Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with a verse from Śāntideva on the preciousness of human life, Khensur Rinpoche uses this 95-minute first session to lay the foundation for the Seven-Point Training of the Mind. He traces the teaching’s lineage through Atisha’s twelve-month sea voyage to reach the master Serlingpa in what is now Sumatra, then introduces the commentary Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun. The session’s core unpacks three analogies — diamond, sun, and medicinal plant — to illustrate how even a partial development of the two bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind, can dissolve self-centeredness and self-grasping. Rinpoche then previews all seven points of the text and closes with Candrakīrti’s image of method and wisdom as the two wings carrying a practitioner across the ocean of cyclic existence.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 LMT 1997 04 29.mp3
UUID: 586de2e9-8050-4ae5-88d3-d4d19f1fa703
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lojong Mind Training (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-04-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 95.4 minutes
Words: ~4,896
Can you hear okay? Quoting from a verse by Can you hear me? Okay. Can you hear me okay in the back? Quoting from a verse by Śāntideva, where he exhorts us to appreciate the human life that we all presently possess.
A human life by means of which we can, through our practice of Dharma, bring about both our temporal and ultimate welfare. A human life which possesses the conducive conditions necessary to practice and the absence of types of conditions which would inhibit our practice. Therefore, we have all the great fortune necessary to bring about a successful practice of Dharma to make our life meaningful. Possessing such a life, we should take advantage of it. Such a fortunate life, which we all now possess, is extremely difficult to find.
So, possessing such a human life which has these great fortunes that we should make it as meaningful as possible, and this we can only do through our practice of the Dharma. Through our practice of Dharma, we can bring both temporal and ultimate meaning to our life that we can find both temporal and ultimate happiness within this life. Without our spiritual practice, we are no better than animals that we live in darkness, that we live without purpose in our life. And within spiritual practice of Dharma, what is the most supreme element? What is the greatest what is the most meaningful constituent of a Dharma practice?
And that is the awakened heart. There is nothing more precious. There is nothing which goes beyond the awakened heart. It is the supreme means by which we can bring fulfillment and meaning to our life. So, we’re going to begin by adjusting our motivation, developing for a few minutes the awakened heart.
All sentient beings whosoever are exactly alike in that they all want happiness, none want to suffer. As a prerequisite to actually developing the awakened heart, it’s necessary that we cultivate love and compassion. Here love can be expressed in the thought, May all living beings, whosoever, have happiness in the causes of happiness. And compassion can be expressed in the thought, May all human beings, whosoever, have happiness be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. And then going on to develop an exceptional resolve expressed in the thought that I myself will establish all living beings in a state where they have complete happiness, where they are free of suffering.
In order to bring that about in fact, I must rid myself of all my various faults. I must bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. That is to say that I must, for the sake of all living beings, achieve Buddhahood. This is the awakened heart. And in order to achieve that end, I’m going to listen to and reflect upon the essence of the universal vehicle that is the Mahāyāna. That is the practice of equalizing and exchanging self for others, the essential practice of the sevenfold training of the mind.
Having once listened and reflected upon it, I shall cultivate it through my meditation to bring it to fulfillment. So we begin with preliminary prayers, the first of which are found on page one in the Maroon Books, beginning with verse number three, followed by verse number two. And verse number five. In verse number seven. So today we’re going to begin a teaching which is based upon a text entitled The Seven Point Training of the Mind, composed by the master Chekawa.
And the text that we’re going to look at is a commentary to that Seven Point Training of the Mind. It is entitled Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun and was composed by a direct disciple of Je Tsongkhapa by the name of Namkapa In general, there is a lineage of the teachings passed down from the Buddha himself, that there is the lineage which passes through such great masters as Maitreya, Asaṇga, Vasubandhu, and Serlingpa. And it is Serlingpa who took the words of the Buddha himself and clarified them, that the source of these teachings are the Buddha, but they were clarified and expanded by Serlingpa. So, the Indian master Pandita Atisha wanted to receive the oral instruction on the development of the awakened heart, bodhicitta. So, he knew that the master, Serlingpa, had such an instruction.
And in order to receive those teachings, he set out on a twelve month journey by ship to what is Sumatra these days, which is within the nation of Indonesia, but in Sanskrit it’s Suvarnadvīpa. Having met with Serlingpa, Atisha remained by his side for thirteen years, receiving the teachings and meditating on them until he actually gave birth to the awakened heart. So the root text itself, and by root text I mean the actual seven point training of the mind, there is a line which introduces this notion of where the teaching actually came from. It says that the essence of this nectar of instruction is transmitted from the master Serlingpa. So Serlingpa means the Isle of Gold.
