Point One of the Seven Points

Point One – The Preliminaries

            I recently bought a garden cart that came unassembled (in what seemed like one hundred pieces). Thankfully, the instructions and diagrams included in the box were clear and simple enough to follow. Step one involved gathering the tools I would need and laying out all the parts. Without beginning at this starting place, I would have spent most of my time confused and frustrated, making little if any progress. Point One of lojong includes only the first slogan, but it lays the foundation for the rest of the practice. In Be Grateful to Everyone, Pema Chodron teaches that there are two tools needed before getting underway: self-compassion and a basic sitting practice. Why self-compassion? In the fifth chapter of the Udana, the Buddha says:

Searching all directions

with one's awareness,

one finds no one dearer

than oneself.

(translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

If I am willing to sit with my own pain and observe it, I will be more compassionate towards others when they react to suffering. Self-compassion is the yeast that can transform an unleavened heart into one filled with loving-kindness. The second tool, a basic sitting practice, doesn’t eliminate my thoughts and emotions but helps me refrain from elaborating on them. It will allow me to see the truth behind the Four Reminders: my life is a wonderful opportunity to become awakened; everything is impermanent; I sow my own seeds of joy or suffering; and I create an ongoing cycle of misery by trying to escape the pain of impermanence. Both of these tools are meant to last a lifetime.