I learned this practice from Pema Chodron in 1994. She learned it from Trungpa, Rinpoche in 1978. He learned it from his main teacher Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen in the late 1940s in Tibet… and so on all the way back to Atisha, a Bengali meditation master who came to Tibet in the 11th century.
It started as a secret teaching, passed down orally, but the more it was taught, the more people realized how helpful it was, so within a couple hundred years of Atisha introducing the practice, every major Buddhist lineage in Tibet was studying and practicing Lojong.
Lo means “mind”, “intelligence” or “that which can perceive”
Jong means “training” so the translation is literal and straightforward.
Very much like many of these slogans… they are direct, simple, straightforward.
Trungpa, Rinpoche wrote about how he felt studying Lojong after years of complicated philosophy:
“I was relieved that Buddhism was so simple and that you could actually do something about it… you can actually follow the book and do as it says, which is extraordinarily powerful and such a relief.”
Lojong Mind training is divided into meditation practice and post meditation practice.
The meditation practice most associated with lojong is called Tonglen or “sending and taking”. Has anyone here not practiced tonglen before? It’s fine! I will guide us through it.
The post-meditation lojong practice is slogan contemplation. There are 59 slogans altogether, and you have to learn them before you can really do the practice. But once you learn them, even just a few of them, the practice is to recognize when they come to mind in daily life.
You might be preparing a zinger in a long simmering dispute. Then the slogan “Don’t lie in ambush” will come to mind. Or you might be getting swept up in other people’s criticism of you, and then recall “Of the two witnesses, hold the principle one.”
The slogans are organized into Seven Points - the Seven Points of Mind Training. Tonight I want to touch on the first point, which only has one slogan. Then each meeting for the following six, we’ll talk through another point, more slogans, and then practice together.
Any questions before we get started?