The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

I. The Teachings on the Preliminaries

The Teachings of the Buddha dharma are, for example, likened to building a house. First one needs to properly prepare the foundation, the ground. If one doesn't do this then in the future no matter how beautifully the house is made if it has no firm foundation then it will not be stable and it will fall down.

The main point is that within our minds we have a very great grasping and aversion. Normally we have this great grasping and as strong as this grasping is then likewise our suffering will be equal to that. For example, there are two men and they both have a million pounds and jewels, gold nuggets and other precious things. One of the men understands Dharma and understands the meaning of the preliminaries, impermanence, the essence of Samsara is suffering and so on. The other man understands nothing. One day if they were suddenly to lose all their wealth then the man who had no understanding of the Dharma would become very sad and think there was no point to his life anymore and would have many problems. He would be unable to work or think about anything.

The other man would think "I've lost everything but this is natural, the nature of Samsara, this is impermanence". Because he hasn't got too much grasping and worry about the loss of the money then his mind doesn’t become tight. Also because he realises that this is impermanence and the nature of Samsara, he knows that just because he has not been able to accomplish one thing he can make other plans. He can do something else, this is not the end.

Normally we have, in our minds, a great grasping for our relatives, partners and friends. If they change slightly we experience a lot of suffering. So if we have a method to reverse the grasping and if we study the preliminaries it will be very beneficial.

If as a practitioner you have a good understanding of the preliminaries then it will be easier to practice Dharma later on. Also, if we can reduce the grasping in our minds we can perform worldly activities better. As we have so many meaningless problems and suffering in our worldly life we can make things easier if we can reduce our grasping.

The Four Ordinary Foundations

1. The Precious Human Birth

In general there are various types of preliminaries. For example the Four Thoughts, the difficulty of obtaining human birth and so on. The human birth is wonderful, with this body we can reach the level of enlightenment and we can accomplish any worldly activity we want. By relying on this body we can reach enlightenment in one lifetime. This body is very important, but very difficult to obtain. It has a great power and strength. The main point or reason for reflecting on the human birth is that one gains confidence in the fact that one can do anything with this body, that the body is a good thing and one is lucky to have it.

There are many points in the commentary concerning the precious human birth, the eight unfavourable states and so on but you can ask Simon who teaches on these subjects. So instead of explaining all that I will tell you a story. It's important that you understand the point of the story, as it is very beneficial for your practice.

There was a Lama in Tibet and he taught about the precious human birth and the difficulties of obtaining it. The Lama had a student who was a businessman.

This business man used to ply his trade from Tibet to Kalimpong down to Calcutta and back again. Calcutta is a busy city with many people and its streets are full of people doing business.

One day a student stood up in the teachings and said would it be all right for him to ask a question. The Lama said yes. The student said "Lama, have you ever been to Calcutta"? The Lama replied that no, he had never been to Calcutta. The student said, "oh! you have never been to Calcutta, this is the reason you teach us about the precious human birth and how difficult it is to find. If you had been to Calcutta you would have seen that the streets are full of people. It's easy to get a human body!

I go to Calcutta to do business and sometimes it’s difficult to walk around, as the streets are so full. Lama, you stay in Tibet which is empty. There are not many people, and you teach that it is difficult to obtain a human body, but it is not so".

The Lama replied "I know that. I haven't been to Calcutta but I know that!".

Generally the Buddha taught that the hell realm has the most beings in it, the yidak realm has less, the animal realm has less and the human realm has less again. So the beings of the human realm are very few.

The Buddha said that space has no limit, it is endless. Also like that worlds are limitless. Because of this the beings of the six realms are also limitless. The majority of beings don't know how to practice the abandoning of negative actions and the accumulation of virtue, or having the thought of benefiting others. For example, beings like ourselves, the majority of beings are under the power of the kleshas, the negative emotions so they kill and cause harm to beings and so on and do negative activity naturally.

We don't have to train how to be angry; we don't have to go to school to learn how to be angry. Also with desire and jealousy we don't have to go to school to study them, they come naturally. If one tries to have loving kindness and compassion then we have to meditate on each of them and if we can't do it then we get angry, so it's difficult to have loving kindness and compassion isn't it?

We go to meditate and we close the door and start our session, trying to meditate well, and after some time we fall asleep. (Rinpoche mimes someone falling asleep). Now if this person were to go to town, the Birmingham City centre and look around at all the sights, the different entertainment, singing and so on. This person would be wide-awake and we would think that this was a different person to the one who was in the room trying to meditate before. It couldn’t be the same person; they're so different.

If, for example, we divide our world into three pieces. Two of these pieces would be ocean and in the ocean are many types of fish and creatures; all of these would be classed as animals. The land is full of insects such as ants. In one anthill there would be more ants than there are people in, a country. The ants are classed as animals. Most animals we can see, but hungry ghosts and yidaks we cannot see .

Sentient beings are endless and some beings practice Dharma, engage in virtuous activity such as generosity and helping other beings. These beings that naturally have this kind of activity are said to have the precious human birth.

2. Death and Impermanence

The second thought is death and impermanence. Generally impermanence means that from moment to moment things are changing. Likewise our lives our possessions and ourselves change. . Our parents, sisters and brothers our loved ones and friends change. Also our fame and good name changes. This is the nature of the world.

