8 verses for training the mind
Monday, April 30, 2007 at 11:18PM In honour of the 14th Dalai Lama's 2007 Australian Tour, the general public will soon have opportunities to hear and meet one of the most recognisable people in the world today, the spiritual and political head of the Tibetan people, His Holiness. This event causes me to reflect on why its healthy to learn to step back from what we're taught to feel happy for no apparent reason. Whenever your mind may evolve toward thoughts of negativity or worry, it is such times when you can learn to calm a restless or mischevious mind. Take initiatives to gain access to your higher self.
I would invite you to consider the following:
The Eight Verses for Training the Mind
By Geshe Langri Thangpa
With a determination to accomplish
The highest welfare for all sentient beings
Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
Whenever I associate with others I will learn
To think of myself as the lowest among all
And respectfully hold others to be supreme
From the very depths of my heart.
In all actions I will learn to search into my mind
And as soon as an afflictive emotion arises
Endangering myself and others
Will firmly face and avert it.
I will learn to cherish beings of bad nature
And those oppressed by strong sins and suffering
As if I had found a precious
Treasure very difficult to find.
When others out of jealousy treat me badly
With abuse, slander, and so on,
I will learn to take on all loss,
And offer victory to them.
When one whom I have benefited with great hope
Unreasonably hurts me very badly,
I will learn to view that person
As an excellent spiritual guide.
In short, I will learn to offer to everyone without exception
All help and happiness directly and indirectly
And respectfully take upon myself
All harm and suffering of my mothers.
I will learn to keep all these practices
Undefiled by the stains of the eight worldly conceptions
And by understanding all phenomena as like illusions
Be released from the bondage of attachment.
Reader Comments (2)
His talk was not 'heavy duty spiritualism' more or less what I expected to hear. But focused mostly on inner understanding. Not allowing the wrongs of others to disturb your inner piece, and of being less impacted by negative events that occur on a daily basis in our lives (my words, not his - he was more articulate). He did not suggest do nothing, but he strongly stated, 'violence' is an inappropriate response. Violence in response to 'violence' not address the deeper issues that are at play. (an issue my country is currently wrestling with today)
It was very enjoyable, probably not life changing, experience for Lynn and I.
Best wishes....and I miss walkinabout in your countryside,
Michael Bremer
I am looking forward to hearing the Dalai Lama speak in June in Australia. He encourages us to tune the strings of our individual instruments of life, "not too tight, not too loose." This points to a middle path. Consider Buddha's reaction to this analogy: his earler life had been "too loose," too empty of a higher purpose, too given over to pleasure, status and success. Later, he had been "too tight", too obsessed by self-denial and self-mortification even to the point of imposing starvation. He discovered wisdom lay in a middle way between indulgence and asceticism. Even today, where a person doesn't accept himself, he goes to war with himself inside and lashes out at the world. Society reflects this. Tension is like one part of us struggles to repress or destroy another part. As we achieve self-acceptance, violence against others will no longer be a reflex or considered a rational course of action.Learning to control the mind is the key to better acquainting ourselves with our own souls.