The Heart of the Practice of Lojong

Training the mind in compassion, or lojong, refers to a profound transformation from a state of mind in which we think only of ourselves, to a more enlightened perspective, in which we think principally of others.

Why is it important to change our attitude in this way? As long as we are only concerned with ourselves and our short-term interests thinking: “How can I get ahead?  How can I get what I want?” our scope is very narrow, and we often find ourselves imprisoned in a tight, claustrophobic state of mind, in which even the slightest discomfort becomes unbearable and the smallest problems multiply into endless irritations and difficulties. When we focus on ourselves alone and neglect others, nothing is accomplished that is of benefit to anyone else, and we don’t achieve our own happiness either.

But when we think of the welfare of others, what happens? Not only are we able to offer them help, but in the process our own happiness is taken care of as a matter of course. This is because, when we have love and compassion in our mind, we automatically become more spacious and we feel more joy, contentment and well-being. Thinking of others is a tremendous source of happiness.

In short: whenever we harm others, it harms us; whenever we help others, it helps us. This is why His Holiness the Dalai Lama often says that if you wish to truly look after your own self-interest, then, at least be “wisely selfish”, rather than foolishly selfish. Take a good look and you will realize that if you truly wish to take care of yourself, it means giving up harming others, and trying to help them instead.

While at the moment we are mainly concerned with cherishing ourselves, through training our mind with the skilful means of compassion, we can slowly transfer and extend this cherishing of ourselves to others. This begins, firstly, by seeing how we and others are the same. Just as we want happiness and don’t want to suffer, others feel exactly the same. Thinking in this way we come to realize that just as we cherish ourselves, we should also cherish others.

Then, gradually, through training the mind in compassion, we can extend our compassion further to the point where we are willing to exchange ourselves with others. Our compassion becomes so great that we wish to take on the pain and suffering of others and give to them all our happiness and well-being. Finally, we can reach a point where we even consider others as more important than ourselves.

This is what the practice of lojong is really all about.

Though there are a lot of teachings on lojong, the most important point is to actually practise it, to bring these teachings into our being and actually transform our mind and heart so that we have more love, compassion and genuine concern for others.

What Meditation Really Is

Meditation has many stages or levels, but the true purpose and highest goal of meditation is: to awaken in us the sky-like nature of mind, and to introduce us to that which we really are, our unchanging pure awareness, which underlies the whole of life and death.

Generally, we spend our lives distracted from our true selves, in endless activity. We are fragmented into so many different aspects that we no longer know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.

Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.

Through meditation our mind begins to settle, and as it does, something extraordinary takes place: all the fragmented aspects of ourselves come home, and we become whole. Negativity and aggression, pain, suffering, and frustration are actually defused. We experience a feeling of peace, space, and freedom, and out of this settling comes a profound stillness.

As we progress further and come into touch with our true nature, it disarms and dissolves our ordinary thoughts and emotions. As this happens, tremendous love and compassion begin to shine through us, just like the sun with all its warmth. We find we are not only in touch with ourselves, but completely in touch with others also. As our tendency to grasp evaporates, the conflict, the suffering, and the pain of fragmenting and fighting with ourselves dissolve. We find ourselves content simply to be, spacious, open, awake and at ease.

Contentment

Regardless of who we are, the main purpose of our life, you could call it the heart of being human, is to be happy. All of us share the same wish and the same right to seek happiness and to avoid suffering. If we look closely we can see that there are two kinds of happiness: one is based more on material comforts and pleasures and the other is founded on a deeper mental contentment. The first kind can be very expensive and is often unsatisfying, while the second costs nothing at all and is deeply satisfying.

The great saints of the past used to say: it is the foolish that go looking for happiness outside of themselves; the wise and learned know that all happiness and the causes of happiness are present within us, in our own mind and heart.

If you have this deeper, inner peace and contentment, then even when you go through suffering, your mind can still be happy. Even when difficulties arise you’ll be able to turn them to your advantage. So, for your own inner peace and stability, taking care of your mind and heart is crucial. Once your own mind is more at peace, then both inner and outer harmony will automatically follow.

