[20]
The essence of verse 7 is the Buddhist practice known as "the practice of giving and taking," or tonglen (གཏོང་ལེན་). Tonglen practice involves the visualization of giving away our happiness to others and taking on others' suffering. This practice is an integral part of the method for developing bodhicitta known as "equalizing and exchanging of self and others."
His Holiness describes how we are normally overcome by self-cherishing. This is our default way of engagement with the world. We may even take up spiritual practices that are designed to develop pure altruistic intent for others, but secretly wish for advantages for ourselves from the practices:
As I mentioned earlier, normally our actions are motivated by our self-cherishing attitude. Even when we engage in spiritual activities, our underlying motive often tends to be that they may be of benefit to ourselves. For example, we may engage in meditative visualizations, such as those of the Vajrayana Buddhist practices, ostensibly with the motivation to benefit others, yet there could be an underlying objective that this will bring us protection. In all our activities we retain this cherishing of the self as if it is our true refuge, our boss and our best friend, and we have the feeling that the welfare of others is totally unrelated to our own.[21]
His Holiness goes on to explain how the practice of "giving and taking" helps reduce our self-centered thoughts and actions:
The practice of tonglen, of giving and taking, completely reverses this process. Through this practice we come to recognize the disadvantages of harboring self-cherishing thoughts and the tremendous value of cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings. As we continue with the practice, over time we will come to hold this new way of thinking as a genuine treasure in our heart. This practice should be complemented in our day-to-day life by actually helping other sentient beings through such altruistic acts as giving to charity, attending to those who are sick, commiserating with those who are feeling miserable and so on.[22]
His Holiness goes on to describe in more detail the actual practice of tonglen and how we begin by mentally taking on others' suffering and the causes that they have created for that suffering:
In the tonglen meditation, we begin with the practice of taking, which involves the visualization of taking upon ourselves with each inhalation all the sufferings of other sentient beings, including even the origins of these sufferings and the very propensity for afflictions that exist in all beings. Then we undertake the practice of giving (which entails imagining) with each out-breath; offering our material resources, our body, and our collection of wholesome karma to all other sentient beings. Our primary objective by training our mind in this way is to bring about the welfare of other sentient beings. But at the same time the fulfillment of our own interests takes place as a by-product.[23]
It is only after we have taken on others' pain and suffering that we openly offer everything we have—our material resources, our time and energy, and all our positive karma—for the enjoyment and welfare of others. His Holiness is keen to point out that the practice of exchanging ourselves with others does not mean literally turning others into ourselves and ourselves into others. Instead, what is meant is to exchange the attitudes of cherishing, so that the focus shifts from ourselves to others:
"Exchanging ourselves with others" should not be taken in the literal sense of turning oneself into the other and the other into oneself. This is impossible anyway. What is meant here is a reversal of the attitudes one normally has towards oneself and others. We tend to relate to this so-called “self” as a precious core at the center of our being, something that is really worth taking care of, to the extent that we are willing to overlook the well-being of others. In contrast, our attitude towards others often resembles indifference; at best we may have some concern for them, but even this may simply remain at the level of a feeling or an emotion. On the whole we are indifferent towards others’ well-being and do not take it seriously. So the point of this particular practice is to reverse this attitude so that we reduce the intensity of our grasping and the attachment we have to ourselves, and endeavor to consider the well-being of others as significant and important.[24]
Thus, it is this complete indifference to others and our strong attachment to ourselves and our own welfare that we exchange.
His Holiness stresses that it is important for beginners to do these practices in the imagination first. It is only when we have developed skill and competency in them that we start to implement them directly in our lives. These practices are in no way designed to increase feelings of self-hatred or cause us to consider self-harm:
When approaching Buddhist practices of this kind, where there is a suggestion that we should take harm and suffering upon ourselves, I think it is vital to consider them carefully and appreciate them in their proper context. What is actually being suggested here is that if, in the process of following your spiritual path and learning to think about the welfare of others, you are led to take on certain hardships or even suffering, then you should be totally prepared for this. The texts do not imply that you should hate yourself, or be harsh on yourself, or somehow wish misery upon yourself in a masochistic way. It is important to know that this is not the meaning. . . .
A correct understanding of these passage[s] is very important, because otherwise you may use them to reinforce any feelings of self-hatred, thinking that if the self is the embodiment of self-centeredness, one should banish oneself into oblivion. Do not forget that ultimately the motivation behind wishing to follow a spiritual path is to attain supreme happiness, so, just as one seeks happiness for oneself one is also seeking happiness for others. Even from a practical point of view, for someone to develop genuine compassion towards others, first he or she must have a basis upon which to cultivate compassion, and that basis is the ability to connect to one’s own feelings and to care for one’s own welfare. If one is not capable of doing that, how can one reach out to others and feel concern for them? Caring for others requires caring for oneself.[25]
As the Dalai Lama explains here, there is no sense that these practices should in any way bring about harm to ourselves. We ourselves also wish to achieve the highest of happiness, and our own feelings and welfare are important too. If we are not grounded in the understanding that we too want happiness, reaching out to others and wishing them happiness will never fully succeed. What the practice does is reduce our blinkered self-centered attitude and gradually expand our perspective to increasingly make others' welfare the focus of our attention. For further details on tonglen practice and the practice of exchanging self and others, see the following links:
Verse 8
May all this remain undefiled By the stains of the eight mundane concerns And may I, recognising all things as illusion, Devoid of clinging, be released from bondage.[26]
The final verse of the Eight Verses puts all the previous ones into a deeper context. The previous seven verses have discussed mind training and the practices associated with bodhicitta from a conventional perspective. Here, we are presented with practices related to ultimate bodhicitta, or the ultimate mind of awakening, which is the cultivation of the wisdom directly realizing emptiness.
