Lojong


Lojong is a mind training practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on a set of aphorisms formulated in Tibet in the 12th century by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje. The practice involves refining and purifying one's motivations and attitudes.
The fifty-nine or so slogans that form the root text of the mind training practice are designed as a set of antidotes to undesired mental habits that cause suffering. They contain both methods to expand one's viewpoint towards absolute bodhicitta, such as "Find the consciousness you had before you were born" and "Treat everything you perceive as a dream", and methods for relating to the world in a more constructive way with relative bodhicitta, such as "Be grateful to everyone" and "When everything goes wrong, treat disaster as a way to wake up."
Prominent teachers who have popularized this practice in the West include Pema Chödrön, Ken McLeod, Alan Wallace, Chögyam Trungpa, Sogyal Rinpoche, Kelsang Gyatso, Norman Fischer and the 14th Dalai Lama.

History of the practice

Lojong mind training practice was developed over a 300-year period between 900 and 1200 CE, as part of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Atiśa, a Bengali meditation master, is generally regarded as the originator of the practice. It is described in his book Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. The practice is based upon his studies with the Sumatran teacher, Dharmakīrtiśrī, and the Indian teacher Dharmarakṣita, a prominent teacher at Odantapuri and author of a text called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. Both these texts are well known in Tibetan translation. Atiśa's third major teacher of lojong is said to have been the junior Kusalī, known also as Maitrīyogi.
Atiśa journeyed to Sumatra and studied with Dharmakīrtiśrī for twelve years. He then returned to teach in India, but at an advanced age accepted an invitation to teach in Tibet, where he stayed for the rest of his life.
A story is told that Atiśa heard that the inhabitants of Tibet were very pleasant and easy to get along with. Instead of being delighted, he was concerned that he would not have enough negative emotion to work with in his mind training practice. So he brought along his ill-tempered Bengali servant-boy, who would criticize him incessantly and was challenging to spend time with. Tibetan teachers then like to joke that when Atiśa arrived in Tibet, he realized there was no need after all.
The aphorisms on mind training in their present form were composed by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje. According to one account, Chekhawa saw a text on his cell-mate's bed, open to the phrase: "Gain and victory to others, loss and defeat to oneself". The phrase struck him and he sought out the author Langri Tangpa. Finding that Langri Tangpa had died, he studied instead with one of Langri Tangpa's students, Sharawa Yönten Drak, for twelve years.
Chekhawa is claimed to have cured leprosy with mind training. In one account, he went to live with a colony of lepers and did the practice with them. Over time many of them were healed, more lepers came, and eventually people without leprosy also took an interest in the practice. Another popular story about Chekhawa and mind training concerns his brother and how it transformed him into a much kinder person.

Root text

The original Lojong practice consists of 59 slogans, or aphorisms. These slogans are further organized into seven groupings, called the "7 Points of Lojong". The categorized slogans are listed below, translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee under the direction of Chögyam Trungpa. The following is translated from ancient Sanskrit and Tibetan texts and may vary slightly from other translations. Many contemporary gurus and experts have written extensive commentaries elucidating the Lojong text and slogans.

Point One: The preliminaries, which are the basis for dharma practice
Point Two: The main practice, which is training in bodhicitta.
Point Three: Transformation of Bad Circumstances into the Way of Enlightenment
Point Four: Showing the Utilization of Practice in One's Whole Life
Point Five: Evaluation of Mind Training
Point Six: Disciplines of Mind Training
Point Seven: Guidelines of Mind Training

Commentaries

One seminal commentary on the mind training practice was written by Jamgon Kongtrul in the 19th century. This commentary was translated by Ken McLeod, initially as A Direct Path to Enlightenment. This translation served as the root text for Osho's Book of Wisdom. Later, after some consultation with Chögyam Trungpa, Ken McLeod retranslated the work as The Great Path of Awakening.
Two commentaries to the root texts of mind training have been written by Kelsang Gyatso and form the basis of study programs at NKT Buddhist Centers throughout the world. The first, Universal Compassion is a commentary to the root text Training the Mind in Seven Points by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje. The second, Eight Steps to Happiness is a commentary to the root text, Eight Verses of Training the Mind by Langri Tangpa.
In 2006, Wisdom Publications published the work Mind Training: The Great Collection, translated by Thupten Jinpa. This is a translation of a traditional Tibetan compilation, dating from the fifteenth century, which contains altogether forty-three texts related to the practice of mind training. Among these texts are several different versions of the root verses, along with important early commentaries by Se Chilbu, Sangye Gompa, Konchok Gyaltsen, Dalaielan Roebuck and others.
In 2012, Shambhala Publications published Training in Compassion: Zen teachings on the Practice of Lojong by Zoketsu Norman Fischer which teaches ways to incorporate Lojong practices into Zen. Fischer felt that "the plain-speaking tradition of Zen might lend something to the power of the text" and that "although Zen is a Mahayana school, it is nevertheless deficient in explicit teachings on compassion".
In 2016, Shambhala Publications published The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, with foreword by Pema Chodron.