Eight Verses for Training the Mind
by Langri Thangpa
With a determination to accomplishThe highest welfare for all sentient beings
Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
Whenever I associate with others I will learn
To think of myself as the lowest among all
And respectfully hold others to be supreme
From the very depths of my heart.
In all actions I will learn to search into my mind
And as soon as an afflictive emotion arises
Endangering myself and others
Will firmly face and avert it.
I will learn to cherish beings of bad nature
And those oppressed by strong sins and suffering
As if I had found a precious
Treasure very difficult to find.
When others out of jealousy treat me badly
With abuse, slander, and so on,
I will learn to take on all loss,
And offer victory to them.
When one whom I have benefited with great hope
Unreasonably hurts me very badly,
I will learn to view that person
As an excellent spiritual guide.
In short, I will learn to offer to everyone without exception
All help and happiness directly and indirectly
And respectfully take upon myself
All harm and suffering of my mothers.
I will learn to keep all these practices
Undefiled by the stains of the eight worldly conceptions
And by understanding all phenomena as like illusions
Be released from the bondage of attachment.
taken from: Khandro.Net
"It could be said that the Eight Verses for Training the Mind contains within them the entire essence of the Buddha's teachings in a distinct form." The Dalai Lama.
2 comments:
I have long loved the 8 Verses on Mind Training. One reading of it is to cherish the homophobic.
Very true, we must view our homophobic brothers and sisters as a most previous gift, a gift that calls us to witness to the holiness of being gay, a resistance to homophobia that is grounded in love.
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