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From Bodhicitta
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In the tradition of the peerless Atiśa and the Kadampas, all the key points of Mahāyāna practice are condensed into the Seven Points of Mind Training, namely:
*Preliminaries, the basis for practice;
*The main practice: training in bodhicitta;
*The transformation of adversity into the path of awakening;
*The presentation of the condensed practice of a single lifetime;
*The measure of mind training;
*The commitments of mind training; and the precepts of mind training.
Now, this present work, transcribed from audio recordings made by students during Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche's teachings on the Seven Points in European and American countries, and later put into writing, is entitled "A Gateway for Those of Lesser Intellect," as it is explained in colloquial language. ([https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/book/the-heart-of-the-dharma/ Source Accessed Apr 22, 2025]) +
As noted by the Mongolian Buddhist author Yeshe Dhondrup (1792-1855) in his ''Treasury of Gems'', p. 434, this work represents the earliest commentary on the highly influential mind training work entitled ''Seven-Point Mind Training''. Although in the original version of the [''Blo sbyong brgya rtsa'', ''Mind Training: The Great Collection''] anthology . . . no name is given for the authorship of this commentary . . . its author is without doubt Chekawa's own student, Sé Chilbu Chökyi Gyaltsen. (Thupten Jinpa, ''Mind Training: The Great Collection'', 589n155) +
<i>blo sbyong don bdun ma'i gsol 'debs yid kyi bdud rtsi</i> [བློ་སྦྱོང་དོན་བདུན་མའི་གསོལ་འདེབས་ཡིད་ཀྱི་བདུད་རྩི།]. +
Although there are many different methods for training the mind in relative and ultimate bodhicitta according to the tradition of the Kadampa teachings of Lord Atiśa, transmitted through Lama Serlingpa and Lord Atiśa himself, the essence of all of them, without anything lacking, is the Seven Points of Mind Training according to the system of the spiritual friend Chekhawa Yeshe Dorje.
These include:<br>
1. Explaining the preliminary teachings;<br>
2. Training in bodhicitta;<br>
3. Transforming adverse conditions into the path [of enlightenment];<br>
4. The presentation of the condensed practice of a single lifetime;<br>
5. The extent of proficiency in mind training;<br>
6. The pledges of mind training;<br>
7. The precepts of mind training.
Here, the teaching on the Seven Points of Mind Training composed by Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme, which is like the essence of those seven, will be explained. +
<i>blo sbyong don bdun ma'i rtsa ba dang 'grel pa</i> [བློ་སྦྱོང་དོན་བདུན་མའི་རྩ་བ་དང་འགྲེལ་པ།]. +
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Read the full text of this work here on our website. +
Blo sbyong don bdun mar grags pa bshad chos tsam ma yin prar rgyud la sbyor tshul go bde bar brjod pa +
<i>blo sbyong don bdun mar grags pa bshad chos tsam ma yin prar rgyud la sbyor tshul go bde bar brjod pa</i> [བློ་སྦྱོང་དོན་བདུན་མར་གྲགས་པ་བཤད་ཆོས་ཙམ་མ་ཡིན་པྲར་རྒྱུད་ལ་སྦྱོར་ཚུལ་གོ་བདེ་བར་བརྗོད་པ།]. +
Blo sbyong don bdun mar grags pa bshad chos tsam ma yin prar rgyud la sbyor tshul go bde bar brjod pa/Full text +
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<i>blo sbyong gi gdams pa</i> [བློ་སྦྱོང་གི་གདམས་པ།]. +
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These oral explanations of the Mahayana training of mind, which are found
elucidated clearly in Sangyé Gompa's ''Public Exposition'', have been committed to letter as a supplement to the oral tradition by the hermit Könchok Gyaltsen. (Thupten Jinpa, ''Mind Training: The Great Collection'', 515) +
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The Tibetan term ''gyerwa'' (spelled ''gyer ba''), means "to chant something in songs, or sing something as a song." So I have translated the expression ''gyergom'' (spelled ''gyer sgom'') as a "chanting meditation." Although the Tibetan edition of this work, as found in [the ''Blo sbyong brgya rtsa'', ''Mind Training: The Great Perfection''], does not provide any note on its authorship, the Tibetan tradition generally attributes this short text to one Maitrīyogi, literally "a yogi of loving-kindness," who is recognized as one of the three principal teachers of Atiśa on mind training. Ostensibly, the work is a series of ecstatic, spontaneous songs sung in a dialogical structure by Maitrīyogi and Maitreya, the future Buddha. There is, however, a third voice, namely that of an interlocutor. This is probably the voice of the person who first compiled the songs together to weave them into a single narrative. Unfortunately, the identity of our editor remains anonymous. Although Tibetan authors identify Maitrīyogi as the younger of the two Kusalī brothers, ''Kusalī" is probably a degeneration of Koṣala, the Tibetan equivalent of which is Gewachen (spelled: ''dge ba can''), the name Yeshé Döndrup (''Treasury of Gems'', p. 481 gives to Kusalī Jr. (Thupten Jinpa, ''Mind Training: The Great Collection'', 599n300) +
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<i>blo sbyong legs bshad kun 'dus kyi 'chad thabs ut+pal gsar pa'i do shal</i> [བློ་སྦྱོང་ལེགས་བཤད་ཀུན་བཏུས་ཀྱི་འཆད་ཐབས་ཨུཏྤལ་གསར་པའི་དོ་ཤལ།]. +
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''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'' is an abbreviated title for ''The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Effectively Striking the Heart of the Foe''. This text is often referenced as a detailed source for how the laws of karma play out in our lives; it reveals many specific effects and their causes. A poetic presentation, the "wheel of sharp weapons" can be visualized as something we throw out or propel, which then comes back to cut us, like a boomerang. In the same way, Dharmarakṣita explains, the nonvirtuous causes we create through our self-interested behavior come back to "cut us" in future lives as the ripening of the negative karma such actions create. This, he explains, is the source of all our pain and suffering. He admonishes that it is our own selfishness or self-cherishing that leads us to harm others, which in turn creates the negative karma or potential for future suffering. Our suffering is not a punishment, merely a self-created karmic result. In most verses, Dharmarakṣita also offers a suggested alternative virtuous or positive action to substitute for our previous nonvirtuous behavior, actions that will create positive karma and future pleasant conditions and happiness.
According to the ''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'', the way to make an end of this cycle is to understand how this process comes about and how it is rooted in the grasping at a self or "I". When we contemplate how our actions, rooted in the sense of self and other, cause suffering, then we use these very negative actions we have done in the past as a contemplative "weapon" to attack self grasping, the real "foe" in our lives. Thus, the weapon which harms us is turned against the heart or source of our suffering, our "true enemy".
Despite the fact that ''Wheel of Sharp Weapons'' has come to be considered a Mahāyāna text, Dharmarakṣita is said to have subscribed to the Vaibhāṣika view. His authorship of the text is considered questionable by scholars for various reasons. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmarak%E1%B9%A3ita_(9th_century) Adapted from Source April 25, 2025])
