SLOGAN 17 • Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions.
The two slogans of Point Four are a blanket approach: you are blanketing your entire life with exertion. It takes exertion to live properly and it also takes exertion to die properly. No matter how much we have studied or how many ideas we may have, without exertion, our understanding will be superficial, not transformative. [Read more…] about 17: Practice the five strengths, the condensed heart instructions
18: The Mahayana Instruction for Ejection of Consciousness at Death
SLOGAN 18 • The mahayana instruction for ejection of consciousness at death is the five strengths: how you conduct yourself is important.
The previous slogan was about how to live, and this slogan is about how to die. It may seem that living and dying are two very different things, but they are completely interconnected. We learn how to live by learning how to die and we learn how to die by learning how to live. Each informs the other. [Read more…] about 18: The Mahayana Instruction for Ejection of Consciousness at Death
19: All dharma agrees at one point
SLOGAN 19 • All dharma agrees at one point.
This slogan raises the question of how we evaluate ourselves and others. How do we tell if someone is the genuine article or a charlatan? How do we know if we ourselves are going off the rails in our spiritual practice? [Read more…] about 19: All dharma agrees at one point
20: Of the Two Witnesses, Hold the Principal One
SLOGAN 20 • Of the two witnesses, hold the principal one.
This slogan is about aloneness and confidence. It gets to a core issue on the path of practice, which is the fact that each of us must travel it alone and by ourselves. Of course we may be in a community or a sangha, but within a sangha of one-hundred members, there are a hundred different paths. We may be in one tradition, but the way we each go about it is unique. Life altogether has that same quality. We come in alone, we go out alone, and in between no matter how many friends and acquaintances we may have, we are still alone at a fundamental level. [Read more…] about 20: Of the Two Witnesses, Hold the Principal One
21: Always Maintain Only a Joyful Mind
SLOGAN 21 • Always maintain only a joyful mind.
Joy doesn’t have that good a reputation in our culture. We tend to associate it with idiocy or with people who are spaced out or stupid, people who are blithely ignorant of the state of the world or simply too self-absorbed to bother. How can you be joyful when there are so many problems? What about the truth of suffering, the problem of greed and craving? What about warfare, oppression, prejudice, and on and on? Furthermore, joy seems boring. There is no drama in it. [Read more…] about 21: Always Maintain Only a Joyful Mind
22: If You Can Practice Even While distracted, You are Well Trained
SLOGAN 22 • If you can practice even when distracted, you are well trained.
When you begin to do mindfulness or bodhichitta practice, one of the first things you notice is how distracted you are. It can seem as if a veritable avalanche of thoughts, fleeting moods, memories, plans, judgments, and all sots of mental folderol is pouring through your mind continually. People say such things as “I was fine before I started meditating, but now my mind is just a jumble.” However, none of that is really new, it was just never noticed before. [Read more…] about 22: If You Can Practice Even While distracted, You are Well Trained
23: Always abide by the three basic principles
SLOGAN 23 • Always abide by the three basic principles.
On the spiritual path, over and over again it is a good idea to keep coming back to a few basic principles. By doing so, you can bound your actions with discipline. You can keep your practice on track. It is a bit like setting up bumpers on the side of a bowling alley, so your ball stays in its lane and does not fall into the gutter. This slogan suggests you work with three basic principles: honoring your commitments, refraining from outrageous actions, and developing patience. [Read more…] about 23: Always abide by the three basic principles
24: Change Your Attitude, But Remain Natural
SLOGAN 24 • Change your attitude, but remain natural.
What attitude is this slogan talking about, and why should we change it? What is an attitude anyway? It seems to me that an attitude is our customary way of thinking about things, which is usually reflected in our actions. An attitude is a kind of mental container that shapes and colors whatever is put into it. Your attitude not only colors what comes into the mind, but leads you to attend to some things and be completely oblivious of others. [Read more…] about 24: Change Your Attitude, But Remain Natural
25: Don’t Talk about Injured Limbs
SLOGAN 25 • Don’t talk about injured limbs.
In the ordinary sense, this slogan simply means not to make fun of others or draw attention to their defects and problems. Rather than dwelling on what is wrong with people, which only exaggerates and perpetuates their weaknesses, we should remember that they are doing the best they can. We should accept them as they are. [Read more…] about 25: Don’t Talk about Injured Limbs
26: Don’t Ponder Others
SLOGAN 26 • Don’t ponder others.
This slogan is very similar to the last, in that it points to how easy, entertaining, and totally distracting it can be to muse about what is wrong with everybody else. The habit of faultfinding is part of a larger pattern of insecurity in which we always feel the need to compare ourselves to other people. It is as though we need to convince ourselves that we are okay, which we can only do indirectly, in comparison to people who are less okay. [Read more…] about 26: Don’t Ponder Others