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
Observe, no matter what
(43)
This is an admonition to become awake and stay awake. Live life with eyes wide open. Observation is key. Without attentive observation, life slips by un-lived. Keep attending to the now, what is happening.
If you let go of your commitment to attentively observe life though Mind Training you will fall back into reactivity and lose the opportunity to become awake.
All vows are included in this one commitment: to be committed to paying attention to our lives, to being honest about what is going on and unflinchingly realistic about how we are behaving and thinking. The heart of mind training is here: don’t go to sleep, don’t deny, don’t make excuses, don’t blame anyone, don’t wish for something else. Live your life with your eyes and heart wide-open. No matter what. [^@Fischer2013:aa]
Traditionally this is about two commitments. First is the ‘commitment to awakening, to cultivating knowledge, and to connecting with fellow seekers of wisdom and knowledge’. The second is the ‘commitment to develop the wisdom, compassion, and skillful means to be of real benefit to the world and to give victory and benefit to others and to take all loss and failure’. [^@Leif:2010aa]
It’s important to continue at the pace that training occurs. Not to want to progress faster. Progress at the speed commensurate with commitment.
Drive all blame into a single source ………………………[[201903110656]] Don’t expect results …………………………………….[[201903270458]] Don’t rush things ……………………………………….[[201904030514]] Be consistent in your practice ……………………………[[201904210547]] Remain committed and engaged ……………………………..[[201904200542]] Always train in the 3 basic elements ………………………[[201903220513]] Cultivate a serious attitude ……………………………..[[201903160423]] Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help …..[[201903140603]] Face the three challenges ………………………………..[[201904120530]] Train without bias ………………………………………[[201904160516]]
Alternate Titles
- Observe, even if it costs you everything
- Observe these two, even at the risk of your life
- Guard the two even at the cost of your life
- Guard the two at the cost of your life
- Guard both points more preciously than your life
- Even if it costs your life, defend the two
04-11-2019 - 5:10 AM ›[[201904110510]] → #slogans