Lojong: Training the Heart and Mind

"True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those
less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings."

---Pema Chödrön, Awakening Loving-Kindness

"Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation."
---The 16th Mind Training Slogan of Atisha

I've had my nose buried in books a lot this past week.  No longer on the road with Partner, Daddy and GrandPapa duties predominating, my time had opened up again.  Of course, I seemed to fill it right back up.

Although, admittedly, some of that time has involved taking long morning walks amidst fall splendor, and observing a personal Day of Mindfulness each week for Fall Ango, I've also been diving into a stack of books again on Lojong Practice.

Although the 59 slogans of this Tibetan Buddhist system of training the Heart/Mind were passed on as secret teachings in Tibet by the ninth century emigre Indian teacher, Atisha, they were codified and then opened to a wider audience in the 12th century by Tibetan teacher Geshe Chekawa.

Now, in the 21st century, that audience is worldwide.  Here, in the melting pot of American Buddhism, there are numerous translations and commentaries on these Teachings in English -- and not only those of teachers in the Tibetan tradition like Pema Chödrön and her teacher Chögyam Trungpa.  In fact, my favorite book on Lojong is that of Zen teacher, Sensei Norman Fisher.  His book, Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong, rocks!

In print, in digital media and on the web, accessing the vast array of material on Lojong available today is like peering at the rainbow facets of a diamond while slowly spinning it around in the sunlight.

How cool is that?

Of course, studying is one thing.  Unlearning a lifetime of habit is another.  The effort to uncover our natural compassion and wisdom takes commitment, energy, and patience.  It takes Practice.

At one point years and years ago, after having been struck by a suggestion by Ram Dass's in Be Here Now,
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I scribed a couple of "reminders" with colorful magic markers on index cards and taped them at eye level at strategic points around the house.  The first was "BE HERE NOW".  The second was "BREATHE!"  Often, when my eyes caught the card during the course of the day, I remembered!  If only for a moment or two, I had the opportunity to interrupt the habitual storylines running through my head and recalibrate the focus and quality of my awareness.

Over time, I internalized the reminders more and more. It was quite helpful.

The Mind Training Slogans of Atisha are, to say the least, a bit more sophisticated approach.  The 59 slogans are organized into 7 Points with the purpose of guiding one's Practice--both on and off the cushion.  In familiarizing yourself with the slogans, in taking time to reflect on their meaning, the idea is that you'll be more likely to remember.

The notion is that in formal meditation practice -- and during the helter skelter of one's daily life -- one of the slogans may emerge in that moment to frame how to use that moment as an opportunity to practice.  Rather than react in our "normal" and generally neurotic habitual manner to the world inside and outside of us, we have a chance to interrupt that flow, to train ourselves in greater openness, kindness and compassion.

Then, in a delightful--and very Buddhist, manner--we find that the slogans are also systematically designed to self-destruct.  (Slogan 4: Self-liberate even the antidote!)  They aren't seen as truths in and of themselves.  They are merely mind rafts along the river of your own mind, a means of taking the Practice deeper.   

And then, as Pema Chödrön sees it, the Lojong Training raft doesn't even get you to the other shore.  As the Practice deepens, the raft just disintegrates -- leaving you there with no ground to stand on!

All you have left, then, is a clear and open mind -- and a kind and compassionate heart.

How cool is that?

To be clear, I haven't studied the Lojong Practices with a "qualified teacher".  Like all the work of Pema Chodron, it resonates deeply and these Teachings have been a major focus of Practice for me for the past three years.  I currently select a slogan at random each day to study and Practice.  I generally begin that each day by reading a brief presentation and commentary on these slogans by Acharya Judy Life in Tricycle Magazine On-line.

I couple of years back I put up an annotated bibliography of print and audio/video material at http://alaymanlooksatlojong.blogspot.com/p/another-disclaimer-although-decidedly.html  

For more information on Pema Chodron and Chogyam Trungpa

Check it out.  This stuff works -- if YOU work at it.     
One Love,
Lance