Seven Points of Mind Training - Slogan 43

"When the five dark ages occur; this is the way to transform them into the path of bodhi. This is the essence of the amṛita of the oral instructions that are handed down from the lineage of Serlingpa. Having awakened the karma of precious training and being urged on by my intense dedication, I disregarded misfortune and slander and received oral instructions on taming ego-clinging. Now even at death, I will have no regrets. -Chekawa Yeshé Dorjé From May 25-29, 2017, Khenpo Sherab Sangpo, a professor of Tibetan Buddhism in the Nyingma Lineage, taught “The Root Verses of the Seven Points of Mind Training” along with his own commentary on the sixty-one slogans at a residential retreat called "Awakening the Mind: Seven Points of Mind Training.” These slogans were brought to Tibet from India by Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrijñāna (Jowo Jé Palden Atisha), who was a great meditation master and scholar. His students founded the Kadampa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism that is known for teaching oral instructions called lojong, or mind training, that can be memorized, meditated upon, and applied to one’s daily life post-meditation. The sixty-one slogans as taught by Khenpo Sherab Sangpo were written down during the twelfth century by Chekawa Yeshé Dorjé (1101-1175), a famous Kadampa master from Tibet, who arranged the slogans into seven groups (or points) that exemplify the Mahāyāna view, meditation, and conduct. These seven points are: Point One: the Preliminaries—the Basis for Dharma Practice (Slogan One); Point Two: the Main Practice—Training in Bodhicitta (Ultimate Bodhicitta—Slogans Two through Six) and (Relative Bodhicitta—Slogans Seven through Eleven); Point Three: Transforming Negative Circumstances into the Path of Enlightenment (Slogans Twelve through Seventeen); Point Four: Applying the Practice Throughout One’s Life (What to Do during Life and Death—Slogans Eighteen and Nineteen); Point Five: Evaluation of Mind Training (Slogans Twenty through Twenty-Three); Point Six: Disciplines of Mind Training (Commitments of Mind Training—Slogans Twenty-Four through Thirty-Nine); Point Seven: Guidelines of Mind Training (Slogans Forty through Sixty-One); and The Conclusion with Chekawa’s dedication verses. “The Root Verses of the Seven Points of Mind Training” text is available on our website. Please visit our website to learn more about Khenpo Sherab Sangpo, his teachings and for practice texts. This episode can be seen on Youtube.