Lojong Cards and Booklet

Lojong Cards and Booklet
This self-published deck and booklet are the intellectual property of Beverly King. Please do not copy or reproduce any photos or blog posts without permission.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

An Introduction to Lojong

Welcome to my lojong blog! Each week I will attempt to express and share the wisdom of this tradition through my photos and my (limited) understanding of the slogans. I would be remiss if I did not first list the teachers and sources through whom I've been introduced to this way of training:

Chodron, Pema. Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 1994. Print.

Fischer, Norman. Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 2012. Print.

Kongtrul, Dzigar. The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 2016. Print.

Kyabgon, Traleg. The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 2007. Print.

Lief, Judy. “Train Your Mind: Lojong Commentary by Judy Lief.” Tricycle. Web.19 Aug. 2014.

Trungpa, Chogyam. Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-kindness. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 1993. Print.

Additional sources I have found useful:
Chodron, Pema. Always Maintain a Joyful Mind: And Other Lojong Teachings on Awakening Compassion and Fearlessness. Boston: Shambhala Publishing, 2007. Print.

Tulku, Ringu. Mind Training. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publishing, 2007. Print.

Wallace, B. Allen. Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind-Training. Boston: Snow Lion Publishing, 2001. Print.

Chodron, Pema. Be Grateful to Everyone: An In-Depth Guide to the Practice of Lojong. Boston: Shambhala Audio, 2011. Audio.

Khyentse, Dilgo. Enlightened Courage. Ithaca: Snow Lion Pub., 2006. Print.

Kongtrul, Jamgon. (translated by Ken McLeod). The Great Path of Awakening. Boston: Shambhala Pub., 2005. Print.
From the Lojong for the Layperson booklet, an introduction to lojong:
Lojong is a mind training practice in the Buddhist tradition. Brought to Tibet from India by Atisha (982-1054), it was originally a secret teaching given only to a select group. Geshe Chekawa (1102-1176) wanted to open the lojong instructions to other people. As a result, he wrote The Root Text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind, based on the slogans of Atisha. Lojong is a way to learn how to see things from a larger, inclusive perspective rather than a self-absorbed one. The seven points of mind training are comprised of fifty-nine slogans. Their purpose is to change the way we think, what we think about, and how we manage our emotions.


I. The Preliminaries
Slogan 1

II. The Actual Practice
Slogans 2 – 10

III. Transforming Adversity
Slogans 11 -16

IV. Maintaining the Practice
Slogans 17 -18

V. Evaluating the Practice
Slogans 19 – 22

VI. Commitments of the Practice
Slogans 23 – 38

VII. Guidelines for the Practice
Slogans 39 -59

Note: It's my personal opinion that these slogans were numbered for a reason. Their ideas build on each other, so it's helpful to understand slogan one before jumping to slogan fifteen. I would encourage people to start at the beginning and work through them first before randomly choosing one.

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