Mind Training

Phakchok Rinpoche shares with us some of Atisha’s Root Verses on Training the mind. This supreme mindtraining offers clear, simple and straightforward advice to anyone who wishes to practice or just improve their lives by changing their way of thinking and acting.

By taking a moment to look at our minds themselves, we come closer to discovering the nature of everything.

Phakchok Rinpoche teaches how to create space to feel more calm and lose fear, as well as slow down the loop of negative thoughts.

“Meditation training with focus” takes many forms. As we begin to build a habit of mindfulness, we can use one or more of these techniques. For example, in a meditation session or sometime in our day, we may focus our attention lightly on a sound. How so? We simply rest our mind on the sound of our choice. Then, when we notice that our mind has wandered away, we gently guide it back to the sound. That’s all there is to it–bringing our mind back to the object of focus again and again. We call that process “mindfulness”. In this video teaching, Tulku Migmar Tsering advises us on how we can use meditation training with focus to cultivate a habit of mindfulness.

When we hear the word “meditation” we may think that we can’t keep still for an hour and be calm.  But, as Tulku Migmar as explains here, the point of meditation is the process itself.   When we meditate we are cultivating new habits bit by bit in short periods. 

“Mental Maintenance” means working with our own minds. Anxiety, depression, and stress can affect anybody.  First, we need to take care of our actual physical needs, but then we also should care for our minds.  Mental maintenance signifies stability.  So first, it is good to investigate our own minds.  Are they stable?  Are we in control of our minds?

Erric Solomon shows five ways that we can radically increase the joys of living.

How do we begin Buddhist practice? We can first listen to explanations from a qualified teacher, and take time to reflect on what we have heard–trying to understand a little more. Then, after a lot of studies we then gradually encourage ourselves to try some of the practices.  That summarizes one approach. Phakchok Rinpoche advises students with this inclination to enter the pathway of the Nine Yanas. Another method is to approach the practice with a degree of trust–we think this seems right–and we begin practicing what we hear right away.  As we do that, we take time to reflect on our own experiences. When we follow this method, we observe our own experience and notice any changes and improvements right away. Rinpoche calls this method the Path of Meditation.

Practicing meditation is a key point of applying Buddhist Dharma. And many other traditions also feature meditation.  Phakchok Rinpoche suggests that we need to approach practice gradually because most of us have a number of bad habits. First of all, we tend to get easily distracted. Isn’t that true? Do you find yourself losing track of your mind?

Dharma means understanding the mind–our own mind– and how it functions. When we hear the word “Dharma” we can realize that we are engaging in a new process of examination.  Instead of looking outward, we are turning the focus inward to investigate ourselves.

Real kindness means that you aren’t looking for praise or thanks. We don’t attach strings to that kindness–we act kindly without expectation. Agenda-free kindness doesn’t look for something in return. And, on a spiritual level, this pure kindness doesn’t include calculations of how this will bring about enlightenment or accumulate merit for oneself. We need to let all that go.  Instead, we can approach kindness very simply.

Five negative emotions cause us so many problems. In this audio clip, Phakchok Rinpoche explains how the Buddha  taught about the mind and about actions. Rinpoche describes these five as they might arise in our daily lives. He also demonstrates how subtly these five negative emotions may influence our behavior.