Read Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living Online

Authors: Pema Chödrön

Tags: #Tibetan Buddhism

Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living (20 page)

These teachings are elusive, even though they seem so concrete: if it hurts, breathe in it; if it’s pleasant, send it out. It isn’t really something that you finally and completely “get.” We can read Trungpa Rinpoche’s commentaries on mind training and read the text by Jamgön Kongtrül. We can read them and try to apply them to our lives, and we can let them continually haunt us, haunt us into understanding what it really means to exchange oneself for others. What does that really mean? And what does it mean to be a child of illusion? What does it mean to drive all blames into oneself or to be grateful to everyone? What is bodhichitta, anyway? Trying to speak these teachings to you is—for me—a chance to digest them further. Now you are going to find yourself speaking them and living them and digesting them. May you practice these teachings and take them to heart. May you make them your own and spread them to others.

APPENDIX

The Root Text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind

C
HEKAWA
Y
ESHE
D
ORJE

POINT
ONE:
The Preliminaries, Which Are a Basis for Dharma Practice

I prostrate to the Great Compassionate One.

First, train in the preliminaries.

POINT
TWO:
The Main Practice, Which Is Training in Bodhichitta

Absolute Bodhichitta

Regard all dharmas as dreams.

Examine the nature of unborn awareness.

Self-liberate even the antidote.

Rest in the nature of alaya, the essence.

In postmeditation, be a child of illusion.

Relative Bodhichitta

Sending and taking should be practiced alternately.

These two should ride the breath.

Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue.

In all activities, train with slogans.

Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.

POINT
THREE:
Transformation of Bad Circumstances into the Path of Enlightenment

When the world is filled with evil,

Transform all mishaps into the path of bodhi.

Drive all blames into one.

Be grateful to everyone.

Seeing confusion as the four kayas

Is unsurpassable shunyata protection.

Four practices are the best of methods.

Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation.

POINT
FOUR:
Showing the Utilization of Practice in One’s Whole Life

Practice the five strengths,

The condensed heart instructions.

The mahayana instruction for ejection of consciousness at death

Is the five strengths: how you conduct yourself is important.

POINT
FIVE:
Evaluation of Mind Training

All dharma agrees at one point.

Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one.

Always maintain only a joyful mind.

If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.

POINT
SIX:
Disciplines of Mind Training

Always abide by the three basic principles.

Change your attitude, but remain natural.

Don’t talk about injured limbs.

Don’t ponder others.

Work with the greatest defilements first.

Abandon any hope of fruition.

Abandon poisonous food.

Don’t be so predictable.

Don’t malign others.

Don’t wait in ambush.

Don’t bring things to a painful point.

Don’t transfer the ox’s load to the cow.

Don’t try to be the fastest.

Don’t act with a twist.

Don’t make gods into demons.

Don’t seek others’ pain as the limbs of your own happiness.

POINT
SEVEN:
Guidelines of Mind Training

All activities should be done with one intention.

Correct all wrongs with one intention.

Two activities: one at the beginning, one at the end.

Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.

Observe these two, even at the risk of your life.

Train in the three difficulties.

Take on the three principal causes.

Pay heed that the three never wane.

Keep the three inseparable.

Train without bias in all areas. It is crucial always to do this pervasively and wholeheartedly.

Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.

Don’t be swayed by external circumstances.

This time, practice the main points.

Don’t misinterpret.

Don’t vacillate.

Train wholeheartedly.

Liberate yourself by examining and analyzing.

Don’t wallow in self-pity.

Don’t be jealous.

Don’t be frivolous.

Don’t expect applause.

When the five dark ages occur,

This is the way to transform them into the path of bodhi.

This is the essence of the
amrita
of the oral instructions,

Which were handed down from the tradition of the sage of Suvarnadvipa.

Having awakened the karma of previous training

And being urged on by intense dedication,

I disregarded misfortune and slander

And received oral instruction on taming ego-fixation.

Now, even at death, I will have no regrets.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chödrön, Pema.
The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Loving-Kindness.
Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1991.

Kongtrül, Jamgön.
The Great Path of Awakening.
Translated by Ken McLeod. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1987.

Trungpa, Chögyam.
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.
Edited by John Baker and Marvin Casper. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1973.

___.
The Heart of the Buddha.
Edited by Judith L. Lief. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1991.

___.
The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation.
Edited by John Baker and Marvin Casper. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1976.

___.
Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.
Edited by Carolyn Rose Gimian. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1984.

___.
Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness.
Edited by Judith L. Lief. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 1993.

RESOURCES

Heart Advice: Weekly Quotes from Pema Chödrön

Visit
shambhala.com/eheartadvice
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For information about meditation instruction or to find a practice center near you, please contact one of the following:

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Gampo Abbey

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Canada B0E 2P0

phone: (902) 224-2752

e-mail:
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Naropa University is the only accredited, Buddhist-inspired university in North America. For more information, contact:

Naropa University

2130 Arapahoe Avenue

Boulder, Colorado 80302

phone: (303) 444-0202

e-mail:
[email protected]

website:
www.naropa.edu

Audio and video recordings of talks and seminars by Pema Chödrön are available from:

Great Path Tapes and Books

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Portage, Michigan 49002

phone: (269) 384-4167

fax: (415) 946-3475

e-mail:
[email protected]

website:
www.pemachodrontapes.com

Kalapa Recordings

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Halifax, Nova Scotia

Canada B3H 2Y5

phone: (902) 420-1118, ext. 19

fax: (902) 423-2750

e-mail:
[email protected]

website:
www.shambhalashop.com

Sounds True

413 S. Arthur Avenue

Lousville, CO 80027

phone: (800) 333-9185

website:
www.soundstrue.com

INDEX OF SLOGANS

Note: Index entries from the print edition of this book have been included for use as search terms. They can be located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

Abandon any hope of fruition

Abandon poisonous food

All activities should be done with one intention

All dharma agrees at one point

Always abide by the three basic principles

Always maintain only a joyful mind

Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment

Be grateful to everyone

Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself

Change your attitude, but remain natural

Correct all wrongs with one intention

Don’t act with a twist