In the first two lines, Geshe Langri Thangpa reminds us that we must never allow our practice to become tainted by the eight worldly concerns. These are a set of four pairs, each pair identifying something that we wish to have and something that we wish to avoid. These are: gain and no gain, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, and fame and infamy.
Firstly, His Holiness explains in detail what each of these worldly concerns is, how prevalent they are in our lives, and how our everyday interactions with others are often defiled by our self-cherishing.
The first two lines of this verse are very critical for a genuine practitioner. The eight mundane concerns are attitudes that tend to dominate our lives generally. They are: becoming elated when someone praises you, becoming depressed when someone insults or belittles you, feeling happy when you experience success, being depressed when you experience failure, being joyful when you acquire wealth, feeling dispirited when you become poor, being pleased when you have fame, and feeling depressed when you lack recognition.[27]
He goes on to unpack why it is important for a true spiritual practitioner to avoid them, and the need to remain vigilant for the arising of even the subtlest forms of these negative states of mind:
A true practitioner should ensure that his or her cultivation of altruism is not defiled by these thoughts. For example, if, as I am giving this talk, I have even the slightest thought in the back of my mind that I hope people admire me, then that indicates that my motivation is defiled by mundane considerations, or what the Tibetans call the “eight mundane concerns.” It is very important to check oneself and ensure that is not the case. Similarly, a practitioner may apply altruistic ideals in his daily life, but if all of a sudden he feels proud about it and thinks, “Ah, I’m a great practitioner,” immediately the eight mundane concerns defile his practice. The same applies if a practitioner thinks, “I hope people admire what I’m doing,” expecting to receive praise for the great effort he is making. All these are mundane concerns that spoil one’s practice, and it is important to ensure that this does not happen so we keep our practice pure.[28]
His Holiness goes on to draw on a powerful quote from the Mind Training tradition to show how we use these methods of thought transformation to turn our normal way of engagement with others on its head. Instead of feeling joy when we are praised, we recognize the dangers of developing pride and replace that joy with a sense of contentment when we are put down or belittled:
As you can see, the instructions that you can find in the lo-jong teachings on transforming the mind are very powerful. They really make you think. For example there is a passage which says:
- May I be gladdened when someone belittles me, and may I not take pleasure when someone praises me. If I do take pleasure in praise then it immediately increases my arrogance, pride, and conceit; whereas if I take pleasure in criticism, then at least it will open my eyes to my own shortcomings.
This is indeed a powerful sentiment.[29]
The last two lines of verse 8 illustrate the depth of understanding that is required to remove the subtlest stains of these worldly concerns from our spiritual lives. To help us relate to this deepest level of reality, His Holiness draws parallels between Buddhist thought and the understandings of modern scientific theories such as quantum physics:
Finally, verse eight turns to a view of reality — ‘May I see all things as illusions’. Whether it’s related to pain or pleasure, everything appears to be independently existent. Quantum physics distinguishes between appearance and reality stating that things appear to be objectively existent, which they are not. Our friends and enemies appear to have such an objective status, but when we seek the basis of this appearance, we can’t find it. And yet, it’s because we think they exist intrinsically in this way that we generated anger or attachment towards them. Learning to see all things as illusions is what leads to gaining freedom from bondage.[30]
We are encouraged to see the difference between the way that things appear and their true underlying reality. From a Buddhist perspective, this relates to the misunderstanding of the true nature of ourselves and the world around us:
At a subtle level, even our grasping at the intrinsic existence of things is considered to be a form of mundane concern. We must ensure that all the practices of cultivating the altruistic mind of awakening remain free from any form of mundane concern, including this subtle grasping onto the inherent existence of our own self or other phenomena. This is why the cultivation of the wisdom of emptiness is crucial.[31]
His Holiness goes on to explain that in order to see things as illusory, we must first understand that all phenomena lack any form of intrinsic existence and that all phenomena exist only in relation to other phenomena and cannot be completely independent.
Generally speaking, there are two forms of meditation on emptiness. One is the space-like meditation on emptiness, which is characterized by the total absence or negation of inherent existence. The other is called the illusion-like meditation on emptiness. The space-like meditation must come first, because without the realization of the total absence of inherent existence, the illusion-like perception or understanding will not occur.
