On his first visit in Israel, Rinpoche was teaching on the Seven Point Mind Training or Lojong. It is a Mahayana mind training coming from Atisha Dipankara, the Indian Kadampa master, who was invited to revive Buddhism in Tibet in the 11th century. It is still followed by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is a training to transform our way of reacting and experiencing so that we can bring lasting happiness and peace to ourselves and others.

Part 1
Point 1 – Preliminaries: Precious human life, impermanence, samsara and karma.
Q&A:
– Accumulating merit, and the ego?
– If Buddha nature is pure, and defilements are not inherent, where do they come from?

Part 2
Point 2 – Main practice: Ultimate and relative bodhichitta. Meditation on wisdom. Meditation on compassion: tonglen, giving and taking.
Q&A:
– “Conjurer of illusion”?
– What is the most important of all these practices to do, if we have a busy life and not much time?
– Under the power of karma (cause and effect), how can my ability to make good decisions come about?

Part 3
A quick summary of what was taught so far. Finishing tonglen, the meditation on compassion.
Point 3 – Training: Transforming adversity into the path to enlightenment. This is to be done 1) through relative and 2) absolute bodhichitta.
Q&A:
– 21 breath meditation?
– I have heard of a different method where you just let thoughts come and go?
– If everything is illusion, where is my energy going when I try to change things in “the world full of evil”?
– How to deal with an emotion at the moment when it arises, not afterwards?
– Strong emotion and physical reaction?
– Anger and compassion?
– How to choose a teacher?

Part 4
A reading transmission of the root text.
Point 3 continued – Transforming adversity into the path to enlightenment 2) through ultimate bodhichitta.
Session ends with jokes and stories.

Photos thanks to Shlomo Bezem.

In January 2021 Rinpoche continued  these teachings with the Israeli group on Zoom. The session on the 4th Point can be watched here: https://bodhicharya.org/teachings/archives/seven-points-of-mind-training-2

There is a brief overview on Lojong teachings at Shambhala Publications website.

Rinpoche’s book on Lojong:

https://bodhicharya.org/product/mind-training/