Seven Points of Mind Training

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Seven Points of Mind Training (T. blo sbyong don bdun ma བློ་སྦྱོངས་དོན་བདུན་མ་) — the famous instruction on 'mind training' (lojong) brought to Tibet by Atisha and written down by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje.

The seven points are:[1]

(1) presentation of the preliminaries,
(2) training in the two awakening minds,
(3) taking adversities onto the path of enlightenment,
(4) presentation of a lifetime’s practice in summary,
(5) the measure of having trained the mind,
(6) the commitments of mind training, and
(7) the precepts of mind training.

Chekawa's original text was not arranged into these seven points. This was done later by his disciple, Sechilphuwa Özer Shyönnu (aka Chökyi Gyaltsen) (1121-1189).

Root Text

The root text of the Seven Points of Mind Training consists of 59 slogans divided into the seven main points.

There are multiple translations of the root text available online, including:

Tibetan Commentaries

According to Thupten Jinpa, the translator and editor of Mind Training: The Great Collection (see 'Introduction', pages 11-12), the most well-known commentaries from Tibetan teachers on the Seven Points of Mind Training are:

  1. Sechilphuwa Özer Shyönnu’s (twelfth century) commentary compiled from Geshe Chekawa’s own lectures
  2. Gyalsé Tokmé Zangpo’s (fourteenth century) commentary
  3. Shonu Gyalchok’s (fourteenth century) Compendium of All Well-Uttered Insights
  4. Müchen Könchok Gyaltsen’s (fifteenth century) Supplement to Oral Transmission
  5. Radrengpa’s (fifteenth century) Stream of the Awakening Mind
  6. Hortön Namkha Pel’s (fifteenth century) Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun
  7. The First Dalai Lama’s (fifteenth century) Lucid and Succint Guide to Mind training
  8. Khedrup Sangye Yeshe’s (sixteenth century) How to Integrate into One’s Mind the Well-Known Seven-Point Mind Training
  9. Kalden Gyatso’s (seventeenth century) Dispelling the Darkness of Mind
  10. Yongzin Yeshe Gyaltsen’s (eighteenth century) Essence of Ambrosia
  11. Ngulchu Dharmabhadra’s (eighteenth century) Heart Jewel of the Bodhisattvas
  12. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s (nineteenth century) Seeds of Benefit and Well-Being

Note: only commentaries #1 and 4 above appear in The Great Collection anthology.

Translations and contemporary commentaries

Translations and commentaries by contemporary teachers include:

  • Dalai Lama, Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart, the Dalai Lama (based on a commentary entitled The Rays of the Sun, by Hortön Namkha Pel, a disciple of Tsongkhapa), Harper San Francisco, 1995
  • Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Enlightened Courage, Editions Padmakara, 1992
  • Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, The Intelligent Heart—A Guide to the Compassionate Life (Boston: Shambhala, 2016)
  • Chögyam Trungpa, Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving Kindness, Shambhala, 1993
  • Ga Rabjampa Kunga Yeshe, To Dispel the Misery of the World: Whispered Teachings of the Bodhisattvas, translated by Rigpa Translations, Wisdom Publications, 2012.
  • Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, Achieving Bodhichitta, Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press, 1999
  • Geshe Rabten & Geshe Dhargyey, Advice for a Spiritual Friend, Wisdom Publications, 1996
  • Thupten Jinpa (translator)
    • Mind Training: The Great Collection (as part of an anthology of early lojong texts), Wisdom Publications, 2005
    • Essential Mind Training (Tibetan Classics), Wisdom Publications, 2011
  • Gomo Tulku, Becoming a Child of the Buddhas, Wisdom Publications, 1998
  • Jamgön Kongtrul, The Great Path of Awakening, translated by Ken McLeod, Shambhala, 2005
  • Pema Chödrön, Start Where You Are, Shambhala Publications, 2001
  • Ringu Tulku Mind Training, Snow Lion Publications, 2007
  • Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenchen, The Seven Points of Mind Training, Zhyisil Chokyi Publications, 2004. Available here
  • Thrangu Rinpoche, Heart of the Dharma: Mind Training for Beginners, KTD Publications, 2010
  • Traleg Kyabgon, Benevolent Mind, Zhyisil Chokyi Publications, 2003
  • Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion Through Training the Mind, Shambhala Publications, 2007
  • Wallace, B. Alan, Seven Point Mind Training, Snow Lion Publications, 2004
  • Wallace, B. Alan, The Art of Transforming the Mind, Shambhala Publications, 2022
  • Zhechen Gyaltsab Gyurmed Padma Namgyal, Path of Heroes: Birth of Enlightenment (two volumes), Dharma Press, 1995

Notes

  1. ↑ Thupten Jinpa 2005, Introduction.

Sources

  • Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2005), Mind Training: The Great Collection, Boston: Wisdom Publications 

External links

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