How to Train the Mind
Joseph Goldstein will be one of the teachers at the 6-week retreat I’m going to, so I’ve been getting ready by listening to one of his talks every night. He has an absolutely fascinating series of talks — 47 in all! — on the Satipatthana Sutta. (Available on Dharma Seed here.)
The talk I listened to last night was the 4th in this series and he talked a lot about the importance of noticing how everything is always Arising and Passing Away, and about what it means to “Enter the Stream” of Awakening….all of which was wonderful to listen to….but what really struck me was what he called “a way of holding it all in balance,” which he offered at the very end of the talk in the form of a Tibetan practice called The Seven-Point Mind Training:
(1) Consider all phenomena to be dreams.
(2) Be grateful to everyone.
(3) Don’t be swayed by outer circumstances.
(4) Don’t brood over the faults of others.
(5) Explore the nature of unborn awareness.
(6) At all times, simply rely on a joyful mind.
(7) Don’t expect a standing ovation.
(image from: Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot)