Mind Training (Ringu Tulku 2007)

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Mind Training (Ringu Tulku 2007)
Book


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Description

This small accessible book contains the essence of the Seven-Point Mind Training, expressed in the intimate colloquial style that distinguishes Ringu Tulku's teachings. The Seven-Point Mind Training, a lojong practice, assumes no prior special training or preparation. It does not require practitioners to enter seclusion or change the way they live their lives. It asks that they examine their relationships with all those around them and make a strong determination to become enlightened for others' sake rather than for their own. It gives instructions for tonglen breathing practice that ties the concepts of lojong to the physical act of breathing. Mind Training focuses simply on giving up, self-cherishing, and transforming self-centered thinking into compassion, egoistic feelings into altruism, desire into acceptance, and resentment into joy. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Citation
Ringu Tulku. Mind Training. Edited by B. M. Shaughnessy. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2007.


Teaching based on

 
Blo sbyong don bdun ma
Blo sbyong don bdun ma. (Lojong Döndünma). In Tibetan, "Seven Points of Mind Training"; an influential Tibetan work in the blo sbyong ("mind training") genre. The work was composed by the Bka' gdams scholar 'Chad ka ba ye shes rdo rje, often known as Dge bshes Mchad kha ba, based on the tradition of generating bodhicitta known as "mind training" transmitted by the Bengali master Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. It also follows the system laid out previously by Glang ri thang pa (Langri Tangpa) in his Blo sbyong tshig brgyad ma ("Eight Verses on Mind Training"). Comprised of a series of pithy instructions and meditative techniques, the Blo sbyong don bdun ma became influential in Tibet, with scholars from numerous traditions writing commentaries to it. According to the commentary of the nineteenth-century Tibetan polymath 'Jam mgon kong sprul, the seven points covered in the treatise are: (1) the preliminaries to mind training, which include the contemplations on the preciousness of human rebirth, the reality of death and impermanence, the shortcomings of saṃsāra, and the effects of karman; (2) the actual practice of training in bodhicitta; (3) transforming adverse conditions into the path of awakening; (4) utilizing the practice in one's entire life; (5) the evaluation of mind training; (6) the commitments of mind training; and (7) guidelines for mind training. (Source: "Blo sbyong don bdun ma." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 126–27. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Text

  • Spiritual Questions11
  • Happiness15
  • The Mind20
  • Compassion25
  • The Lojong Tradition30
  • Questions and Answers33
  • The Seven Points of Mind Training
  • The First Point:
    • Preparing for Practice43
  • The Second Point:
    • Practicing Wisdom and Compassion55
    • Questions and Answers78
  • The Third Point:
    • Transforming Adversity89
  • The Fourth Point:
    • The Essence of Practice in Life and at Death109
  • The Fifth Point:
    • Evaluating the Practice120
  • The Sixth Point:
    • Discipline124
    • Questions and Answers134
  • The Seventh Point:
    • Guidelines142
  • Concluding Verses155
  • The Slogans157