The Golden Isle was the name given to this master, Serlingpa. So the essence of the nectar is that of the way in which to develop the awakened heart. And this was transmitted from Serlingpa, who lived in, it says in the text, Sumatra or modern day Indonesia. The Buddha gave vast teachings. It said that these teachings can be thought of in terms of eighty four thousand groups of Dharma teachings, or they can be thought of in terms of the three turnings of the wheel Dharma.
If we were to take all of the teachings that the Buddha gave and condense them, we could bring them down to two essential areas of teaching. The first is that the means by which we are able to eliminate our own suffering, all that is undesired in our life, that is done by abandoning the root of all our afflictive emotions. And the second is the means by which to bring about the welfare of others, the altruistic activities and benefiting others. So, all of the teachings are concerned with either of these two areas: a means of going to bring an end to our own suffering or as a means to benefit others. So, these two areas which the Buddha teachings concern themselves with were a means of categorizing his Dharma into the two vehicles.
The first vehicle being the individual vehicle or the hinayana, which concerns itself mainly with the alleviation of one’s own suffering, And the second vehicle being the universal vehicle or the Mahāyāna, which is concerned with mainly the alleviation of the suffering of others. So, with regard to the teachings of the Buddha, they can be divided in two ways. One of them is the subject for whom they are meant. And in terms of the individual vehicle, the subject were the hearers and the solitary realizers. Then the second division is the means by which the subject is taught, and here it was these teachings which were meant for the hearers and the solitary realizers were taught in the terms of the first turning of the wheel, or Dharma.
So, in the first of these, those teachings which were directed toward practitioners of the individual vehicle, The subjects taught were the various paths and stages whereby they could achieve an individual liberation. The second area of teaching is that of the universal vehicle. The subjects taught are such subjects as the awakened heart, the view on emptiness, the various paths and stages, which bring about, as a result, Buddhahood. And these are taught by means of the sutras and tantras. So, in this verse from the root text that we just mentioned, this line where it says the essence of the nectar of instruction, the word nectar is in the Tibetan language dutsi.
In Sanskrit, it’s amrita. And the word dutsi is made up of two syllables. So, we’re translating the word nectar. It is made up of two syllables. Du usually can be translated as something which is demonic, something which is terribly negative.
Here, it refers to the various afflictive emotions. And Si has the meaning of pacification, that which pacifies the demonic or pacifies the afflictive emotions. So, there are a variety of types of nectar. There is the nectar of immortality by means of which we can achieve a state of deathlessness. There is uncontaminated nectar by means of which we can eliminate the contamination of the afflictive emotions.
But there are various types of nectar. But supreme amongst the nectars is the precious awakening heart, and this is the nectar which is referred to here. So, with regard to bodhicitta, which is I generally translate as the awakened heart, there are two types. There is ultimate and conventional. I translate the ultimate as the awakened mind and conventional as the awakened heart.
Here, we’re talking about the development of the awakened — both of these two types of awakenings, both of the heart and the mind. By means of developing these two levels of awakening, we can eliminate all afflictive emotions. Thereby, we can eliminate the state of death. Why? Because death is under the control of karma and afflictive emotions.
And if we can eliminate the afflictive emotions, then we can eliminate the karma and afflictive emotions which control, which causes to uncontrollably be thrown into, uncontrollably be involved in death, and therefore achieve a deathless state. So, we mentioned that there are a variety of types of nectar. Another of these types is nectar of uncontaminated wisdom. It is by means of this When we say When we use the word contaminated or uncontaminated, we refer to that which causes us to continually be circling within cyclic existence. Something which is contaminated supports the perpetuation of these continual cycles of existence.
That which is uncontaminated inhibits this process, seeks to interrupt this process. So it is by means of this uncontaminated wisdom, a wisdom which is a type of these two awakened states of mind, by means of which we can remove completely the afflictive emotions from the root and achieve a state of liberation where we experience an unsurpassing bliss. So, we’re recounting the story where Atisha received the instruction on the cultivation of the awakened heart, and he returned to India and then subsequently was invited to Tibet. He went to Tibet and spent nineteen years there, and he passed on the lineage of these present teachings on the development of the awakened heart to Dromtonpa, who was an emanation of Chenrezig, who again passed it on to his disciples, such as what are called the Three Brothers. And these were then further passed on to the composer of the root text, the seven point training of the mind, Geshe Chekawa.
