8 verses for training the mind

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.

Corrupted offers

Perhaps you've been negotiating with the aim of improving your circumstances.  You're willing to risk what you have or where you are, in favor of hopefully getting something better.  If you find yourself willing to compromise, that could be the difference between sensing real progress and getting nowhere.  Yet, the idea of jeopardizing not getting any perceived positive result may tempt you to consider corrupt offers, which would entail going against your principles and accepting or overlooking dishonest practices.  Consider this points while contemplating your next move:

1) Is your tactic a survival strategy?  If you're willing to compromise your self-respect or beliefs, then its important to consider the reasoning and prospective consequences.  Do you have reason to feel threatened? You may not be compensated enough to sell yourself short or sell yourself out.  You may have new options.  After all, the other person may have something to hide.  If you have been asked to compromise your beliefs, then you may have reason to question the basis for the other person's position.  S/He may be 'upping the ante' as part of his own survival strategy.

2) Would you be better off avoiding the situation? Some individuals aren't intentionally cruel, but they may be unaware of the impact and effect of their words and behaviour.  The absense of unintentional cruelty doesn't negate the effect their behavior has.  If you don't have to negotiate with this individual or need not accept their terms, you may be better off taking a new route.

3) What can you learn from the other person's offer?  Only you can define what is reasonable in any negotiation.  Consider the power dynamic.  Bullies may be people who feel disempowered or insecure, and only feel superior when they take steps to walk over others.  Ask yourself what you can learn about the other person if you take the risk to decline their offer.  A hypocrite may express concern if you turn down his offer.  The issue worth noting is this person isn't concerned about you.  Rather, he may be concerned about the implications of not being taken seriously. 

4) Would it be advisable to let time pass?  You may feel like you could strengthen your position if you had more time to collect new information.  Whenever possible, its wiser to take more informed risks.  The pain or frustration, and foreseeable costs of prolonging an uncomfortable or unresolved situation, must be weighed against the potential benefits of fully present and empowered. At a later time, you may decide you're ready to take the risk or, decide its not in your interest and be more certain of your reasons why.

5)  Can you measure the limits of honesty?  Even with the best intentions, you may not grasp what compels people to stop "playing it straight."  Reality is the world is filled with hypocrisy, ulterior motives, lies and agendas.  People will 'bend the rules' because they feel they can get away with it.  They will stoop to levels you may not desire to follow.  Seeking to understand their motivation may be less important than dis-associating yourself before they get into big trouble.  Taking the risk of becoming implicated in legal or other areas of corruption is reason to move away.

More than just a quick fix?

Travel is not longer a dream luxury for most people as it once was. If you become tired or bored of your regular routine, then you may be apt to take steps to create happy memories through travel. You don't have to go very far from what you know, but a change of scenery is supposed to help you relax and return to your previous life refreshed.  To invest in life experiences is an accepted way to teach yourself to savor life. Does travel symbolize more to you than just a quick break from stress or an invigorating adrenalin fix?

Now, a quick survey reveals that large numbers of people do not believe they can afford to live life to the fullest because they're convinced its beyond their reach. More than half of people asked what they'd do with $15,000 replied they would spend it on a holiday rather than pay off debts or contribute it toward a mortgage. Does this mean people prefer to deny reality? I think of a magnet I've seen which reads, "life is uncertain, eat dessert first." Do you feel that way about instant gratification?

The ways people travel have changed and continue to change. We have gone from the horse and buggy to steam trains to high speed travel. When possible, people are choosing to go away more often, but for shorter breaks. More people would opt to work 4 day weeks and have longer, regular weekends. Even the Internet has significantly influenced the way people think about travel. We are all taking steps to redefine what is possible within our means or outside them.

More and more people will book and pay on-line and also arrange vacation experiences at the last minute, as opposed to planning far ahead. Does this reveal an increase in electronic customer confidence or does it reveal that people have less time in lines to see real people to book trips? The flexibility to search whenever, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, is good news for people with the impression they have less time to spare.

Booking tradtional travel has evolved to include thrill-seeker activities that become a way for weary people to get an energy boost that remidns them they're alive. Why not look up a half-day sailing trip, take a bungy plunge, short-term skydiving course, rally driving, diving experience. Even space tourism is coming to the masses which means the sky will no longer be the limit. Why not try everything at least once? Prices are often less than you think. Ask companies like Lonely Planet with over 600 destination country books alone. Where the will exists to travel, a way can be found, within almost any budget.

What is your hidden agenda?

