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Description
The mention of Drakmarwa in the opening stanza may be a clue to its origin. Drakmarwa was a student of an influential Kadam teacher Jayülwa Shönu Ö (1075-1138), who was in turn a student of Chengawa, one of the three Kadam brothers. Drakmarwa's lineage is known as the "Kadam lineage of instructions." Chekawa, who is the source of the seven-point instruction, on the other hand, belongs to the lineage of Potowa through to Sharawa, the lineage known as the "Kadam lineage of treatises." Interestingly, in the brief account of Chekawa's discovery of the mind training instruction found in Sangyé Gompa's Public Explication, Chekawa is reported as naming Shang Drakmarwa as a possible source when searching for the instruction. This suggests that Drakmarwa was already established as an authoritative Kadam teacher while Chekawa was on his quest.
The Lhasa edition of the Tibetan original of this work unfortunately suffers from a number of spelling corruptions . . . Given the absence of any textual support, it is difficult to speculate who the author of this eloquent work might be. The conciseness of its literary style, the extremely practical approach, and the frequent use of archaic Tibetan all seem to confirm its antiquity. Most probably the work was composed by a student of both Drakmarwa and Chekawa. So we can confidently date the text in the latter part of twelfth century at the earliest. (Thupten Jinpa, Mind Training: The Great Collection, 617–18n472)
Compiled in the fifteenth century, Mind Training: The Great Collection is the earliest anthology of a special genre of Tibetan literature known as "mind training," or lojong in Tibetan. The principal focus of these texts is the systematic cultivation of such altruistic thoughts and emotions as compassion, love, forbearance, and perseverance.
The mind-training teachings are highly revered by the Tibetan people for their pragmatism and down-to-earth advice on coping with the various challenges and hardships that unavoidably characterize everyday human existence. The volume contains forty-four individual texts, including the most important works of the mind training cycle, such as Serlingpa's well-known Leveling Out All Preconceptions, Atisha's Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses on Training the Mind, and Chekawa's Seven-Point Mind Training together with the earliest commentaries on these seminal texts. (Source Accessed Apr 30, 2025)
Compiled by Shonu Gyalchok (ca. fourteenth-fifteenth centuries) and Konchok Gyaltsen (1388-1469)
Compiled in the fifteenth century, Mind Training: The Great Collection (Theg pa chen po blo sbyong rgya rtsa) represents the earliest anthology of a special genre of Tibetan spiritual literature known simply as "mind training" or lojong in Tibetan. Tibetans revere the mind training tradition for its pragmatic and down-to-earth advice, especially the teachings on "transforming adversities into favorable opportunities." This volume contains forty-three individual texts, including the most important works of the mind training cycle, such as Serlingpa's Leveling out All Conceptions, Atisa's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses on Mind Training, and Chekawa's Seven-Point Mind Training, together with the earliest commentaries on these seminal texts as well as other independent works. These texts expound the systematic cultivation of such altruistic thoughts and emotions as compassion, love, forbearance, and perseverance. Central to this discipline are the diverse practices for combating our habitual self-centeredness and the afflictive emotions and way of being that arise from it. (Source: Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa)
