Being Ordinary
- Introduction
- • ★ Lojong Slogans
- Begin with the beginning
- Treat experiences as dreams
- Examine the nature of awareness
- Don’t get trapped by emptiness
- Rest in the openness of mind
- In the intervals be a conjurer of illusion
- Practice giving and receiving on the breath
- 3 Objects, 3 Poisons, 3 Seeds of Virtue
- Always train with the slogans
- Begin Tonglen with yourself
- Use misfortune as practice
- Drive all blame into a single source
- Be grateful to everyone
- Let confusion awaken and practice emptiness
- Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help
- Every encounter suddenly becomes the path
- Cultivate a serious attitude
- Practice for death as well as for life
- There is only one point of focus
- Be true to the principled one
- Cultivate an ever-present joyful mind
- Proficiency comes when practicing even when distracted
- Always train in the 3 basic elements
- Don’t make a public display of your efforts
- Don’t speak of the faults of others
- Don’t ponder the actions of others
- Don’t save your biggest problem
- Don’t expect results
- Don’t poison yourself
- Don’t be so predictable
- Don’t be mean
- Don’t wait in ambush
- Don’t make everything so painful
- Don’t unload on everyone
- Don’t rush things
- Don’t be devious
- Don’t make gods into demons
- Don’t be complacent of suffering
- Focus on a singe intention
- Remedy obstacles with one intention
- Two activities begin the day end the day
- Be patient either way
- Observe, no matter what
- Face the three challenges
- Adopt three key elements
- Keep tract of the three key elements
- Keep the three inseparable
- Train without bias
- Meditate on your dissatisfactions
- Embrace challenges presented by circumstances
- Right now exert yourself, get it right
- Remain committed and engaged
- Be consistent in your practice
- Be wholehearted
- Find freedom through investigation and close analysis
- Be modest and unassuming
- Practice sympathetic joy
- Be even tempered
Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help
(15)
The original slogan is: “Four practices are the best of methods.”
It would be best if you had both profound religious philosophy and practical tools for daily living. This goes with the territory of being human. This slogan is fantastic in its straightforwardness and being action-oriented. It lays out four specific practices to incorporate in your everyday life.
Four Practices. (Non-traditional)
- Do good - generate goodness and compassion
- Avoid evil - avoid leaving a trail of suffering and clear away any negativity
- Appreciate your lunacy - fill obsessions with awareness while learning from mistakes
- Pray for help - seek guidance in nourishing wakefulness in your life
Four Practices. (More traditional Tibetan compilations)
- make offerings to the deities and the spiritual teachers and supplicating them - accumulate merit
- purify your negative karma - purify the seeds of wrongs
- make offerings to the malevolent forces - make offerings to spirits
- make offerings to the Dharma protectors
Do good not to gain merit or recognition. Do good because it is in your true nature to be compassionate. Practice in secret. Don’t broadcast your intentions or accomplishments. Your ego will want to but resist. The goal here is to help others and not feed your ego. Happiness comes from a kind mind.
Avoid evil means stop your bad habits that are not healthy, not in your best interests, or not compassionate towards others and yourself. Especially stop your behaviors that cause others anguish. In the past, you have had impure thoughts and actions. Learn not to do this in the future.
Appreciate your lunacy by inviting and welcoming your problems. They are doing you the favor of pointing to where you can wake up and be compassionate towards your tendencies. Make friends with your demons as they will show up once you get very far down this path of Mind Training. Make the necessary commitment.
Pray for help can be interrupted as being watchful for those moments when the universe pokes you because you have fallen asleep. It would be best if you swayed your thinking and actions towards doing good and avoiding evil.
Resistance and forgetfulness are the hindrances to these four practices. They are not difficult if we remember to practice them. When practiced, each will bring you closer to awareness of your present moment experience. Take refuge in a path.
Always train with the slogans …………………………….[[201903080539]] Observe, no matter what ………………………………….[[201904110510]] Don’t make a public display of your efforts ………………..[[201903230512]] • Ten Billion Moments ……………………………………[[202009100728]]
Alternate Titles
- Four practices are the best of methods
- The fourfold practice is the most excellent method
- The best way is to use the four practices
- Practice the four methods
03-14-2019 - 6:03 AM ›[[201903140603]] → #slogans