Atisha’s Seven Points of Mind Training – Lojong

The First Key Point

Practice 1: Precious Human Birth

“If you were to truly practice meditation on precious human birth as it is meant to be cultivated, you would never be lazy. You would have all of the diligence necessary. You would have everything needed for meditation and it would come naturally.”                

                              – Khentrul Lodrö T’hayé Rinpoche

Root Text

First Key Point: The Preliminaries, The Support For Practice 
1. First, train in the <a data-kb-tooltip-content="Tibetan: ngön-dro

This literally means “what goes before”. Since it “goes before” other practices in the given context, it is often translated as “preliminaries.” However, it also carries the sense of being ongoing, which means that whatever practice goes before, at the time of any additional practice, it is still present. If it is no longer present, it needs to be cultivated again to ensure it always serves as a basis for whatever the main practice may be.” data-tooltip-placement=”top” class=”kb-tooltips”>preliminaries.

Resources

Required Reading
Optional Reading
  • The Great Path of Awakening by Jamgon Kongtrul
  • Enlightened Courage by Dilgo Khyentse

Assignments

Assignment 1
  • Listen to the recording for this practice, Precious Human Birth.
Assignment 2
  • Read the corresponding passages in The Power of Mind: A Tibetan Monk’s Guide to Finding Freedom in Every Challenge by Khentrul Lodrö T’hayé, pp. 13—23.
  • Additional Optional Reading:
    • The Great Path of Awakening by Jamgon Kongtrul
    • Enlightened Courage by Dilgo Khyentse

Assignment 3
  • Read the Daily Practice Instructions. 
  • Spend two days integrating an awareness of this precious human life into whatever you are doing throughout the day.
  • In addition, integrate this practice into a brief formal meditation.

Daily Practice Instructions

Integrating informal practice into our daily lives will be our focus for the next several months. In this context, informal practice means bringing to mind a concept and integrating that understanding into your immediate experience. Formal meditation means sitting down and doing a specific meditation practice on the topic.

Here are some ideas for getting started:

Set an alarm, reminder, or note next to your bed reminding you that the practice for the day is the contemplation of this precious human life. Then, make a vow to remember the value of being human all day long long no matter what occurs. In this way, respond to everything that happens during the day in relation to how you value this precious life.

Keep setting commitments: 

  • Before starting your morning routine, make a vow to yourself that you won’t forget the value of this human life. 
  • Before getting in the car and driving somewhere, commit to remembering this every few minutes during the drive. 
  • Before starting work, commit to remembering the value of this life in relation to whatever comes up during work. 
  • Before going to a party or social event, commit to remembering the value of this life before walking in the door. 
  • Most importantly, commit to remembering precious human life before meeting a person or situation that might be challenging for you. 

In this way, before you start any new activity, vigilantly commit to remembering the value of this precious human life. The word remember is the meaning of the term mindfulness in this context.

How to practice this in difficult situations (adversity): If people or events upset you, pause and refresh your perspective. Consider how exquisite it is to have this brief human life within the extent of conditioned existence and the vast scope of experiences of all beings. Remember that now you have this life. Reflect on how rare it is to be human. Ask yourself whether getting upset and reacting with negative emotions is worth it?  At the time of death, how will you feel about your behavior? Will these actions produce positive future experiences? What will their likely result be? Consider again this brief life as a human being during which you have the potential to gain ultimate freedom from suffering. Do you want to waste it in anger, in negative thoughts and actions?  Resolve to choose actions that you won’t regret at the end of your life.  

To practice this in positive situations: Reflect upon this precious human life in positive moments as well. Ensure that when good things happen you create the causes and conditions for more good things to happen. Do this by engaging in positive actions while you have the power of choice. Having choices and being discerning is unique to being human. If you are already engaging in positive actions, rejoice and commit to continuing to do so. 

Nightly Routine

  1. Reflect on how you did today:
  • Did you integrate the perspective of the preciousness of your life into everything you did? 
  • Did recalling the value of your human life change your perspective or actions?
  1. In recalling the moments that you forgot to practice, generate regret and resolve to do better. You might imagine yourself in that same situation and envision yourself remembering this practice.

  2. Where you succeeded in practice, rejoice, then dedicate the merit and make aspirations.

Schedule: 

  • If you are able to, sit for 5-20 minutes each day. 
  • If you already have a daily meditation practice, you can add this contemplative meditation to it. 

How to Practice: 

Begin by sitting in meditation posture to cultivate the key points of body and speech. Then, establish your motivation. Pause for a moment and think that you are going to contemplate the value of this life in order to free beings from suffering and bring them to genuine happiness.

Review the eight freedoms and ten advantages of precious human birth as you sit using the book, The Power of Mind, or using the list provided. This is a contemplative meditation. Read a point, reflect on its meaning and apply your understanding to your experience. For example, regarding the eight states that have no leisure to practice, examine how each of those states is a barrier to finding true freedom from suffering. Consider that anyone born in these circumstances is subject to unfavorable conditions and cannot practice, then allow yourself to feel compassion for them. Finally, acknowledge that you are free from those states. You may come to recognize what a great relief it is to have a human body with all the opportunities for practice it gives you. 

For the ten advantages, go through each and reflect on how they are present or not present in your life. See how they enable you to have the ability to seek a spiritual path to find freedom from suffering. After contemplating each, rejoice in your good fortune. 

At the end, think about how rare it is to have all these causes and conditions. Then make a personal commitment to make use of this precious opportunity of human life.

Conclude with short dedications and aspirations.

Assignment 4
  • Use a journal to document your reflections on this week’s practice.
  • Are there any insights, experiences, or questions you would like to share in the discussion box below?

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