Slogan Twenty-four

Change your attitude, but remain natural.

From the Lojong for the Layperson booklet: 

            The “attitude” part of this slogan has to so with our tendency to put ourselves, our stuff and our views before those of everyone else. We may attempt to manipulate other people to do what we can do ourselves. But lojong practice encourages us to consider others first and realize we are not more important. We may first try to care for others as much as ourselves, and eventually shift to putting the welfare of another before our own desires. Remaining natural means we don’t need to make any grand gestures (spiritual posturing), nor do we need to punish ourselves for slip-ups. Instead we relax and take Mother Teresa’s advice: “do small things with great love.”

Photo: Stack of river stones next to a single stone.

            When my daughter was in elementary school, I helped start a Girl Scout “Brownie” troop for the girls there. I remember going downtown to buy her uniform and my Girl Scout leader book at the office. I wasn't prepared for all the items for sale there besides the basics we needed – stuffed animals, necklaces, journals, t-shirts and various knickknacks for her, as well as coffee mugs and key rings for me. Excited about doing something new, there was a great temptation to purchase these things that advertised we were a part of Girl Scouts. I can be enticed to do the same thing when I start a spiritual path or practice. But slogan twenty-four reminds me that it is the inner part of me where I should concentrate my efforts of transformation. All the decorative paraphernalia that makes me stand out is only a distraction that feeds my ego. In his book Buddhism with an Attitude, B. Alan Wallace relates a Tibetan adage that emphasizes this teaching: “If you shake a pot with a little water in it, it makes a loud noise. But if you shake a pot filled with water, it remains silent.”