So it is very much a tradition in Tibet that there is an examination process which goes before one actually involves themselves in attending a teaching. One checks up, you know, on the lama him or herself. Is it a good lama or not the teacher? And what is the nature of the teaching? From where did it come?
Can it be traced back in the lineage to the Buddha himself? If I were to practice this teaching, what kind of benefit could I expect to gain from it? So, looking at the teaching in this way, whether there is a lineage of practice from the Buddha in which practitioners have gained realization by means of these teachings, whether the teacher is qualified or not. If not, then they don’t listen. So, what we’re describing here is extremely important, this process of examination, investigating the teaching, to see whether it’s pure teaching, whether it’s pure Dharma, and is the teacher him or herself pure.
And we apply this in a mundane way. Whenever we buy anything, we check it out. We look at if we’re going to buy some article, we say, what is its quality? Is it of a good quality or not? We even go around asking experts, you know, what do you think about this?
Should I go ahead and buy it? We make thorough investigation if we’re buying something, making investments in something valuable. But even if we make a mistake and a few months later it falls apart, that ‘s no big deal. But in this case it is, because what the dharma meant? Why do we involve ourselves in the dharma?
Because it’s something that we’re making use of as a means to eliminate our suffering. We do that by eliminating our afflictive emotions. It’s something that we’re making use of in order to achieve liberation, to achieve the state of omniscience. That’s the purpose of our involvement in Dharma. Whether somebody teaches well or is able to speak eloquently, whether they call it the Dharma or not what it is that they teach, whether from our side if we involve ourselves in it simply as a means of gaining fame or as some kind of to become well known as a great practitioner.
These are not any of the reasons that we involve ourselves in the teaching. We involve ourselves in the teaching to rid ourselves of suffering, to remove the afflictive emotions. Also, the lama from his side to whom we’re going to listen should be teaching from a out of a pure motivation. It should be not for their own sake, but only to benefit benefit the student. If, from their side, they speak even a single verse with such an intent, then that verse can be of tremendous benefit.
If they don’t speak in that way, not only is there no benefit, but it actually is negative for them. The root text goes on to present an analogy of these teachings. And it likens these teachings to a diamond, the sun, and a medicinal tree. So, here, these present teachings are being likened to first that of a diamond. And a diamond is said to have three properties in this context.
A diamond can eliminate our poverty. If we were to be without wealth, we could make use of the diamond in that way. It is able to get whatever it is that we want, to gather riches for ourselves by means of and it surpasses golden ornaments. We can use it to adorn ourselves. So it’s likened what is being analogized here is the awakened heart.
You know, we said that there are two types of awakened states, that of bodhicitta or awakening consciousnesses, that of conventional and ultimate. Here what is being analogized here is the conventional awakening, that of the awakened heart. So it is being likened to a diamond. So, we said that a diamond has the three properties of being able to eliminate poverty, to bring about wealth, to outshines even gold and ornaments. Not just not even we don’t even need the complete diamond.
Even a sliver, I guess we would say a fragment of a diamond, has that same quality, has these three abilities. And we said it’s been analogized to the awakened heart or conventional bodhicitta. And likewise, if we had the complete awakened heart, the conventional complete bodhicitta, then we would have these three qualities likewise. That the awakened heart is able to eliminate our suffering. That by means of it we are able to achieve happiness.
And it outshines the qualities of hearers and solitary realizers. But what to say if we had a complete awakened heart, the fully developed awakened heart? But even if we just had a partial quality of the awakened heart, it would have the same effect. Then the quality of the text is next analogized to the sun. And here the sun is analogous to ultimate bodhicitta or the awakened mind.
The sun, wherever it shines, is able to eliminate darkness. Where the sun’s rays, darkness is unable to remain. Likewise, wherever the awakened mind arises, it is able to eliminate the darkness of obscuring ignorance, the root of our afflictions that is, say, self grasping. And just as even a ray of the sun is able to eliminate darkness, even a segment or a portion of the generation of the awakened mind is able to eliminate the darkness of obscuring ignorance. So this means that by the development of these two, the awakened heart and the awakened mind conventional and ultimate bodhicitta, we can rid ourselves of all suffering and develop we can rid ourselves of self grasping and self centeredness.
