SLOGAN 43 • Observe these two, even at the risk of your life.
The two primary vows or commitments of the Buddhist path are the refuge vow and the bodhisattva vow. More generally, the two primary commitments one makes on the spiritual path are to work on oneself and to help other beings. These two vows provide fundamental guidelines for how to approach your practice and your daily life. [Read more…] about 43: Observe these two, even at the risk of your life
42: Whichever of the two occurs, be patient
SLOGAN 42 • Whichever of the two occurs, be patient.
What happens to your practice when you extremely happy, when things are going especially well? And what happens to your practice when things are going horribly, and you are not doing well at all? That is what this slogan is about, and the advice is to be patient in either case. [Read more…] about 42: Whichever of the two occurs, be patient
41: Two Activities: One at the Beginning, One at the End
SLOGAN 41 • Two activities: one at the beginning, one at the end.
When you start your day, you could actually take a moment to think about what you are doing. Instead of just launching in, you could begin properly, with something in mind beyond just getting through your to-do list. In particular, you could look on each day as an opportunity to practice lojong, or mind training. [Read more…] about 41: Two Activities: One at the Beginning, One at the End
40: Correct all Wrong with One Intention
SLOGAN 40 • Correct all wrongs with one intention.
This slogan is about the power of establishing the attitude of mind training as a kind of underlying habit of mind. As in the previous slogan, it is about the power of our intention.
On the spiritual path we encounter both external and internal obstacles to practice and to awakening. Sometimes you are inspired and other times you are not. Even when you are inspired to practice, all sorts of external obstacles arise: you suddenly get sick, you need to attend to a family crisis, your job leaves us exhausted, etc. [Read more…] about 40: Correct all Wrong with One Intention
39: All activities should be done with one intention
SLOGAN 39 • All activities should be done with one intention.
It seems that every day we fall willy-nilly into a never-ending string of activities. They seem to come at us from outside, without our necessarily having anything to do about it. We keep busy with one thing after another from morning until night. [Read more…] about 39: All activities should be done with one intention