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
Be consistent in your practice
(53)
Be consistent. Be kind. Be confident. Go all in! Be a tortoise.
You vacillate, telling yourselves you can’t do this or that, that you’re this way or that way is better, that others are like this or like that. Really? Consistency matters. In fitness, in writing, in relationships, in any project, including the project of life and training the mind.
When working on the project of dropping self-grasping and developing loving kindness. “Ask yourself the following questions: Is impermanence true or not? Is sickness, old age and death true or not.” [^@Fischer2013:aa]
Be consistent. Don’t vacillate in your enthusiasm for practice. Make single-pointed commitment to Mind Training and stick to it. Always keep the practice of Mind Training in mind. Just because practice of Mind Training is sometimes hard is not an excuse to slack off. Hard is just a point on a spectrum. Everyone has something hard in their life. Have compassion for them. Even if the “them” is you.
Do you want to vacillate between various strategies or find a balance point that you can maintain over the long term, years? There are ‘Switching Costs’ to vacillating in your enthusiasm for your practice and for dabbling in other practices. When switching practices there is naturally a new learning process with each switch. You are a beginner in that practice. Constantly switching leaves you in the perpetual beginner stage, never developing.
Cultivate a serious attitude ……………………………..[[201903160423]] Be wholehearted …………………………………………[[201904220448]] Practice for death as well as for life …………………….[[201903170457]] Two activities: begin the day, end the day …………………[[201904090608]] Observe, no matter what ………………………………….[[201904110510]] Adopt three key elements …………………………………[[201904130501]] Don’t make a public display of your efforts ………………..[[201903230512]] Keep tract of the three key elements ………………………[[201904140544]] Embrace challenges presented by circumstances ………………[[201904180505]]
Alternate Titles
- Do not be sporadic
- Don’t vacillate
- Do not be erratic
- Do not depend on external conditions
- Do not be inconsistent
04-21-2019 - 5:47 AM ›[[201904210547]] → #slogans