I would like to invite you to join me in an ongoing reflection on the mind training slogans of Atisha.

Note: There are a number of excellent translations of the Atisha slogans available. I have consulted primarily Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chögyam Trungpa with an excellent translation of the basic text by the Nālandā Translation Committee and The Great Path of Awakening by Jamgön Kongtrül, with an excellent translation by Ken McCleod.  However, since the purpose of this blog is to examine the slogans, to look at them this way and that, to chew on them and let them sink in, I have at times chosen to phrase the slogans in my own way. This is in no way meant to be a replacement for more traditional translations—it is simply a means of exploration. I hope you too will find ways of expressing these teachings in your own words. [Read more…] about Introduction to Atisha’s Slogans

What is the best way to work with the mind training slogans? The short answer is over and over again. At first the slogans may seem overly simple, even simple minded. But if you take the time to reflect slowly and carefully on each slogan, from many angles, they begin to sink in at a different level. You begin to uncover layers of depth and subtlety.  What is really great is that the mundane grittiness and the subtle understanding are not opposed but are joined. They operate simultaneously and in tandem. So the whole way we divide our world into our ordinary dealings with daily life and what we consider more important or profound is dislodged. [Read more…] about Working with the Mind Training Slogans

SLOGAN 1  •  First, Train in the Preliminaries
This slogan raises the question of what is the best foundation for dharmic practice. How should we prepare ourselves to dive into the slogans?  This naturally leads to the further question of how we prepare ourselves to launch into anything. [Read more…] about 1. First, Train in the Preliminaries

SLOGAN 2  •  Regard All Dharmas as Dreams  |  absolute bodhichitta
If the point is not to sleepwalk through life, but to be awake to our life, why would we want to regard all dharmas, or all phenomena, as dreams? Is that not a contradiction? [Read more…] about 2: Regard All Dharmas as Dreams

SLOGAN 3  •  Examine the Nature of Unborn Awareness  |  absolute bodhichitta
In the previous slogan, “Regard all dharmas as dreams,” we looked outward, at our perception of the world. With this slogan we look inward—we look at the looking itself. [Read more…] about 3: Examine the Nature of Unborn Awareness

SLOGAN 4  •  Self-Liberate Even the Antidote  |  absolute bodhichitta
The problem this slogan addresses is the tendency to cling to the insight uncovered by the previous two slogans. That is, you may have recognized the dreamlike nature of the world and the ungraspable nature of awareness, but you still cling to that recognition itself, and the sense of having figured all this out. [Read more…] about 4: Self-Liberate Even the Antidote

SLOGAN 5  •  Rest in the Nature of Alaya, the Essence  |  absolute bodhichitta
In this weary striving world, rest is hard to come by. A luxury. From time to time we simply flop from exhaustion, but in general we don’t have many chances to slow down or to stop the momentum as our life flies by. [Read more…] about 5: Rest in the Nature of Alaya, the Essence