The Very Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

The Seven Points Of Mind Training

Birmingham Karma Ling, December 2002

VII. Guidelines of Mind Training

The Conclusion

The conclusion tells us why we need to practise the mind training path.

When the five dark ages occur,
This is the way to transform them into the path of bodhi.
This is the essence of the amrita of the oral instructions,
Which are handed down from the tradition of the sage of Suvarnadvipa.
Having awoken the karma of previous training
And being urged on by my intense dedication,
I disregarded misfortune and slander
And received oral instructions on taming ego-fixation.
Now, even at death, I will have no regrets.

This is called the age of the five degenerations or the five dregs. If you mix dirt and dust in a cup with some water then things will fall to the bottom this is like the dregs. There are five degenerations.

Degeneration of time, life, beings, emotions, and the view, so these are the five kind of poisons which are associated with what we call the Dark Age. All the negative aspects are multiplied so if one practices the mind-training path correctly then all these negative circumstances can be turned into the path of training in the Bodhicitta. So each of these five dregs can be transformed into one’s friends on the path and can help one.

Where did this teaching come from? It came from Lord Serlingpa. Based on his previous Karma Serlingpa wrote the text. Because Serlingpa practised the Bodhicitta training in his previous lifetimes he had great faith and devotion for these teachings, so he wrote the text. So now he’s saying in the concluding poem that he has discarded all his attachment to praise or blame or if people attack him in any way, and he’s got rid of his ego clinging. So however people manifest to him, if they like him or not makes no difference and also if he dies even at the moment of death he will have nothing to regret, nothing to be sorry for.

Q. [Inaudible]

A. One needs three conditions, the Lama, ones wish to practice the Dharma, enough to eat and a place to stay. If you got more that this fine, but if you got these three then that's enough to practice the Dharma. You have enough to eat and a place to stay, and the wish to practice and an excellent teacher to receive the teachings from. You don’t have to have the misperception that I’m glad I’m in the Dharma Centre and I can practice, but when I’m driving my car that’s not a time for practice you can practice wherever you are, whatever you are doing. You think, I can only meditate when I am sitting in front of the Buddha Statue, if I meditate in the toilet it’s not good, there is no difference really.

Q. [Inaudible]

A. Yes that's true, if you don’t have that cause originally in the first place, the Lama, then you can’t, you need that. Yes as Rinpoche said you need those three, the Lama, the wish to practice and enough food to eat and a place to stay.

Q. I thought that everything that happened was caused by Karma, so how is it some things aren't caused by Karma?

A. Rinpoche says not everything is, it’s about half and half actually, half of it is your previous Karma and then the other half will be the obstacles in this lifetime. Obstacle, so when they say in Tibetan barche its like something is supposed to happen but then the obstacle cuts through that so that the arising of the obstacle so instead of something happening smoothly the obstacle comes and cuts through that smoothness, so that’s the obstacle.

Half of it will be the karma from before and half of it will be the obstacles arising in your present life. If one is practising the mind training, the Bodhicitta and one prays to the Three Jewels, then these obstacles can be pacified. If it is due to one's previous Karma then one can’t immediately purify it and remove it. The main point is that through thinking of the emptiness and thinking that one is going to practice in a very strong way then one can purify. If one just prays one cannot purify the Karma. You have to practice too.

Q. How do you work with mistrust in a teacher

A. Well, whether the Lama or the teacher is a nice person or a nasty person that’s not really of much use but what one has to look at is does the teacher have lineage and does the things that he says, the teachings he presents do they benefit you or not you have to look at it like that.

So then for example if you ascertain that the teacher has a very good lineage unbroken vows and everything connected to the lineage is very pure then it's like your teacher is the same as the Buddha. If you think in that way, that the teacher is the Buddha you will receive the Buddha’s blessing, it doesn’t really matter if the person himself has a few faults or not you are not seeing him in a bad way you are generating this faith and doubt free confidence in him, and if you can do that and think of him as the Buddha, then you will definitely get the Buddha’s blessing. But for a beginner they cannot immediately have this very deep kind of unshakeable trust and confidence, but if deep in your mind you feel that to have confidence and faith in the teacher would be of benefit for you, that is a good thing to have.

Q. Isn't it due to previous karma that we get obstacles or not? Why do some people seem not to have them?

A. The majority of things are the Karma but then the obstacles are caused by the different conditions that one meets in one's life so then some people have them some people don’t have so much of them but the majority of things are the Karma.

So then if one has this negative Karma from before if one continually supplicates to the Three Jewels and practices then one can purify that. If after supplicating and practising is not able to pacify the suffering associated with the arising of the obstacle then that is due to the Karma and one accepts that, that’s the way to pacify it.