Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo - The Heroic Heart : Awakening Unbound Compassion

All experiences are preceded by mind,

have mind as their master,

are created by mind.

The Buddha

T HE QUOTE ABOVE , by the Buddha himself, demonstrates that our minds and the way we use them, how we think, are central to the Buddhist path. Therefore, a method for taming or calming the mind, a way of training it out of its many negative habits, is both crucial and beneficial. Why is it so important to train and tame the mind? Why is it imperative to release the mind from its habitual patterns and uncover its true nature? Because a wild mind tends to harm others. This brings us to the true heart of Buddhismthe liberation of all sentient beings from all forms of suffering. Although we Buddhists talk about realization and enlightenment a lot, that is not our true goal. Our true goal is to free sentient beings from suffering, to free them also from delusion and ignorance of their true nature. Our own enlightenment is the best and surest way to equip us to do that. It is this cherishing of others that is the essence of Buddhism. From the simplest foundational practices to the heights of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, nothing is more important or higher than the selfless expression of boundless compassion, or bodhichitta. Training and taming the mind is the way we give rise to this boundless compassion, and the way we are ultimately able to express our true nature.

We are about to explore an important text on lojong that provides just such a way to tame and calm the mind. The Tibetan word lojong literally means mind training, but the practice really has more to do with training our attitude, training us out of the habitual ways that we respond to situations that happen to us, especially adverse circumstances. The idea is that we take everything onto the path. Some people think that when things are going well, we are healthy and happy and everything is on the up and up, it is a good time to practice Dharma. But when we are faced with adverse circumstancesdifficult people, bad health, and so forththen somehow our practice gets dropped or postponed.

These lojong teachings are about how to take everything, especially adverse circumstances, onto the path. How to use everything that happens to us as a means of inwardly maturing and becoming spiritually strong is the essence of lojong practice. I sometimes compare this to a visit to a gymnasium. The trainer looks at us and says, Well, your arms are not bad, but your legs are very flabby. So we go on the machines and work out. The reason to work hard on those machines is to become strong. We dont resent those machines because they challenge us. If they are too easy, we find more difficult equipment. We recognize that the effort we make on these exercise machines is the reason we now have nice, strong legs. Lojong is rather like that. The fourth-century bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, referred to the Christian book of Psalms as a gymnasium for the soul. There is also the idea that life itself is a gymnasium of the soul. Even though we dont believe in souls in Buddhism, the idea is a good one. Life is where we have our workout, this is where we train. We shouldnt avoid challenges or only work out on the easy machines.