Chapter 1. Lojong Makes Your Mind So Happy

The Essence of Lojong

Video 1: Blame Your Self-Cherishing

(duration: 8 minutes)

(You can read the transcript of the video below. Alternatively, you can read the same transcript alongside the video by clicking here to download it or view it in a separate window.)

Kadampa Geshe Chekawa mentions in the root verses of Seven Points of Thought Transformation:

LE LÄN THAM CHÄ CHIG LA DA
   Put all the blame on one.
KÜN LA KA DRIN CHHE WAR GOM
   Meditate on everyone as kind.

When any problem arises, immediately, without the delay of even a second, blame the one. Who is “the one”? It is your own mind. From where hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, and everyday happiness and problems come is your mind. All that you experience comes from your mind, your own mind, your self-cherishing thought. So “Put all the blame on one” means put all the blame for anything you dislike, for any problem, for any undesirable thing, on your self-cherishing thought.

LE LÄN THAM CHÄ CHIG LA DA
   Put all the blame on one. 

Other than the people who practice the Mahayana teachings, those who look at the selfish mind as the enemy and look at other sentient beings as most kind because they are from where all their past, present, future happiness come, the majority of people in the normal world, those who haven’t met the Mahayana teachings and those who even though they know the Mahayana teachings intellectually don’t practice them, when any problem or undesirable thing arises, they immediately blame it on others, those from whom they receive all their past, present, and future happiness, including enlightenment, and from whom all the realizations come. They point to and blame outside enemies for all their problems.

[Like them,] you cherish your self-cherishing thought, from where suffering and all the obstacles come—the real enemy and mara.^[1] You consider this one to be the most important. You cherish it the most. You cherish your real enemy the most. And you consider others, those from whom you receive all happiness, those from whom Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha come, those who have been your mother, to be your enemy, from where all the problems come, from outside, from out there. It is totally opposite! The recognition is totally opposite. Except for those who practice bodhichitta and lojong, this is the mistake of the world in general, including those who understand these intellectually but don’t practice them. They do the same thing as people who don’t know the Dharma, who have never met Dharma, and who don’t know the Mahayana teachings, that is, when a problem comes, they blame others. They think that their problems come from outside. But from where the problem came is the selfish mind. You have to understand that mistake.

In short, the practice is that when obstacles come, when any undesirable thing arises at any time, to put all the blame, without the delay of even a second, on the one—your own self-cherishing thought.

Then:

KÜN LA KA DRIN CHHE WAR GOM
   Meditate on everyone as kind.

In reality you should meditate only on the kindness of others. Think that all your happiness, past, present, and future, came from sentient beings and then meditate on their kindness. That’s the practice. That is the practice. You understand? Only when you practice this is there real peace and happiness in your heart, and not only satisfaction but also fulfillment. This happens only if you are practicing this. Otherwise, although there are many people who recite a lot of mantras, circumambulate [holy objects], read Dharma texts, and do many things externally, the people who do real Dharma practice, the real practice of the Mahayana teachings, are very rare. That the mind really becomes Dharma and practices the Mahayana teachings by putting all the blame on one and meditating on everyone as kind is very rare. That mind is so rare.

(End of Video 1: Blame Your Self-Cherishing)