That we can eliminate all faults, even by means of a portion of these qualities. And then the third analogy which is presented as a means to develop respect for this present text is that of a medicinal pliancy. And a medicinal pliancy is able to eliminate sickness. But, you know, the entirety of the pliancy is able to make us well. But we don’t even with most medicinal plants, even need the entire plant.
That even a part of it, whether it be a stem or a root or a leaf or its fruit, has a medicinal quality in itself and is able to help in the curing of our sickness. Likewise, with these two bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind, if we have their complete qualities, then of course we’re able to eliminate all illnesses. But even a portion of these two is able to eliminate all eighty four thousand of our illnesses or sicknesses. So condensing all of what we are trying to express in this way, in extolling the qualities of the awakened heart and the awakened mind, these two bodhicittas. What is it that we don’t want?
What is undesirable in our life? We want to be rid of suffering. We want to be rid of fear, attachment, hatred, aging and death and sickness. All of this. And the point which is being made here is that these two precious bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind, are able to bring about all of those wishes.
They are able to eliminate all that is undesired in our life. So, we mentioned what we want to be rid of, but what is it that we want? What is it that we wish for? Well, temporarily we wish for happiness. We wish for pleasure, for joy, for harmony, for health, for wealth all various types of conducive conditions about ourselves.
Ultimately, we want to be rid of all suffering whatsoever. We want the bliss of liberation to achieve the states of a bodhisattva and finally that of a Buddha by means in which we not only bring about our own welfare, but we’re able to bring about the ultimate welfare of others as well. And all of these desired ends can be achieved by means of these two bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind. All of that. All of the conflict in the world, all the fighting and wars will, by means of the development of the awakened heart, be pacified. So this precious awakened heart and mind, these two bodhicittas, can bring about all that we wish for, can eliminate all that is undesired in our life.
They are likened to a jewel. The awakened heart is what is meant by the universal vehicle. When we it is a quality of the mind. It is a quality which, wherever it’s found, makes that individual a practitioner of the universal vehicle. Whether it’s a human being and amongst human beings, it’s a lay person or an ordained person, whether even if it’s a dog or a cat, if they possess the awakened heart, then they are practitioners of the universal vehicle.
They are the universal vehicle since universal vehicle is a quality of the mind. When we talk about the universal vehicle, we’re not talking about what clothes someone might wear or what books they might read or the place where they are or whether they’re a monk or a nun or whatever. These are not the marks of the universal vehicle. It is just that of the awakened heart. So, the awakened heart bodhicitta is a quality of the mind and whosoever develops this quality is a practitioner of the universal vehicle.
So whether you are a practitioner of the universal vehicle is dependent upon the development or the non development of the awakened heart, and that’s in your hands. So today we’ve covered two areas in the teaching. Beginning with looking at the root text of the sevenfold training of the mind, we try to trace its source. Where did the teaching actually come from? How did it come to be in its present state as it’s been presented to ourselves?
And then having investigated its origin, then we try to help in developing a great respect for this text and showing its greatness in terms of by means of this text we can eliminate all that is undesired in our lives and achieve all that we wish for. So these two represent the preliminary. So, then the actual body of the text covers seven topics. That’s why it’s referred to as seven or we could say seven points. It’s the seven point training of the mind.
So, maybe you want to take notes and write down what are these seven points of training of the mind. If you don’t have a piece of paper, you can get a piece of paper from your neighbor or something. So we have to if we’re going to practice well, we have to hold this information for ourselves. We have to have this. So the first of these seven points of training of the mind is explaining the preliminaries as a basis for the practice.
Explaining the preliminaries as the basis for the practice. So the preliminaries would be the means by which those of lesser and middling capacities would involve themselves in the present teaching. So, as a basis directed toward these individuals. Then the second point is the actual practice, training in the two bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind. That’s the second one, isn’t it?
True. Then the third point is transforming adverse circumstances into the path. Transforming adverse circumstances into the path. So in the course of our practice and our training, we are going to be confronted with many difficulties, with many problems and obstructions, and developing the skill whereby we can transform these difficulties into part of our practice. The fourth point is integrating the practice into a single lifetime.
The integrated practice of a single lifetime. How to put this in the practice over the course of a single lifetime. And the fifth point is the measure of having trained the mind. The measure of having trained the mind. So this is the criteria by means in which we can investigate whether our practice is going well or not.
