The Lojong Sayings

Tonglen / Lojong:

Tonglen - sending & taking.  Lojong - practice w/ proverbs.

1. Preliminaries

1) First, learn the preliminaries.

a. Appreciate Life & hearing the Buddhadharma,

b. Know the reality of death,

c. Accept Karma,

d. Accept the inevitability of cyclic suffering)

2. Formal Practice (2-10)

2) Think all phenomena are like dreams.  (My reality depends on momentary perception) 

3)  Analyze the unborn nature of awareness.  (There is no "Me" independent of momentary perception)

4)  Let even the antidote vanish of itself.  (Don't cling to the method) 

5) Settle in pure awareness (samadhi - enlightenment / sabbodhi - awareness of things as they are)

6) In post meditation, be a child of illusion.  (Between sessions maintain awareness of the dependent nature of reality)

7) Alternately practice sending & taking.  (Meditation: Breathe in, All Suffering / Breathe out, Everything Good)

8) 3 Objects, 3 Poisons: 3 roots of virtue.  (Objects of attachment, ...of hostility,...of ignorance: into virtue)

9) Practice every activity with slogans.  (Tonglen & Lojong in every act)

10) Begin taking & sending w/ yourself.  (Until I can do for myself, I will be unable to do for another)

3. Using Adversity (11-15)

11) When evil fills the world, change adversity into the path of awakening.  (Each obstacle is a chance to wake up)

12) Drive all Blames into One.  (Suffering has no other cause than Ego Clinging) 

13) Be grateful to everyone.  (Obstacles presented by others are some of the very best opportunities to develop by Lojong)

14) Emptiness comes in meditation on the four Kayas 

a. All is empty,

b. First arising of compassion from emptiness,

c. Compassion w/out conditions;

d. Simply being w/out distinctions, categories, divisions)

15) Whatever you encounter, immediately apply it to meditation. (Meet everything with awareness)

4. Life & Death (16)

16) Practice the five strengths

a. Determination to be egoless

b. Through being mindful & aware

c. So as to cultivate Bodhicitta

d. To release clinging grasping

e. Through prayer for the benefit of all others.

5. Yardsticks (17-20)

17) All dharma has a single goal.  (All lessons are designed to subdue ego-clinging)

18) Of the 2 witnesses, follow the one.  (Be true to myself) 

19) Always have the support of a Joyful mind.  (With help of a joyful mind, difficulty is an aid to Tonglen  - Lighten Up!)

20) Practice even when distracted (Be aware when I am distracted)

6. Commitments (21-36)

21) Abide the three Basic Principles

a. Keep promises,

b. Attend only to the essential,

c. Practice the same way in each situation

22) Transform your desires, & remain who you are.  (Do not be ostentatious in my new attitude of compassion)

23) Do not discuss defects.  (Of others or myself)

24) Do not ponder others.  (It is merely a mirror of myself & "Pray: May all be free of this suffering.")

25) Work on your greatest imperfection first.  (Focus full awareness on the place where I repeatedly stumble.) 

26) Give up hoping for results.  (It creates barriers to earnest practice on the path - Bodichitta)

27) Abandon poisonous food (Even virtuous thoughts & actions, if motivated by Clinging to concrete reality & self-cherishing, are like poisonous food)  

28) Don't rely on consistency.  (As when I am unable to break from the past.)

29) Don't malign others.  (Do not gossip either good or bad.)

30) Don't wait for an opportunity (Either: to engage in practice or to 'ambush' another)

31 Do not strike at weakness (Don't criticize belief, love, trust, etc.)

32) Don't transfer the Ox's burden to a cow.  (Don't shift responsibility for my feelings, blame, or other burdens)  

33) In your practice, don't aim to win.  (The Practice is not a race or competition to be better than others)

34) Don't act with a twist.  (Act without ulterior motive, only be direct & straight, not sneaky, not sideways)

35) Don't make Gods into Demons.  (Avoid inflated ego that may use the practice to avoid real insight)

36) Do not expect advantage from suffering.  (Yearning for another's suffering merely guarantees my own)

7. Guidlines (37-57)

37) Do everything with One intention.  (Transform everything, even obligations into Spiritual Practice w/ "Bodhichitta" intention)

38) One method will correct all wrong.  (Awareness / mindfulness)

39) 2 Actions on 2 Occasions: beginning & end.  (Begin & end each day with a commitment to Bodhicitta practice) 

40) Be patient, whichever of the 2 occurs.  (Don't jump into my habitual pattern in either good or bad fortune) 

41) Observe two precepts even at the risk of life.  (Awareness & compassion - Osho) 

42) Train in 3 difficult disciplines. 

First, become aware when disturbing emotions arise;

Later, as soon as I am aware, turn from it;

Finally, take action to prevent the seed before it is sown)

43) Take on the 3 primary resources.  (Teacher, Environment, Teachings)

44) Don't allow 3 things to weaken.  (Three Jewels / Objects of Refuge: the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Dhamma/Dharma)

45) Keep the 3 Inseparable. (Integrate Practice in Body, Speech, & Mind)

46) Deep & pervasive training: unbiased in every area.  (Without beliefs, without boundary, without holding back: in all 3 objects: #8)

47) Meditate on that which provokes resentment.  (Use resentments as a reminder, not an obstacle) 

48) Do not rely on external conditions.  (All conditions nurture the practice of Lojong/Tonglen)

49) This time, practice the main points. 

a. Benefit others,

b. Experience rather than books,

c. Bodhicitta is most important.

50) Avoid these 6 mistakes

AVOID: 

a. Impatience - be patient in all things esp. the practice,

b. To want wealth, happiness, pleasure, etc. at the expense of the practice,

c. To enjoy only pleasures & not the practice,

d. To have only compassion for innocents & not for all - even evil doers,

e. To be 'helpful' in a wrong way,

f.  Inappropriate rejoicing.

51) Do not be erratic. (Practice with steady consistency)

52) Train wholeheartedly.  (After I think I get it, start again to go to the next deeper understanding - again & again)

53) Find freedom by using:  Examination & Investigation.  (Be aware of the strongest clinging, then notice when it arises, again & again)

54) Don't make a fuss.  (Neither brag or wallow in self-pity - every experience is illusion)

55) Don't be jealous.  (It will lead to wrong action)

56) Don't be frivolous or fickle.  (Don't irritate others by my action, such as jealousy or "holier than...")

57) Don't expect thanks.  (Don't do anything merely for the recognition of others)

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