The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

VII. Guidelines of Mind Training

A. What to Eliminate: 1-3

1. All practice should be done in one way.

If one is practising the Vajrayana path, and if you are practising solely the development stage, then it is said that one should bring one's practise into a single practise within the development stage. This would mean that one visualises oneself as a deity and one visualises other people as deities and the environment is the pure land and all houses are the celestial palaces and so on. All of the sound is the sound of the mantra. Thoughts are the nature of wisdom.

When one eats food and drink this is like making an offering of dutsi to the deities. If one is practising the development stage then all of one's activities become development stage practises. If one is practising Shiney or Shamata meditation then one's entire practise is focused within that. If one is walking one has mindfulness if one is sitting still one has mindfulness, whatever activity one is performing one has mindfulness. If desire arises one has mindfulness. Everything can become a support for mindfulness.

So if one perceives objects with the eye and one can have mindfulness with that if one hears sounds then one can have mindfulness with that also. If one is following the path of emptiness then one meditates that everything has the nature of emptiness. If one is practising recognising the mind essence then when one is eating or meditating whatever activity one is performing one recognises the mind essence with that.

With this particular slogan at the moment then this is relating to the lojong or the mind training practise so every activity we perform whether we are walking around sitting still, working or whatever is happening we have the motivation to practise the mind training with that.

What does it mean at this particular moment to have all of the practises done in one way? It means that with everything that we do we have the Bodhicitta mind. For example, if one is walking up a staircase or ladder one thinks as one is walking may I lead all beings up the staircase to enlightenment so the normal action of walking up the staircase becomes something of great virtue and becomes the cause for generating a lot of merit. In the same moment it is the cause of purifying lots of defilements and bad karma, isn't that good!

So if one is exercising then one thinks I am exercising for the benefit of all sentient beings to bring them to enlightenment so then that exercise is very positive so that is very good! Also when one is eating one thinks I am eating this food for the benefit of all sentient beings. What is very important for us to realise at the moment is that we need to have a very wide and very vast motivation so the motivation is to benefit all sentient beings and bring them to the level of enlightenment At the moment we can't help beings to a vast extent but when we achieve enlightenment then our help will be limitless.

If we take the example of the Medicine Buddha before he became enlightened he made vast prayers of aspiration that when I become enlightened may people who recite my name or recite the mantra or practise meditation on me may they be completely free of sickness and completely healed. Because of that vast aspiration and his Bodhicitta mind then when he became Buddha then that is what happened. When people become ill or are very sick then that is the practise they do of the medicine Buddha.

If ones illness is specifically due to one's previous karma one cannot heal that, but if it is not due to one's karma then if one performs the medicine Buddha practice and recites the mantra then with certainty one's illness will be purified, will be removed. If one prays to the medicine Buddha why is it of more benefit than if one prays to the other Buddha's? It is because he made this vast aspiration that if one supplicates to him that your illness will be removed and you will be healed.

Likewise with ourselves at the moment, if we have a vast aspiration that I am practising for the benefit of all sentient beings to bring them to the level of enlightenment the fruit of that aspiration now until the moment we achieve enlightenment will manifest and we will be able to help beings in a totally limitless way.

If when one is going down a staircase one thinks I am going down the staircase in order to accomplish the benefit of sentient beings. If one has a cup full of tea or water, then one thinks that in the same way the cup is filled may all the sentient beings stream of consciousness be filled with joy, happiness purity and wisdom. If one has an empty cup one prays that may all sentient beings be completely empty of all the defilements and suffering. This is an example but you can say anything you want along those lines.

From time to time if one gets bored with doing this kind of thing one practises the shiney meditation. One doesn't at that moment think about these various things, one just meditates. Generally speaking when one is practising it is a good idea to change the techniques from time to time.

