Lojong #1

In the 12th Century, a Tibetan monk named Chekawa formulated existing proverbs and aphorisms into a set of 57 sayings known as lojong ("mind training"), designed to help seekers connect with the world in a way that is unconditional, possitive, and fully aware. The process of meditating on these sayings came to be called tonglen (in Tibetan 'tong' means 'sending out' or 'letting go' and 'len' means 'receiving' or 'accepting') and it has proven to be a powerful technique for helping practitioners take full responsibility for their experience of the world.

I'll be putting a new saying up at random intervals. Unlike my usual blog posts (which you can forget about almost before you finish reading them), take a minute to think about these.

#1) First, train in the preliminaries.

Comments*
There are four preliminaries (also called the four reminders):
1) Remember the preciousness of human life.
(only a human can become a Buddha)
2) Remember that life ends; death comes for everyone.
(it sounds obvious, but how many of us actually think about it?)
3) Remember that all actions have a result.
(karma is a bitch)
4) Remember that as long as you are focused on self-importance you will suffer.
(just getting what you want and avoiding what you don't like will not bring happiness)

*The comments that I'll be putting up with them are rarely my own. They are drawn from a host of authors - Pema Chodron, Osho, HHDL, and others.