If we don't understand this then if we have great grasping for our wealth and it changes a little then we will have a lot of sadness and suffering because of the grasping. For example, if our money becomes less we think that we cannot get past this suffering and there is nobody in the world with this kind of suffering. Also like that we have suffering when our relatives and friends and so on change. This meaningless suffering is made by the mind.

If we have great grasping, for example we have grasping for a car, we want it to be really nice and we think we really want the car. If we have grasping then the car cannot satisfy us and it will give us suffering. For example if we feel that we have to look after the car very well and drive it very carefully and we don't want anything to happen to it. When we drive it, when we don't want to stop, it stops. When we don't want to go it goes. We damage the tyres and bump other cars. Like this we have much meaningless suffering.

In another example, these days' boys and girls want to have a very beautiful face don't they? They think " I need a nice face" and they look in the mirror everyday. Now some people are naturally good looking yet they still look in the mirror everyday and with grasping think "oh I need a nice face".

One day a little blemish may appear on their face, or their nose looks crooked, or a black spot appears on the face. When they see this they think this is bad, they say to themselves "I can’t have this, I must get rid of this!" and they have a lot of suffering.

Everyday they try to fix their nose, which they think has gone crooked, or remove the spot. Each day whatever fault they think is there appears bigger to them and they think they are becoming more and more ugly.

If we have more grasping then we will think that our big defect, which is really only small, is causing other people to look at us, even if they aren't looking. You think "everybody is looking at my crooked nose". Other people aren't looking at you. In their minds they're not thinking of you, but you feel that "oh he is looking at me, I'm so embarrassed, now another person is looking".

Sometimes you might think "people aren't looking at me it's just my misperception, but I should just look to see if he is really looking me or not" and you check. When you check you think "oh now I'm certain that person is looking". This result is false; it's not real. It's due to your grasping. In the end we have no confidence and we can't go out to see people and we become very tight. All this suffering is meaningless; it all comes from having grasping.

I used the example of the face, but the same applies to anything, friends' possessions and so on. If it's money, say, then if we have grasping and we have no money we think "I have no money, I've wasted my money". If we lose £1 we become very stingy, we think "oh if I had £1 I could have bought toothpaste with it. Now I have nothing".

Like that in the end we can't think about anything and we don't spend money and we have suffering. These kinds of things can happen. Normally if we have suffering and problems there are two things that one should think about and these have a connection to the preliminaries. If one has problems or suffering with anything, parents, work or whatever, one has to think whether one can remedy the situation or not. If there is a way to remedy the situation then there is no need to worry. One doesn't have to have suffering. If one can do something about the problem there is no need to worry. If you can't find a remedy for the problem, there is no need to worry. One thinks that whatever happens let it happen. There is no remedy for the problem and it won’t make the situation any better by worrying.

For example, if we have money on the stock market when the money goes down we worry and think how bad it is, oh this is terrible. If you can make the money increase by £1 by worrying then that’s good and it's ok if you worry, worry as much as you want! Then if you worry as much as you can that would be good, then maybe the money will rise by £2 or £3! It doesn't work like this though. No matter how much we cry and shed tears, how much we worry the money will not increase by £1, it will go down as much as it is going to, we can't change it, so there is no need to worry.

So we think to ourselves that this is natural this is the nature of phenomena, this is the nature of the world, things are impermanent and they change. After birth comes death. One doesn't think that this doesn't happen to others, only to me. This happens do everyone. If you have a lot of grasping and think "there is no one as bad as me, nobody has suffering and problems like me". It's not like that, just you who this is happening to. It is the nature of the world, the nature of fire is heat, and the nature of water is wetness. The nature of Samsara is change, things change. That is impermanence.

3. The Suffering of Samsara

After impermanence comes the suffering of Samsara. Some people think, "this is impermanence, I will die and if I die it's nothing, like an oil lamp after the oil has all been burnt. After the flame is gone there is nothing". Some people think that "I die but everybody dies, it's nothing".

Samsaric suffering means that the nature of Samsara is suffering, but there is a way to be free of this suffering. If we follow the path then we can reach the level of Buddha hood, this is what we think about when we think of the sufferings of Samsara

4. Karma, Cause and Effect

It is not like this though, after death comes karma, cause and effect. Karma means that one thing is interdependent on another. For example if you plant a seed of a medicinal plant in a field it will produce a medicinal plant. If you plant a seed of a poisonous plant then it will produce a poisonous plant. If you plant medicinal seed a poisonous plant won't grow and if you plant a poisonous seed you won't get a medicinal plant.

If we plant a seed and all the causes and conditions are present then it will definitely grow. Like that there is virtuous karma and non-virtuous karma. The result of virtuous karma is happiness. Like the medicinal seed producing a medicinal plant. The non-virtue produces suffering which is like planting a poisonous seed, which produces a poisonous plant. If one does non-virtuous deeds you will experience suffering. One thing depends on another and interdependence is unfailing. When we say virtue and non-virtue, mainly whatever is harmful to beings or creates the causes of harm to beings, this is what is called non-virtue. Virtue is the opposite of that.

With this we have finished the preliminary part.