For the illusion-like understanding of all phenomena to occur, there needs to be a composite of both the perception or appearance and the negation, so that when we perceive the world and engage with it we can view all things and events as resembling illusions. We will recognize that although things appear to us, they are devoid of objective, independent, intrinsic existence. This is how the illusion-like understanding arises. The author of the Eight Verses indicates the experiential result when he writes: "May I, recognizing all things as illusion, devoid of clinging, be released from bondage."[32]
His Holiness ends by clarifying that within both non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions there are a wide range of interpretations as to what it means to be illusory:
When we speak of cultivating the illusion-like understanding of the nature of reality, we need to bear in mind the different interpretations of the term "illusion-like." The non-Buddhist Indian schools also speak of the illusion-like nature of reality, and there are different interpretations within Buddhist schools. For example, the Buddhist realist schools explain the nature of reality to be illusion-like in the sense that, although we tend to perceive things as having permanence, in reality they are changing moment by moment and it is this that gives them an illusion-like character.
In the context of our short text, the illusion-like nature of reality must be understood as relating to all things and events. Although we tend to perceive them as possessing some kind of intrinsic nature or existence, in reality they are all devoid of such reality. So there is a disparity between the way things appear to us and the way things really are. It is in this sense that things and events are said to have an illusion-like nature.[33]
In the Buddhist context, being like an illusion means that the appearance of something is different from the underlying reality. The self and all other phenomena exist in one way but appear in another. For instance, something that is impermanent can appear on its surface to be permanent. At a deeper level, phenomena lack any intrinsic or independent nature, and yet they appear to be independent and to exist from their own side. Seeing through these subtle illusions helps to develop wisdom that sees the true nature of things clearly. In conclusion to his teaching on the Eight Verses, His Holiness reminds us of the purpose of developing this wisdom and gives us a practical example to show how seeing things as they truly are, rather than as they merely appear, can lead to less pain and difficulty:
The whole point of meditating on the ultimate nature of reality is to ensure that you are not fooled by appearances [,which] can often be deluding. With a deeper understanding of reality, you can go beyond appearances and relate to the world in a much more appropriate, effective, and realistic manner[.]
I often give the example of how we should relate to our neighbors. Imagine that you are living in a particular part of town where interaction with your neighbors is almost impossible, and yet it is actually better if you do interact with them rather than ignore them. To do so in the wisest way depends on how well you understand your neighbors' personality. If, for example, the man living next door is very resourceful, then being friendly and communicating with him will be to your benefit. At the same time, if you know that deep down he can also be quite tricky, that knowledge is invaluable if you are to maintain a cordial relationship and be vigilant so that he does not take advantage of you. Likewise, once you have a deeper understanding of the nature of reality, then in post-meditation, when you actually engage with the world, you will relate to people and things in a much more appropriate and realistic manner.[34]
For a series of teachings on each verse of this text along with His Holiness's commentary, click HERE.
Videos of His Holiness Teaching Eight Verses of Training the Mind
Notes
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Eight Verses for Training the Mind," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, September 18, 2018, https://www.dalailama.com/news/2018/eight-verses-for-training-the-mind.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Eight Verses," https://www.dalailama.com/news/2018/eight-verses-for-training-the-mind.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Mind Training and Wisdom in Manchester," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, June 19, 2012, https://www.dalailama.com/news/2012/mind-training-and-wisdom-in-manchester.
- ↑ https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/a-short-teaching-on-mind-training.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, trans. Thupten Jinpa (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2004), 30.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 30–31.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 36.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 36.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 37–38.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 38.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 3," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accessed September 10, 2026, https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-3
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 3," https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-3
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 40.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 4," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accessed September 10, 2026, https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-4
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 40.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings on the Four Noble Truths, The Eight Verses on Training the Mind, and the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications, 2018), 36.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 36.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 41.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 37.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 42.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 37.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 37.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 38.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 7," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accessed September 10, 2026, https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-7
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 7," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accessed September 10, 2026, https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-7.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, Lighting the Way, 46.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 8," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, accessed September 10, 2026, https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-8.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 8," https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-8.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 8," https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-8.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "A Short Teaching on Mind Training," The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, July 5, 2020, https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/a-short-teaching-on-mind-training.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 41.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 41.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism, 41–42.
- ↑ The 14th Dalai Lama, "Training the Mind: Verse 8," https://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind/training-the-mind-verse-8.
cultivating the awakening mind of compassion, wisdom, and love. This eight-verse lojong enshrines the very heart of Dharma, revealing the true essence of the Mahayana path to liberation. Even a single line of this practice can be seen as encapsulating the entire teaching of the Buddha. For even a single statement of this mind training practice has the incredible power to help us subdue our self-oriented behavior and mental afflictions. The fundamental theme of mind training practice is the profound reorientation of our basic attitude, both toward our own self and toward our fellow human beings, as well as toward the events around us. The goal of mind training practice is the radical transformation of our thoughts, attitudes, and habits. Presently, we tend to cherish the welfare of our own self at the expense of all others. However, the mind training teaching challenges us to reverse this process. This involves a deep understanding of others as true friends, and the recognition that our
true enemy lies inside of ourselves, not outside. Source Accessed Jan 30, 2025)
