I first came across the seven points of mind training when I started working with Pema Chodon’s book ‘Start Where You Are’, the accompanying Lojong phrases and tonglen practice, back in 2003. It has always struck me as a practical and common-sense approach for generating compassion and awareness in our modern times.
The concluding verse includes the phrase:
When the five dark ages occur,
This is the way to transform them into the path of bodhi (awakening).
These teachings are deemed perfect for our times, which are considered a dark age, which can easily be verified by watching the news.
The teachings are attributed to the eleventh century great Indian Buddhist teacher Atisha who brought the teachings to Tibet.
Atisha’s Lojong teachings were compiled in twelfth century into the Tibetan Buddhist root text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje. A set of Lojong slogans. Lojong mean mind training. So, a set of 59 pithy mind training slogans, which together with the practice of tonglen, provide a practical way for awakening compassion and awareness. They provide a way of reversing our ego-clinging and cultivating compassion and awareness using formal meditation and then in post meditation using the events of everyday life as a means of awakening. The post meditation practice is based on the spontaneous recall of appropriate Lojong slogans in daily life. These teachings were taught and popularised in the West by Chogyam Tungpa Rinpoche and his student Pema Chodron.
When Atisha was planning his journey to Tibet he was told that the Tibetan people were kind and pleasant and this worried him deeply. So, he took with him his tea boy who was known to be extremely annoying. As it says in Pema Chodron’s book, when asked why he continued to employ this terrible tea boy, Atisha stated “I want him with me because he is my greatest teacher. He reminds me to be patient. He reminds me to be compassionate. And he gives me many opportunities to practice tolerance.”
This story gets to the crux of the seven points of mind training, which support us in making difficult circumstances into our lesson for the day. It is also why they are the perfect mind training for difficult times.
This is summarised in the following Lojong slogan:
When the world is filled with evil, transform all mishaps into the path of awakening.
I have found this a very useful teaching and have practiced with this slogan over the last twenty years. When I used to encounter difficult circumstances, when something went wrong or if I made a mistake I would get upset, blame myself or someone else and experience a whole range of distressing emotions: anger, resentment, self-criticism. It would often take me a long time to get over my distress. These days in most difficult circumstances I tend to be curious to see what can be learned. For big difficulties I might get caught up for a while but change my perspective much sooner and become more open and curious. This is a big relief in my life and also I expect for those around me.
Choden and I lead a retreat each year for those who have completed our Level 4 Wisdom training and in February 2025 the theme was the Seven Points of Mind Training. This went so well that we developed a course for all who have some experience of mindfulness meditation. The course is an experiential exploration, through meditation and reflection, of these teachings made accessible for a modern audience and without requiring anyone to buy into any Buddhist beliefs.
For more information about this course and to book please see:
https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/course/seven-points-of-mind-training/
You might also want to have a go at these mini-meditations, based on the following slogens:
Begin the sequence of sending and taking (tonglen) with yourself
Always maintain only a joyful mind
Heather Regan Addis