Sometimes one meditates on emptiness, if you are always meditating on emptiness if it makes you a dizzy, then you meditate on Bodhicitta. If one is meditating on the Bodhicitta and that becomes boring and one becomes uncomfortable then one doesn't meditate on anything and just rest in the shiney. If the shiney becomes boring then one does development stage then one visualises the deity Chenrezig and appearances are the pure realm and all beings are the yidam. If you can't do all that then just go to sleep! That's a joke!

2. All correction of wrongs should be done in one way.

If at the time one is practising the mind training, one has much suffering and obstacles, what is desired doesn't happen and what is not wanted happens, at that time you might feel that this practise of the mind training doesn't really have much meaning and one doesn't really like it.

Then you think I am not getting any good experience from this practise of the lojong, maybe one's anger increases. At this time when one experiences these various obstacles and sufferings in the practise then you have the thought may all sentient beings obstacles and thoughts come into my obstacle and suffering and may their obstacle and suffering be removed, may they be free of it and may I carry their suffering. One thinks as long as the suffering comes I don't mind because it is an opportunity to purify the sentient beings suffering and bring virtue. This transforms your suffering and obstacles into virtue.

It is said when some people begin the practise of the mind training they experience an increase in their anger and the other defilements of the mind. But it is also said that it is not a bad thing, It is good, it is a sign that one is beginning to purify ones obstacles and defilements. Look at the lid of this cup, imagine that on the lid of this cup is a lot of dust which you don't perceive when you look at it now when it is dry. If you put one drop of water on the lid and rub around the lid, because it is not dry anymore you can see the dirt much more easily. You might think this cup lid is very dirty now. What is actually happening is that the drop of water has loosened the dirt and has started the process of cleaning it. What we think though is that the water has made the lid dirtier.

When one is practising the Bodhicitta training from the depths of one's mind one is starting to purify and a sign of that happening is the arising of the different mind poisons like anger and desire, so that is quite good. Then gradually, over some time one actually purifies that.

3. Two activities: one at the beginning and one at the end.

At the beginning of the day one wakes up and one think I am beginning a new day and as much as I'm able today I'm going to practise the Bodhicitta and the mind training, the ultimate Bodhicitta which is the emptiness and the relative Bodhicitta which is the loving kindness and compassion and the wish to bring all sentient beings to the level of enlightenment. I'm going to practise this mind training as much as I am able to.

Then one practices as much as one can throughout the daytime one can meditate throughout the day with whatever activity one is involved with. Whilst driving a car or walking around, or working one continually has this mindfulness and remembers the aspiration one made in the morning. When you are about to go sleep at night one checks what has happened during the day and reviews how the day has gone.

If one realises that one has been able to generate some Bodhicitta no matter how small during the day then one rejoices in that and one dedicates it thinking that all the Buddha's and bodhisattvas of the ten directions are before one in space and I dedicate all the merit that I have accumulated during my practise of Bodhicitta during the daytime. You dedicate it to the benefit of all sentient beings so one can take all sentient beings to the level of enlightenment.

If one realises that one has accumulated some negativity during the day then one makes confession and purifies that. At this time when one is about to go to bed and one reviews the day and thinks well, I wasn't even able to generate one tiny piece of Bodhicitta toady and I am a useless practitioner, I'm not a good meditator at all I am totally bad, one shouldn't think like that. The reason we shouldn't be depressed is that from beginningless time we have been travelling around in Samsara and it's difficult to remove that kind of habit.

If it was possible that one could practise Bodhicitta completely in one day properly and correctly then within one week one would be enlightened. Then it would be very easy wouldn't it! But it doesn't happen like that. If one creates the cause by practising the Bodhicitta now, then in the next lifetime or further than that one can achieve enlightenment. So one thinks well, I have done the best I can today and tomorrow I will do better and later on I will do better. Also when one is practising the mind training and you think I have achieved quite a high level of Bodhicitta and there is no one else like this I am such a good person. Then one's pride will increase and at that moment one has to recognise that one has given rise to pride and has given rise to a fault. The two activities, one at the beginning and one at the end means starting off the day with the aspiration and finishing with a review of the days activities.