The Essence of the Buddha’s Teaching

The teachings of the Buddha are vast, numbering well over 100 volumes, yet at the same time, they can all be essentialized in a very profound way. When Buddha himself was asked to summarize his teachings he said: 

'Commit not a single unwholesome action,
Cultivate a wealth of virtue,
To tame this mind of ours,
This is the teaching of the Buddha.'

First, try as much as possible to abandon all the unwholesome, negative and harmful actions, which are the cause of suffering for yourself and others. Second, adopt the positive, beneficial and wholesome actions that are the cause of happiness, again for both you and others. Finally, and most important of all, work to transform your mind—the root of all happiness and suffering—and understand it’s true nature. This is whole point of the teachings and our entire existence.

Mind and the Nature of Mind

We usually think of our mind as just thoughts and emotions, but according to the teachings of Buddha, these make up only one aspect of the mind. The teachings tell us that the mind has two aspects: the appearance of mind, and, more important, the essence or nature of mind. The appearances of mind are like the rays of light streaming from the sun, while the very nature of mind is like the sun itself in all its glory.

The teachings tell us, rather than trying to understand each thought and emotion that arises in our mind, instead we should try to understand the nature of mind itself. When we understand the nature of mind, it is one-medicine for all ills. By knowing one thing we come to know all.

Training the Mind in Compassion (Lojong)

The Tibetan word lojong has many meanings, but most commonly it refers to training the mind in compassion.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says:

“The lojong tradition stands as the heart of the Buddha’s message of peace. It teaches us how to regard others with the dignity and care that they deserve, and also how to transcend the limitations of ego-grasping. […]

“The essential message of these teachings is that if we want to see a better world, we should begin by improving our own mind. We can spend our lives trying to ‘tame’ the world—a task that would never end—or we can take the more practical path of ‘taming’ our own minds.

“This is by far the most effective approach, and brings the most immediate, stable and lasting solution. It contributes to our own inner happiness, and also contributes to establishing an atmosphere of peace and harmony in the world around us.”

So what does lojong actually mean?

The first syllable ‘lo’ refers to the aspect of our mind that tends to think all kinds of things. If we don’t take care of our mind by working with it and mastering it, then these endless rising thoughts will quite often get us into trouble and lead us into suffering.

As the poet John Milton wrote in ‘Paradise Lost’:

“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

So, if you know how to work with your mind and understand it, then this mind can be the most wonderful thing. On the other hand, if you don’t know how to work with your mind, then this mind, with all its endless thinking, can become your worst enemy or nightmare. The purpose of lojong, therefore, is to work with and transform our mind. In fact, taming and transforming the mind is the essence of the entire teaching of Buddha.

As for ‘jong’ the second half of the word lojong, this refers to the use of very powerful methods or antidotes to transform the mind. Generally, our character is quite wild. Our mind stubbornly thinks whatever it wants, and so we need to use special methods to make it more workable. A traditional example for this is working with leather. When you first start to work with it, leather is quite tough; you need soak it and then massage it with oils and butter to make it softer, more pliable and tender.

In a similar way, while our character can be very tough and stubborn at the beginning, through training our minds in compassion, loving kindness andbodhichitta, we gradually overcome and soften our stubborn, destructive thoughts emotions. That is the meaning of lojong.

To Tame This Mind of Ours

A single phrase captures the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings: “To tame this mind of ours.”

Why is taming or transforming our mind so important? Because the mind is the root of everything, the creator of happiness and the creator of suffering, the creator of what is called samsara and the creator of what is called nirvana. As Buddha said:

'We are what we think,
All that we are arises with our thoughts
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you.'

Quite often we do things, say things and think all kinds of thoughts, without any awareness of the thinker, the speaker or the doer. Caught up in distraction, we’ve lost the sense of our true being–who we really are. So we need to bring our mind home and begin to get to know our own mind. This is the spirit of the practice of meditation, through which we can tame this mind of ours.