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The
Seven Points of Mind Training of Atisha
The Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche
Translated from 'Lodjong' in French, Dhagpo
Kagyu Ling. (Part2)
 III.
TO TRANSFORM ALL UNFAVOURABLE CIRCUMSTANCES INTO PATH
OF THE BUDDHA
To
transform the unfavorable conditions, we must first be
aware of karma, the law of cause and effect. We make use
of the unfavorable conditions or obstacles as the object
of meditation (relative bodhicitta ) in the same way as
with the thoughts of the mind (ultimate bodhicitta ).
We can thus transform all negative circumstances into
something positive.
Generate
relative bodhicitta when you encounter difficulties. First
of all, recognize that the difficulties are not caused
by the fault of others, that they are created by your
own ego. If you have no ego clinging, then no difficulty
will have any negative effect on you. When you face physical
problems such as diseases, or when somebody tries to harm
you, recognize that they are created by your own karma.
By letting them ripen in this life, you will not have
to experience them hereafter where they would pose greater
karmic effects. This transformation relies on a solid
foundation of bodhicitta and will facilitate the exhaustion
of all negative karma through the forbearance of small
nuisances in this life. For example, just prior to enlightenment,
an Arhat often suffers from headaches or stomachaches.
Indeed, the power of his meditation has completely transformed
the negative effects of his former karma into smaller
troubles thereby putting an end to them all. If you practise
sending and taking each time you encounter difficulties,
by thinking that you are taking the sufferings of others
and letting them dissolve into your own experience, they
will really be purified when supported by pure motivation.
It is this pure motivation that can create an energy even
more powerful than that of an Arhat.
The
transformation based on ultimate bodhicitta implies making
use of the realization that you have obtained from the
practice and applying it to your difficulties. Face each
difficulty by trying to recognize that its essence is
not related to the thoughts that it generates. Try to
realize that the essence of suffering is completely independent
from the feeling of suffering.
There
is another method specific to transforming all unfavorable
conditions into the path of the Buddha. It is comprised
of four stages:
- Each time
you are confronted with difficulties, realize that they
are produced by the negative karma that you have created
before, and this will cause you to accumulate more positive
karma.
- Experiencing
suffering makes you recognize the need for purifying
your negative karma; otherwise, there will be more harmful
effects in the future.
- Human
life is more precious than any other form of life. Therefore
if you still have difficulties even in this good life,
it means that you will have even more troubles in the
future if your negative actions are not purified now.
You must do purification practices like Dorjé
Sempa.
- Pray fervently
to all the Buddhas to receive their blessing so all
the negative karma of all living beings, all the difficulties
that they'll be faced with can ripen within yourself.
In your daily practice, pray like this, "May the
suffering of all living beings come into me." Do
not hesitate to take onto yourself the suffering of
others. Accustom yourselves to this wish.
IV. Condensed
Practice of Mind Training in Five Points
- Promise
very firmly to commit yourself to developing Bodhicitta
until enlightenment is attained.
- Engage
yourself in bodhicitta on all occasions.
- Since
the greatest obstacle to bodhicitta is ego clinging,
as soon as you see it, recognize it and fight it until
it is destroyed.
- Pray that
you will succeed in developing bodhicitta. Think and
rethink, again and again, of the suffering of others,
developing compassion until it appears automatically.
- Neutralize
the influence of the ego and develop bodhicitta.
V. MEASUREMENT
OF MIND TRAINING
In
your daily activities, be aware of the disadvantages of
ego clinging and the need for practising compassion towards
all living beings. When you meditate, examine the way
in which emotional thought patterns arise in your mind.
Look at their essence and let them dissolve into the emptiness
of their essential reality. Use these two methods alternately;
they are like skilful means and wisdom. You will be able
to judge your own training. In examining it, you will
say, "yes, a little pride". One indication of
how you are doing is when someone says something unpleasant
to you, you don’t get angry. If you are praised, you don’t
feel proud. These are signs of a good training. Continue
until it is like that.
What
are the advantages of a good training? Each time emotions
arise, you will overcome them and therefore you will not
fall deeper into cyclic existence. You will be free. You
will no longer fall victim to the imperfections of samsara
or of the negative emotions. The obstacles cannot block
your progress towards enlightenment. When a snake is coiled
up, it can uncoil itself. In the same way, as soon as
an emotion arises, you will be able to spontaneously release
yourself of it. Then the mind is really happy, because
neither the impairment of the disturbing emotions, nor
the suffering they cause can ever be harmful again. When
the mind is naturally imperturbable and happy, it is a
sign of the success of mind training. The mind is continuously
peaceful, calm and happy. It is not a state produced by
something, but a natural and spontaneous happiness which
does not know any suffering. Such is the true measure
of successful mind training.
VI. COMMITMENT
OF MIND TRAINING
Commitment
means to exert yourself in everyday life until your character
has completely integrated the right attitudes. In general,
it means to convert your aspirations. The moment when
you wish to do something basically negative, you tell
yourself, "I must improve." When this transformation
takes place, you can treat the suffering of others. Once
the mind is firmly transformed, there is no longer a need
to improve it. The actions of your body and your speech
must necessarily be beneficial for others, little by little.
You do not emphasize your contribution, you do not care
to show it, nor do you wish to be recognized by others.
Here are some examples of the commitments of mind training.
"Do
not criticize the faults of others while being unaware
of your own."
"Examine
your own mind and make use of the strongest emotion as
material for mind training."
"Do
not practise mind training to become a famous Bodhisattva,
or a famous siddha, or a Buddha…this motivation is impure;
you will not become a pure Bodhisattva."
"When
you are wounded, bear no resentment."
"Do
not employ malicious means to take advantage of others.
For example, if a group has certain goods, do not use
devious ways to divert them into your own possession."
To
observe these commitments is not the same thing as observing
a law. It could be said that to do the opposite of the
stated cpmmitments is to go against the practice of mind
training - the practice is then spoiled. The essence of
each commitment is to contribute to developing mind training
so that one does not digress from the training itself.
You can easily gain this realisation yourself. For example,
it is said, do not practise mind training for your own
growth or to gain the respect of others. If you follow
the guideline of the commitments, won’t you find the real
meaning of the practice of mind training? Of course you
will.
VII. PRECEPTS
OF MIND TRAINING
You
must think of the importance of benefiting others and
develop a motivation that will spring forth spontaneously.
All living beings in all the universes have created all
the problems that they now have by themselves. These are
the results of their egoistic fixations and of their negative
emotions. Develop compassion for all these beings. Be
ever aware that all the sensory pleasures and material
comforts are illusory and are of the same nature as dreams.
They are utterly without meaning and impermanent. Realize
that to be attached to even a tiny part of it is insane.
Start by being aware of the ideas or negative emotions
which appear in your mind as soon as they arise. Eventually,
you will be able to give them up; then finally, you will
be able to neutralize them if they appear again.
CONCLUSION
Enjoy
the necessary training in becoming virtuous. Be happy
to practice virtuous actions. Be happy when conditions
arise that favor the accomplishment of virtuous actions.
You now know how to use this precious human existence,
so don’t think that life has no meaning.
In
brief, the substance of the practice of mind training
is to rejoice each time that something that is beneficial
for another being is accomplished or fulfilled, and to
feel sadness when someone abandons that which is beneficial
for him or her.
These
explanations are a condensed version on the practice of
mind training. More elaborate commentaries exist, but
this is the essence. Whether or not you obtain the fruit
does not depend on a more detailed explanation but on
the practice that you do.
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