Having cultivated this practice, having meditated, we can then examine to ensure that we are achieving the standard by means of which we have trained the mind. So it gives us the criteria for determining whether our training is going well. Just as, you know, if someone were practicing training and typing and they got up to a certain speed without so many errors, that would be a standard that they could say that their training is going well. Likewise with our mind training. Just like in, you know, we could examine ourselves just like in a school and make it in order that we can pass through the next grade.
Then the sixth point is the commitments of training the mind. The commitments of training the mind. So, as support for our practice of training the mind, there are precepts which we are there are certain modes of conduct which we are to abandon and those we are to observe. Certain ways of conduct which we are to abandon and certain to observe as a support to our training of the mind. So these are listed as commitments of training of the mind.
That’s the sixth. And the seventh are the precepts of mind training. Another word would be simply advices Advices of mind training. That is to say, advising ourselves that one should do this, one should not do this, in order to ensure that the training of the mind goes well. So, advices or precepts of mind training.
So, the seven point training of the mind is composed of these seven points or topics. So the actual root text, that is to say, the seven point training of the mind, is extremely brief. And it would be extremely beneficial if you were to be able to prepare beforehand look to know what is going to come and each point that we’re going to cover and also to review each point that we have covered in the past. This would help you in your practice. It would be beneficial to prepare to know what points are coming and to review and what points have been covered.
There are many types of mind training. One can train to be a chef, one can be trained to be a tailor or soldier. But this particular mind training is mind training from the point within the context of dharma. So what do we mean by mind training in terms or in the context of the dharma? Essentially most, it means that we are training whereby to eliminate destructive states of mind and training, and on the other hand, to cultivate productive states.
So the elimination of negative states and the development of positive states of mind is essentially in terms of how we’re training our mind. That which does the training of the mind in this manner are the two bodhicittas the awakened heart and the awakened mind. So we said that the training in dharma was essentially the mind training in the context of dharma is essentially the elimination of negative states and the cultivation of healthy states of mind. And what is it by means of these two bodhicittas, the awakened heart and the awakened mind, that we’re seeking to eliminate? What negative states?
They are self centeredness and self grasping. It is due to these two that we have from beginningless time been bound within cyclic existence. Due to these two negative states of mind, we are continually creating negative karma and thereby experiencing suffering. And we continue to circle within cyclic existence and never achieve liberation. So these are the two negative states that we are most seeking to eliminate.
So we are seeking to eliminate these two negative states of mind, the two most negative states of mind, those of self grasping and self centeredness. It is by means of ultimate bodhicitta or the awakened mind that we are able to eliminate self grasping. Or another way to translate that is the conception of self. It is by means of the awakened heart, conventional bodhicitta, that we are able to eliminate self centeredness. Once we develop these two states in our mind, these two bodhicittas of the awakened heart and the awakened mind, It is like as if we grew the two wings of a bird by means of which we can fly to the further most shore of liberation.
So, Rinpoche quoted a verse by Candrakīrti where he likens the two, method and wisdom, to the two wings of a bird. Method being mainly the awakened heart and wisdom mainly the awakened mind. And just as we can see for ourselves, a huge seagoing bird with its two wings can fly across an ocean. Likewise, we ourselves as the bird, feathered by the two wings of the awakened heart and the awakened mind, can cross the ocean of cyclic existence to the city of liberation. So there was a line lines from which are often quoted which was spoken by Śākyamūni Buddha where he said, By making effort in the Dharma, I have achieved the state of Buddhahood.
By your laziness, you remain in cyclic existence. If we make strong effort, we can achieve the state of a Buddha. If we don’t make strong effort, we’re going to remain circling in cyclic existence. Okay. So we’re going to stop there for tonight.
We will take a few minutes if you have some questions. So next week we’re going to begin the actual body of the text. And I would like to suggest that over the course of the teaching that you attain enlightenment teachings in a regular fashion. With whatever we do, if we do it inconsistently, we won’t achieve very much. If sometimes we come and sometimes we don’t, if sometimes we practice and sometimes we don’t, we won’t get very far.
So if you come in irregularly, you’re going to miss part of the teaching and therefore not know how to practice well. Therefore, you will deprive yourself of the benefit. So if you don’t have any questions, we’re going to meditate on the awakened heart for five minutes. Then the concluding prayers. Our dedications are on page five, verses eight and nine.
First, the long life prayer of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, which is on page ten. And then verses eight to nine.