When you set out to find a job or create a career, you have a hidden agenda and maybe more than one. You'll bring your own conditioning, personal history and emotional baggage. You bring memories of every work-related role and responsibility you've ever had or dreamed.  You may unconsciously choose a variation of what you've already done, or actively seek some experience which is completely different. No matter what your choices, you’re investing yourself, exerting efforts or maybe even paying someone to find an opportunity that meets your standards. How do you know this is all true?

1) You're in a position of power. It's clear you have work goals, and with all the vacancies out there, you're in a position to call the shots. You decide where you'll apply or not. You'll choose whether to approach a prospective employer and market your potential, or decide not to try. You may not yet know exact roles or responsibilities you seek, but through eliminating what you don't, you'll identify desirable outcomes. If you refuse to be sincerely try, you’ll be your own worst enemy. You have the chance to work things out and opt for just what you need.

2) You have psychological expectations. Based on what you’ve been paid before, your level of pretension, confidence, pedigree of education, practical experience and academic qualifications, you have likely established standards. You may sense more or less what you’re willing to do and where, for whom and pursuits that would be unworthy of you. Your internal memories of who rubbed you the right or wrong way will stick.  How convincing will you be about goals to others?

3) You make choices according to identity. How you define your own self-love and acceptance relates to feeling you will be included in social activities which are compatible with your strengths and talents. Even if you take on part-time or full-time work to finance studies or pursuits of your true interests, your focus will be based on how honest you are with yourself. Conscious honest choices require you to filter out other people’s agendas for you to fix your own.

4) You’re driven by your values. Positions of interest may appeal to you for varied reasons. Do you presume people will judge your value on what you aspire to achieve or, on whether or not you think you deserve the market rate for your work? You have a duty to be fair to yourself, to give all employers fair and equal consideration based on your impressions and priorities over and above limiting values.

5) You may make “mountains out of molehills”. If you sense you desire too much or too little in return for what you feel you can offer in a work position, you may be lost in an ego battle. If the hidden agenda is self-interest alone, then you set up traps for yourself that may mean you gamble more than you wish to lose. If you convince yourself of the ‘all-or-nothing’ option, and justify your position by telling yourself you have to get a job today to keep a roof over your head, feed and clothe yourself and family, reality may mean you blow things out of proportion. Do you really create the urgency for other reasons? What is your other agenda?

Restore your inner strength

For much of your life, you may have derived your self-worth from how you performed in the office, with romantic partners, in athletic competitions or, in some other area of your life.  Even if you haven't been consciously aware of it, you may have felt that the more professional or group recognition you gained, the more personal compliments were directed your way, the more money you earned, all determined your underlying value.  Are you the type of person who thinks, "the better I do, the more people will like me?" Is this the crux of your view of success?

If you've had thoughts like those described above, you may have accomplished things, but still miss out on a lot.  There's more to life than simply lving according to other people's criteria or how they think you should live.  Some of the most challenging experiences are those that trigger most personal revelations and initiate inner healing. 

If you have been frightened of making new decisions or taking initiatives, you may assume fate is in charge and there's no point in taking steps to shape your course.  You may not yet have realized its up to you to restore faith, trust and tap into existing inner strength.  Consider this:

1) You decide what comes of you mentally and spiritually.  Conditions such as lack of food, little sleep, and other disconcerting sources of stress, remind you that what becomes of you results from an inner decision.  Do you decide to give up, stop seeking solutions, and stop fighting or, do you decide external circumstances will not control your attitude? Just as you may experience the suffering sides of emotions, you can learn what it means to stop suffering just as soon as you formulate a convincing, multi-sensual, mental picture of what it means and believe. 

2) You can make use of or forgo opportunities.  Are you aware that your inner strength can raise you above your outward experiences?  You are confronted with fate, each time you have the opportunity to achieve and learn through suffering.  You can choose to face hardship in a courageous and dignified way, and value your health in whatever state or, see meaning in other perceived predicaments that challenge your comfort zone. Ask yourself how would whatever you sense is difficult in your life actually helping you? Embrace it.

3) You can decide to take spiritual evolution seriously.  Your free will and decisions shape your observations and how you understand success.  You determine how long you fear your circumstances, and when this destructive mindset will end.  Another way of seeing is to realize difficult situations are gifts that enable you to interpret life as an opportunity to grow beyond what the mind can teach you. Embrace the challenges where you perceive.  Shift your perception.  Turn your circumstances into the reason for your latest, inner triumph. Decidr to take spiritual evolution seriously. Respond with joy and stretch yourself.

"If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms upon life, you must accept the terms it offers you." -T.S. Eliot