The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

VI. The Commitments of the Mind Training

B. Specific Principles: 3-16

3. Don't talk about other's weaknesses.

4. Don't concern yourself with others' affairs.

This means that you avoid saying things like he has not done the work he should have done. She does not have a very good mind. Avoid pointing out the faults of others. If one has faults oneself you will perceive fault in others. For example, if one is a thief you will think that others are trying to steal from you. If someone came to your house you would think they were coming to steal from you. If when they were talking with you and they looked around the room you would think oh he's looking at my things thinking that he may steal something. But the person is not thinking of stealing at all. It is because you are a thief that you think this way. A lot of things happen like this.

Even if one were living with the Shakyamuni Buddha for a long time, eventually you would even perceive the Buddha to have faults. This is our own projection.

A long time ago in Tibet there was a woman who had a big nose and a hair-lip. She had a big mouth and was always pointing out others faults. "You are fat like a pig"; "you have a big nose". She talked so much she sounded like a parrot. She didn't understand that she herself also had faults. Now in Tibet they don't have very good mirrors. She met a man one day who gave her the advice that it was not good to point out others faults and that she should look at her own faults. The lady didn't listen to him and replied that others do have faults, and I have to tell them. So one day the man brought along a good mirror and told the lady to look into it. When she looked she saw how her nose and mouth was very badly shaped and she thought I've been telling others about there faults but I have my own. She said to the man what you told me is true. From that time on she didn't say anything about other people and one day the people of her area liked her so much that they made her the head of her region. She had a very capable way of talking.

5. Work on the stronger disturbing emotion first.

This means that if you have a lot of anger then you train with that first, then maybe train with desire. If one has a lot of anger then one uses loving kindness and compassion as an antidote. If one has a lot of desire then you can reflect on impermanence and the nature of Samsara is suffering and change. If one has a lot of ignorance then one should meditate on Emptiness. Generally meditating on Emptiness is very beneficial for all of the mind poisons. If I am not truly existent and the others are not truly existent, who is getting angry with whom? Then there is no need to get angry with anyone. The anger will become pacified, for a minute or so if one is a beginner. Then it will arise again. Then one meditates on emptiness again and the anger will be pacified for a bit longer, then again it will arise. Through the continual practise of meditating on the emptiness like this the strength of the anger will slowly become less and less and one day it will be pacified.

6. Give up all hope for results.

When one is practising the mind training one shouldn't have the idea that one should practise really well and so become famous. Also if one thinks that now I am a great practitioner and go around all inflated with pride that is not good. If there are no qualities inside then there is no meaning to this behaviour. One should think that if others praise you or not it is fine. One does of course have some feeling that you are practising the mind training to free yourself of the faults but don't have a very strong feeling that everything should go well. If things go well or not then that is fine.

Sometimes as beginners we might think that we have got a lot of grasping and we think now all my mind training is ruined I can't practise well, or I want people to say nice things about me. One doesn't need to have strong thoughts of hope and fear.

7. Give up poisonous food.

The example is that we have a plate of delicious food and unknown to us there is poison in it. We eat the food without knowing it has been poisoned. Another is that if we practise generosity with the motivation that people will see us and think that you are a very good person The intention to benefit beings is not there, though being generous is a virtue, if we have an ego-clinging attitude then it is poisoned. The main point is that the motivation to benefit others should be there, not expectation of praise or fame.

8. Don't rely on consistency.

Generally if someone helps us we think oh he helped me so I should help him in the future. If someone harmed you, you think I will never help him. Giving something with expectation of getting something back. If people hurt or help us we should be the same with them. If someone harms you then don't get angry. If someone helps you have show them loving kindness and compassion.

9. Don't disparage other people.

For example you tell someone to put a cup down and then say "not there! I said put it here!" to shout at somebody over such a meaningless thing as where a cup is placed is not good. If at work someone asks you do some job, you shouldn't shout at them I can't do this get out! If one can't do the work then say so in a pleasant way, "I'm sorry I cannot do this".

10. Don't wait in ambush.

If in one's mind you think that some person harmed you but you are unable to do anything back to them at the moment but you think I will get them back one day. To keep this idea in your mind is like lying in ambush. If you are on a mountain with only one path passing and you see someone coming towards you and when he goes past you you hit him, that is what is meant here.

11. Don't bring things to a painful point.

If there is someone who is normally embarrassed about some fault they have and you shout at them and make reference to that fault, or another example is some people have very low self-confidence if you shout at them and say "you are useless, you can't do anything!" this is bringing things to a painful point. Some people have brothers or other family members that have died. If you say "oh your parents are dead you must be someone with very little merit!" Don't say things like that.

12. Don't transfer the dzo's load to the ox.

The example is a dzo, which is a very strong ox like creature that can carry a lot of baggage. If you have a lot of work and you think oh that person is very stupid if I talk to him nicely I can dump some of my work onto him. To trick somebody like this is what is meant here.

13. Don't aim to be the best.

When people race in cars or on horses then the aim is to win, to be the best. If as practitioners we try to be better than one's fellows and think that one should be the best this is a wrong attitude. This is similar to mixing poison with one's food. If one has this attitude then one's Dharma practice is wasted. Also a worldly person who tries to be better than everybody at the workplace they won't be able to achieve their wishes.

14. Don't act with a hidden motivation.

If we take a medicine to heal oneself and then the medicine turns into poison then that is useless. As Dharma practitioners we practise so that our mind poisons are reduced. If we find that our anger and pride increases then we are not practising correctly. If through pride we think I have a better understanding than anyone else does then this is like have pride as a friend of your practise. In France a lot of people come out of the 3-year retreat. Some of them are very good but one or two are quite proud. Say one person was called Karma before the retreat. When he comes out someone calls out to him "hi Karma". He gets angry and replies "I'm Lama Karma now, not Karma". Some people behave like this. In the 3-year retreat ones pride should be lessened, but for some people it is increased. This is due to not practising properly.

15. Don't make a god into a demon.

This is the same, if you don't practise the mind training well and don't understand the real meaning then one's faults and mind poisons can increase. In the retreat if one is thinking all the time I will be a Lama when I come out then one doesn't practise well. When the retreat master comes around one makes a noise like one is practising and when he has gone you go back to daydreaming or sleep. This is not real practise. If one really practises correctly then these kinds of faults will not arise. If you have the correct attitude to mind training then you don't have to worry about these faults.

16. Don't seek others' pain as a component of your own happiness.

An example is a person who is not really practising when they are in retreat and thinks Oh when I get out people will come to me for teachings and if they are ill then I will pray for them and I will receive offerings, it would be good if they were ill. In the East then people will ask a Lama to pray for them and if someone has died the Lama will do Powa for them. So if the person thinks I will profit from others problems and suffering then that is what is meant here.