Cultivating a Heart of Wisdom
From Bodhicitta
Cultivating a Heart of Wisdom
Book
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Description
In this teaching, Khenchen Appey Rinpoche provides a brief yet profound commentary on the famous mind training text from the tradition of Atisha. It offers instructions for the cultivation of bodhicitta, the heart of awakening, on both the ultimate and conventional levels. Full of practical advice from a master who embodied the teachings, this commentary is of immense value for students at all levels of practice.
Citation
Khenchen Appey Rinpoche. Cultivating a Heart of Wisdom: Oral Instructions on the Mind Training in Seven Points. Translated by Christian Bernert (Chödung Karmo Translation Group). Kathmandu: Vajra Books, 2014.
Texts Translated
- mkhan po a pad yon tan bzang po. blo sbyong don bdun ma'i bka' khrid. In blo sbyong gi skor phyogs bsgrigs, Vol. 050, Text 0000. Boudhanath: sa skya rgyal yongs gsung rab slob gnyer khang, 2007. (Computer Input Only).

- Atiśa. theg pa chen po'i blo sbyong gi rtsa tshig. In gdams ngag mdzod, Vol. 3: 427-428. Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1999.
Tsadra Foundation Treasury of Precious Instructions
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
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
- Preface5
- A short biography of Khenchen Appey Rinpoche7
- The root verses of the Mind Training in Seven Points11
- Oral Instructions on the Mind Training in Seven Points15
- Glossary65
- Selected Bibliography75
