The mind training tradition that developed in Tibet has its source from the great iIndian masters Nagarjuna and Shantideva and it was brought into Tibet by Atisa in the eleventh century. The practice of Mind training is based on the essential Mahayana teachings of impermanence, compassion, and the exchange of self and other. The lojong teachings are a source of inspiration and guidance shared by masters of all Tibetan traditions. The Seven Point Mind Training is a popular Tibetan Buddhist text by a twelveth century Kadampa master Geshe Chekawa. An Extensive Commentary on the Seven Point Mind Training is a commentary on The Seven Point Mind Training by Gesge Lobsang Gyatsho. In this book he explains the practice of Mind Training as the synthesis of all the various trainings of Mahāyāna Buddhism into one practice with nothing omitted whatsoever. He constantly emphasizes the daily practice of the Mind Training teachings over mere study or memorization and enjoins us to place whatever intellectual understanding we may have into pure Dharma practice right now. Since the root text used here comprises pithy statements handed down by the great Kadampa masters of Tibet that require further elucidation, Gen Lobsang Gyatso explains them with the expertise of an individual who has lived these teachings for many years and has come to a personal, experiential mastery of them. He espouses them as the fundamental antidote to our samsaric suffering and afflictive emotions – the adamantine antidote that crushes our own worst enemy – our self-centered attitude. Among many text on Mind Training, Geshe Chekawa’s Seven Points for Training the Mind is widely used Chekhawa, was said to possess all the marks of a great being right from his birth. He received the Milarepa instructions from Rechungpa and had many other great teachers like Geshe Tsan, Jayulpa and so forth. It is said that he had memorized over one hundred scriptures, but always felt incomplete, thinking that there must be some other teaching for achieving enlightenment. Then at thirty he met the great teacher Sharawa who gave him experiential teaching for twelve years. Geshe Chekhawa was very satisfied as we see at the end of his text on the Seven Points of Mind Training where he says, “Now I have no regrets even if I die.” Sharawa gave this practice of exchanging oneself for the other as a secret teaching to Chekhawa. Thus the special focus of this text is how to eliminate self-cherishing attitudes which are the source of all the sufferings and problems that we face in our life.

In this society with its hurly-burly pace demanding of our time, it is ever so easy to let life slip by. The process of simply existing is not necessarily meaningful. And yet, there is an unlimited potential for meaning and value in this human existence. The Seven-Point Mind Training is one eminently practical way of tapping into that meaning. The central theme of the Seven-Point Mind Training is to make the liberating passage from the constricting solitude of self-centeredness to the warm kinship with others which occurs with the cultivation of cherishing others even more than oneself. This mind training technique is especially well-suited for an active life. It does not require that we withdraw into seclusion, but that we re-examine all of our relationships-to family, friends, enemies, and strangers-and gradually transform our responses to whatever life throws our way. Book jacket.

Mind Training is a comprehensive practice that is suitable for all types of students. It contains the entire path and does not depend on a person's background. Mind Training nurses and cultivates the Buddha Nature that pure seed of awakening that is at the very heart of every sentient being. It has the power to transform even egotistical self-clinging into self-lessons. Put into practice diligently, it is enough to lead all the way to awakening. In The Path to Awakening, Shamar Rinpoche gives his own detailed commentary on Chekawa Ye-shes-rdo-rje's Seven Points of mind Training, a text that has been used as a basis for transformative practice in Tibetan Buddhism for close to a thousand years. Clear accessible, and yet profound, this book is filled with practical wisdom, philosophy, and meditation instructions. -- Amazon.com.

A guide to the Tibetan Buddhist practice of lojong meditation—or mind training—as a way to pause, reflect, and discover the true meaning and value of life In this society, with its hurly-burly pace demanding of our time, it is ever so easy to let life slip by. Looking back after ten, twenty, thirty, years—we wonder what we have really accomplished. The process of simply existing is not necessarily meaningful. And yet there is an unlimited potential for meaning and value in this human existence. The Seven-Point Mind Training is one eminently practical way of tapping into that meaning. At the heart of the Seven-Point Mind Training lies the transformation of the circumstances that life brings us, however hard as the raw material from which we create our own spiritual path. The central theme of the Seven-Point Mind Training is to make the liberating passage from the constricting solitude of self-centeredness to the warm kinship with others which occurs with the cultivation of cherishing others. This Mind Training is especially well-suited for an active life. It helps us to reexamine our relationships—to family, friends, enemies, and strangers—and gradually transform our responses to whatever life throws our way

Mind Training is a comprehensive practice that is suitable for all types of students. It contains the entire path and does not depend on a person's background. Mind Training nurses and cultivates the Buddha Nature, that pure seed of awakening that is at the very heart of every sentient being. It has the poer to transform even egotistical self-clinging into selflessness. Put into practice diligently, it is enough to lead you all the way to awakening. In "The Path to Awakening", Shamar Rinpoche gives his own detailed commentary on Chekawa YeshE DorjE's "Seven Points of Mind Training", a text that has been used as a basis for transformative practice in Tibetan Buddhis for close to a thousand years. Clear, accessible, and yet profound, this book is filled with practical wisdom, philosophy, and meditation instructions.

This small accessible book contains the essence of the Seven-Point Mind Training, expressed in the intimate colloquial style that distinguishes Ringu Tulku's teachings. The Seven-Point Mind Training, a lojong practice, assumes no prior special training or preparation. It does not require practitioners to enter seclusion or change the way they live their lives. It asks that they examine their relationships with all those around them and make a strong determination to become enlightened for others' sake rather than for their own. It gives instructions for tonglen breathing practice that ties the concepts of lojong to the physical act of breathing. Mind Training focuses simply on giving up, self-cherishing, and transforming self-centered thinking into compassion, egoistic feelings into altruism, desire into acceptance, and resentment into joy.

Compiled in the fifteenth century, Mind Training: The Great Collection is the earliest anthology of a special genre of Tibetan literature known as "mind training," or lojong in Tibetan. The principal focus of these texts is the systematic cultivation of such altruistic thoughts and emotions as compassion, love, forbearance, and perseverance. The mind-training teachings are highly revered by the Tibetan people for their pragmatism and down-to-earth advice on coping with the various challenges and hardships that unavoidably characterize everyday human existence. The volume contains forty-four individual texts, including the most important works of the mind training cycle, such as Serlingpa's well-known Leveling Out All Preconceptions, Atisha's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses on Training the Mind, and Chekawa's Seven-Point Mind Training together with the earliest commentaries on these seminal texts. An accurate and lyrical translation of these texts, many of which are in metered verse, marks an important contribution to the world's literary heritage, enriching its spiritual resources.